SPGB Meetings. (1931)

Party News from the November 1931 issue of the Socialist Standard

Party News Briefs (1947)

Party News from the October 1947 issue of the Socialist Standard

The winter series of Sunday evening lectures at the Trade Union Club, Great Newport' Street, London, W.C., commences on October 5th. There will be weekly lectures throughout the winter timed to commence at 7 p.m. On October 5th A. Turner will make a “ Call to London's workers.” On October 12th C. Lestor will open a short series of historical lectures with “Primitive Communism,” followed by further historical lectures on the 19th and 26th, F. Evans speaking on "Feudalism” on the latter date. D. Fenwick's subject for October 19th is not yet to hand.

The Party meeting on September 14th called to discuss international contacts with parties and groups abroad was lively, interesting and fruitful. The discussion centred round the desirability of sending party representatives to conferences of parties and groups abroad who are not associated with us with a view to making our position known to workers seeking a way out of the present chaos. After the whole question had been thoroughly thrashed out the meeting expressed itself in agreement with the view of the Executive Committee that we are willing to send a party representative to national or international gatherings of our political opponents to state the Party’s case provided that the party representative is admitted on the clear understanding that he is there to state our case in opposition and not to be in any way associated with joint decisions arrived at. We should not therefore be prepared to send a representative as a delegate. The meeting endorsed the action of the E.C. in not sending a member to the Brussels conference convened by the Spartacus Group of Holland at Whitsun, but recommended that a representative should be sent to a further congress in Brussels which we learn is to be held at Christmas.

The Autumn Delegate meeting took place on September 28th, but we go to print before this date, and will give a report of it in our next issue.

The Propaganda Committee are not receiving Forms ‘‘E” (Reports of Propaganda meetings) early enough from some branches. Please send these to Head Office as quickly os possible after the meetings are held.

The Centenary Edition of the “Communist Manifesto” with our own Introduction is now being considered by the Executive Committee. It will be a valuable part of revolutionary literature when published.

A debate with the Independent Labour Party (represented by T. Colyer) has been arranged for Friday, October 17th, at the Co-operative Society’s Hall, Lakedale Road, Plumstead. Our representative will be C. May.

Party Badges are now available in brooch or stud fittings. They are 1s. 6d. each post free and money should be sent with order to Head Office.

The Party Funds Committee is now at work trying to swell the flow of money into the party. They have sent an individual appeal to each subscriber to the Socialist Standard which is bearing fruit, but much more money is needed to enable us to maintain and extend our activities. Send as much as you can to the Party—we need it.

A scheme of education classes at Head Office was approved by the Executive Committee towards the end of August. In the first instance there will be a series of twelve weekly classes at Head Office up to Christmas. This will be attended by 15 members chosen from last year’s economics class with a view to preparing them to act as tutors after Christmas. The syllabus will include, in addition to history and economics, instruction in how to study, and the history of the working-class movement with special reference to the origin of the party and its attitude to the Internationals, other political parties and reformism. After Christmas it is proposed to limit the class again to 15 members. The Executive Committee recognise that many more members than 15 will wish to attend, but to begin with we wish to build up a solid core of members thoroughly grounded in all aspects of the party’s position, and this can only be done with an intensive course of study in which the students submit written work on questions set, and are generally under the close supervision of the tutors. For this, comparatively small classes are essential. It is proposed to hold two separate sessions of twelve weeks each from January to September. Apart from providing the basic knowledge which party members should possess, the aim is to seed students for speaking, writing or teaching, and to pass them on to specialised classes for these purposes as and when they are formed. The tutors who form the first class before Christmas will take the subsequent classes in selected portions of the syllabus of which they have made a special study. The work of the tutors will be supervised by the Education Committee which the Executive Committee have set up to run the scheme. The Education Committee will be writing to branches asking them to nominate members to attend the class after Christmas, and they ask for the co-operation of members in running a scheme which, while in the beginning cannot cater for the requirements of all members, has the objective of providing sufficient tutors for a greater number of educational classes both at Head Office and in branches than we have ever had in the experience of the party.

Paddington Branch are asking Head Office Propaganda Committee to co-operate with them with a view to running a mass meeting at the Metropolitan Theatre, Edgware Road, London, on Sunday, November 2nd.

Glasgow Branch are on the threshold of another winter season of indoor lectures, propaganda meetings and debates. Their speakers will be in action every Sunday evening from the first Sunday in October at the Central Halls, 25, Bath Street. The meetings commence at 7.30 p.m. Halls have been booked right up to May, 1948, to accommodate the hundreds of workers in Glasgow interested in socialism. Glasgow branch aims to develop this interest into actively organised participation in the party’s effort. The branch is considering running classes in logic and economics during the winter. Further announcements about these classes will be made later. Other propaganda plans are visits to Edinburgh and other places in Scotland, and if funds permit speakers will be sent to Dublin and Belfast. The branch is very active, and right throughout the summer outdoor propagandists were at work. A considerable number of the party’s "Work and Want” posters are now showing in Glasgow. Workers are rallying to the support of the branch both financially and politically and members are going ahead enthusiastically.

