SPGB Meetings (1948)

Party News from the November 1948 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1948)

Party News from the October 1948 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1948)

Party News from the December 1948 issue of the Socialist Standard

Blogger's Note:

With regards to the Bethnal Green meetings listed, 'R. Coster' was  Robert Barltrop's 'party name' during his period of membership from 1945 until 1960. Joyce Millen's obituary appeared in the March 1984 issue of the Socialist Standard.

SPGB Meetings (1949)

Party News from the December 1949 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1948)

Party News from the April 1948 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1932)

Party News from the December 1932 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1932)

Party News from the November 1932 issue of the Socialist Standard

Blogger's Notes:

In all probability the Tory who debated Edgar Hardcastle in Stratford, a Mrs E. Tennant, was Eleonora Tennant. 

Eleonora Tennant stood as a Tory candidate in the East End of London (Silvertown) at the 1931 and 1935 General Elections and, let's be honest, women being so under-represented in politics in the 1930s, what are the chances of there being two Mrs E. Tennants' in the Tory Party active in the East End of London at this time? If you click on her wiki page you'll go down a rabbit hole of far right and anti-semitic politics which covers both Britain and Australia.

The January 1933 issue of the Socialist Standard carried a report of the debate between Edgar Hardcastle and N. Dunbar of the Independent Labour Party which took place in Bethnal Green.

SPGB Meetings. (1932)

Party News from the October 1932 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1949)

Party News from the October 1949 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings and Lectures. (1927)

Party News from the December 1927 issue of the Socialist Standard

Blogger's Note:

The “Economic Causes of War” pamphlet mentioned above was the Canadian pamphlet which had been advertised in the October 1927 issue of the Socialist Standard.

SPGB Meetings, Debates and Lectures. (1927)

 Party News from the November 1927 issue of the Socialist Standard

Blogger's Note:

The Economic League's Major H. J. Gillespie D.S.O. was an ex-Fabian who'd recanted his longstanding Labourism and was now taking the Economic League's shilling. It happens. Ken Weller mentions in his excellent book, 'Don't Be A Soldier', that Frank Grainger left the SPGB in the late 1930s whilst he was the prospective parliamentary candidate for the SPGB in the East Ham North constituency, and later turned up as a lecturer for the Economic League. 

The December 1927 issue of the Socialist Standard gives a brief report of some of the meetings listed above.

The Comrade Jacobs mentioned above who was lecturing at Bethnal Green Library on the subject of 'Political versus Industrial Action' was either longstanding SPGB outdoor speaker Alf Jacobs, or it was Dick Jacobs, the secretary of the Bethnal Green branch of the SPGB. Alf Jacobs joined the SPGB in its earliest days and was known in the East End of London as a popular SPGB outdoor speaker. (Especially at the outdoor speaking pitch in Victoria Park, where in 1914 he repeatedly took to the outdoor platform to denounce the war.) Dick Jacobs had only just joined the SPGB in January 1927 (he'd formerly been a member of the Labour Party), but was to remain a member of the SPGB until his death in 1977. If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say the speaker was Alf Jacobs.

Labour Party refuses to debate. (1927)

Party News from the September 1927 issue of the Socialist Standard

On July 24th, a Mr. A. Axelrad challenged one of our speakers to debate the merits of the Socialist Party and the South-West Bethnal Green (Divisional) Labour Party. On July 30th we wrote to that body asking for their confirmation of the challenge. On August 15th the Secretary wrote to say that his party “cannot favourably consider” the proposal to debate which was put forward by their own treasurer, Mr. Axelrad. Mr. Axelrad will in future no doubt exercise more discretion, and remember that his party are not prepared to defend their case against Socialist criticism. It is interesting to note that this very retiring Labour Party is not the “official” body affiliated with the National Labour Party, but a branch which has been put outside for its “left wing” deviations. Its presiding genius is Mr. J. J. Vaughan. We have been unable to learn that it differs from its parent body in any respect of importance. Like the National Labour Party, it advocates the reform of capitalism, not its abolition.

Editorial Committee.

Debates. The S.P.G.B. versus the I.L.P. (1933)

Party News from the January 1933 issue of the Socialist Standard

A debate was held between the S.P.G.B. and the I.L.P. at Bethnal Green Town Hall on Friday, December 2nd. The I.L.P. speaker, N. Dunbar, claimed that the revolutionary ferment among the workers since the Bolshevik seizure of power has completely changed the problem of overthrowing capitalism. The workers have made inroads into capitalism by such achievements as unemployment insurance, and that the I.L.P. policy of Workers' Councils is the road by which the workers will achieve Socialism. The present I.L.P., since the Bradford Conference early this year, is a fundamentally different body from the old I.L.P., and must not be held responsible for its predecessor's actions.

Comrade Hardy, for the S.P.G.B., denied that the problem is essentially different from what it was before the war.

To get Socialism, the workers must gain control of the political machinery, yet the General Election last year showed the workers, employed and unemployed, prepared to vote the capitalists into power. Russia is not an instance of Socialism but of state capitalism, and in any event the I.L.P. cannot claim any credit for what the Bolsheviks did. In 1917, when Kerensky was in power and oppressing the Bolsheviks, the leaders of the I.L.P. sent this capitalist government a telegram of congratulation, urging the Russians, subject to certain conditions, to continue the war. (See Labour Leader, May 3rd, 1917.)

Social reforms like unemployment insurance, are methods by which the capitalists buy off working class discontent, with the result that unemployed riots are far less formidable than they were before the War.

The I.L.P., right from it formation, entered into electoral arrangements with the Liberal Party and had never fought elections on the simple demand for Socialism. The new I.L.P. is just like the old, a reformist body. The claim that the I.L.P. stands for any definite policy, cannot be maintained. The New Leader, for weeks past, has been publishing letters from influential I.L.P. members disputing with each other as to what the I.L.P.'s policy is?

The debate was well attended and both speakers obtained a good hearing from the audience, many of whom appeared to have Communist sympathies.

*     *     *     *

The S.P.G.B. versus the Co-operative Guild

A debate was held on Tuesday, November 15th, at Sutton, Surrey, between Comrade Ginsberg, representing the S.P.G.B., and Mr. Atkins, representing the Sutton Branch of the National Guild of Co-operators. The audience was small but interested and attentive.

A.F.