Party News from the November 1966 issue of the Socialist Standard
Socialism V the Rest
About 40 people attended a lively meeting at our Head Office on September 19. The meeting, to which our political opponents were invited, was part of our Seven Days for Socialism campaign. On the platform were George Kiloh, national chairman of the Young Liberals, Chris Parkinson, Tory councillor for Streatham South, and our comrade Baldwin. The Labour Party speaker failed to attend and the Communist Party, which had also been invited, did not send anybody.
The meeting opened with each speaker briefly outlining his party's case. Comrade Baldwin explained that all his opponents (including the absent Labourite) were “tarred with the same brush” because they all stood for capitalism. Only the Socialist Party stood for Socialism. Councillor Parkinson admitted that his party was an avowedly capitalist party but declared that Tory policy was to move everyone up the social ladder by a general improvement in living standards The Young Liberal declared that capitalism was “unjust and immoral” and that Socialism was state capitalism. He went on, however, to outline YL plans, such as “joint-management” and “worker’ control in the nationalised concerns,” which, he claimed, would be a first step in producing industrial efficiency.
Southend
Southend Group maintained vigorous and lively activity through the summer with regular group meetings and canvassing. Members of London and Mid-Herts branches helped to run outdoor meetings on the seafront from time to time. It is intended to make these meetings weekly next year.
Sales of the Socialist Standard locally, through canvassing, have been good — 22 dozen of the August issue were sold. Further canvassing and other literature sales are planned for the autumn. Sympathisers should get on our mailing lists for details of indoor meetings and the like. Details from Secretary, Southend Group (write or call), 19 Kingswood Chase, Leigh-on-Sea.
Brighton
A brief report on the work of the Literature Sales Committee’s work at the Labour Party Conference. Five members covered the conference throughout the week. Three hundred and seventy-eight copies of the October Socialise Standard were sold, in addition to pamphlets. An excellent effort. It is hoped that even more comrades will be available for such sales in future, as the more sellers, the more sales.
Black Muslims
On September 7 Michael X, a leader of the Black Muslims in Britain, spoke “In Favour of the Separation of the Races” at our Paddington branch. He claimed that “the black man’s greatest problem was the white man”. White men had shipped black men to the West Indies; they had deprived them of their names, their language, their religion and their culture. Christianity was a slave religion. That was why people like him returned to Islam, the religion of their forefathers. He was president of an organisation that admitted no whites. This was because if they did the whites would help the organisation to death; the “white liberals” would do all the work so that black people would never learn to act for themselves. Black people from the West Indies were basically agricultural; they were unused to the disciplines of industrial society. They had to learn these “to catch up with the whites". But they could only do this, Michael X said, through “separate development”; by keeping away from, and not trusting, white people and by learning on their own.
In discussion it was pointed out that Socialists did not see themselves as white people or black people or as British or any other nationality, they knew they were members of a world-wide working class without any country. They knew that the only solutions to our troubles as workers was, whatever our skin pigmentation or what not, through the establishment of a world Socialist community. Members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain had come from all kinds of religious backgrounds—Christian, Jewish, even Muslim, had seen through all this mumbo-jumbo. When the Black Muslims had "caught up", what then? They would only be ordinary wage slaves like the rest of us. Was this all they wanted?
In reply Michael X said that Socialism was a "white man's theory".