C. C. Groves,

General Secretary.

Summer School 2019 (2019)

Party News from the July 2019 issue of the Socialist Standard

Our political views are shaped by the circumstances we find ourselves in and how we relate to our situation. How does a socialist understanding of capitalism and the aim for a free and equal world compare with other political stances and belief systems? Why should we have a socialist viewpoint? And how does it impact on our lives? Our weekend of talks and discussion looks at what it means to have a socialist outlook in the 21st century.

Fircroft College How to Find Us

Full residential cost (including accommodation and meals Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) is £100. The concessionary rate is £50. Day visitors are welcome, but please book in advance.

E-mail enquiries should be sent to spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk. Book a place online, or send a cheque (payable to the Socialist Party of Great Britain) with your contact details to Summer School, The Socialist Party, 52 Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UN.

Friday 2nd August

From 17.00: Arrival

18.30 – 19.00: Dinner

19.45—21.30

Be Realistic: Demand The Inevitable

– Edmund Griffiths

This talk will look at the notions of the impossible and the inevitable in a range of belief systems, including (but not limited to) socialism and other political belief systems. Why are people attracted to ideas that seem to be either impossible or inevitable? Or put off by them? What does it mean to campaign for something that might be impossible, or inevitable? What happens when assessments of impossibility or inevitability change? How do people believe that an impossible thing is true anyway? Or that an inevitable thing may never happen?

Besides socialism, the talk will hopefully address impossibility and inevitability in contexts such as liberalism, capitalism, flat earth, the end of the world, extraterrestrial life, Scottish independence etc.

Saturday 3rd August

7.30 – 8.45: Breakfast

10.00 – 12.00:

Living In Capitalism As A Socialist

– Janet Surman

Profit is the backbone of capitalism and profit is made from a plethora of resources, the greatest and most easily attainable of which is the global human resource, to be found in any village, town or city anywhere on the planet. The capitalist system is well known for waste as a necessary part of maximising profit and there is no greater waste than that of the human potential trapped in non-productive, non-useful work.

This session will take a look at the human misery attached to jobs, to work that many don’t really want to do but have to do to survive and will also look at the opposite position when human potential can be fulfilled to the satisfaction, and pleasure even, of billions of individual human beings.

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at.” Oscar Wilde

12.30 – 13.15: Lunch

13.45 – 15.45:

Team Human’: Can You Live A ‘Socialist’ Life In Capitalism?

– Howard Moss

Someone recently wrote a book called ‘Team Human’ which emphasised that humans are social creatures who are most happy and fulfilled when working together for common goals. But how do we stay human in the vast antihuman infrastructure that is capitalism which constantly undermines our capacity to work together and connect with one another?

Despite the powerful forces that set us against one another (employment, nationalism, monetary gain), people are at their happiest when associating together in, for example, clubs, societies, family groups and social and political activities, which involve working with and helping other human beings. Socialists do this too. They belong to local clubs, community groups and trade unions. But how do they – or should they – react to being asked to go further and be associated with campaigns which involve, say, lobbying governments to improve conditions in particular areas, signing petitions calling on political parties to support certain changes in the law, or being members of or giving money to charities which seek to remedy deficiencies in social provision (e.g. housing, health care) or to save people from the consequences of sudden disasters, natural or man-made?

The Socialist view is that time spent in attempts to reform capitalism is time wasted. But on a human, day-to-day level, Socialists often find it difficult just to stand by and do nothing. So how do we cope with the constant dilemmas thrown up by wanting to spend our time helping to create a truly associative social system, yet constantly being called upon to help patch up the contrary arrangements fundamental to capitalism?

18.30 – 19.00: Dinner

19.15—20.45:

Socialists Synonymous – An Evening Of Personal Stories

– Carla Dee

As socialists, we see and understand the world in a very particular way and what is once seen cannot be unseen. How did we get here, and how has this affected our lives, our families and friends? Has being a socialist been a source of frustration, confrontation and disappointment or has the party case been an enlightenment and given us a sense of clarity and sanity? Or all of these things? Sometimes, thinking the way we do can be a lonely business.

Members and sympathisers get together to share our stories.

Sunday 4th August

7.30 – 8.45: Breakfast

10.00 – 12.00:

 ‘Ye Olde Worlde Revolution’

– Bill Martin‘

In 1264 the Baron’s war (which historian Adrian Jobson characterises as the First English Revolution) saw a wide-scale attempt to inhibit the power of the monarchy. It was a revolt in which the burghers (bourgeoisie) of London played a significant role. This struggle saw the birth of the English Parliament, but it would be a further 400 years until the final constitutional curbing of the power of royalty lead to the social dominance of the capitalist class in England.

This talk will look at the life and activity of the bourgeois revolutionary Thomas Fitzthomas, who led that primitive revolt against the English monarchy. It will look at how the bourgeoisie developed as a revolutionary class, and how they struggled within a still vigorous feudal system. It will address how the knowledge of the capitalist revolution arms the imagination of the socialists of today, but also haunts the ideas many have of revolution. It will look at the role of ideas and self-image in the making of a revolutionary class, and the role of ongoing class struggle in the cause of revolution.

12.30 – 13.15: Lunch

13.30: Close

People are welcome to just attend the talks, but need to book a visitor place in advance by emailing spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk; there is a charge for any meals.

Party News Briefs (1958)

Party News from the October 1958 issue of the Socialist Standard

Autumn Delegate Meeting. A reminder that this is being held on Saturday, October 4th (2.30 p.m.) and Sunday, October 5th (11.30 a.m.), at Head Office, 52, Clapham High Street, S.W.4.

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Nottingham. Some time ago, provisional arrangements were being made for a debate to be held between the Party and the Communist Party. The paid Organiser of the local Communist Party Branch had agreed to the debate, subject to final arrangements, which was to take place at the Cosmo Debating Society Hall, Nottingham. Our Nottingham Comrades were surprised to learn later that the Communist Party had withdrawn from the debate —no clear reason was given. However. Nottingham Branch Members have arranged for us to hold a meeting at the Cosmo Hall and Comrade Wilmott is going there on Sunday, October 5th. He will speak on “Socialism—One World, One People.” Full details elsewhere in this issue.

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Denison House. The Propaganda Committee endeavoured to arrange a Central London meeting for October 5th after the Delegate Meeting. Unfortunately a hall was not available, but the Committee has booked Denison House for Sunday. October 12th, at 7.30 p.m. “Socialism has no Colour Bar” is the subject of the meeting. Further details are shown in a notice in this issue.

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Sunday Film Meetings. A new series commences on Sunday, October, 19th, at Head Office. Time, 7.30 p.m. List of titles of later dates appear on page 162.

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U.S.A. aid Canada. Comrade D’Arcy found a brief few moments whilst travelling by air from Vancouver to Winnipeg, that he is halfway through his tour, which is keeping him very well occupied. There is no doubt that our Comrades in the West have made great preparations to ensure that fullest advantage could be taken from this visit. Comrade D’Arcy hopes to fully report his tour when he returns and no doubt the November Standard will contain, at least, a précis of his report.

Phyllis Howard

The Road to Peace (1957)

From the April 1957 issue of the Socialist Standard

A film with the above title was shown at our Head Office, 52, Clapham High Street, on January 6th. The meeting was part of our indoor winter activities where first a documentary film on some topic of current importance is shown, then a Party speaker gives the Socialist point of view, after which the audience takes part in questions and discussion.

On the evening in question the film, which ran for about 20 minutes, showed some of the horrors of war, including faces shrivelled up by napalm bombs. It then gave a glowing account of the activities of the World Peace Council leading up to its 1954 conference.

Pictures of large demonstrations in many countries all with banners demanding peace and the banning of H-Bombs were shown, and in the emotional excitement worked up in the film with the aid of a choir, we were told that the common people everywhere wanted peace. War can bring only suffering and destruction, the crowds in their demonstrations stood for peace. Friendship and negotiations are put forward as the Road To Peace.

A film which shows the ugliness of war and comes out as the champion of peace might well receive the acclaim of everybody, that is. everybody who does not look beneath the surface. Since the 1954 conference of the World Peace Council there have been countless negotiations, including the Geneva Conference of 1955, but none of the powers including those which sponsor the World Peace Council have stopped making H-Bombs or any other preparation for war.

Our speaker had to explain the cause of war as being rooted in the Capitalist system of international rivalry for trade routes, markets and natural resources as the film left this out of account.

Having explained that wars arise from the very nature of Capitalism our speaker went on to show the futility of mass demonstrations of people who did not want war but who, from lack of understanding, supported the conditions which cause it to occur. He went on to say that when the demonstrators went home and became once more individuals, each of them knowing no alternative to capitalism, helped to make up the millions who vote Labour, Conservative or so-called Communist, thus retaining the system from which war is inseparable.

The stand of the Socialist Party of Great Britain during both world wars and in the minor conflicts between and after them, including Korea, Suez, and Hungary, was stated clearly as flowing from our class objective recognising the world working-class as one with no interest in the employers profits.

Socialism was defined by our speaker as a world system where flags, nations, buying and selling, wages and profits would not exist but where common ownership of the natural and industrial resources of the earth would mean production for use and because their CAUSE had been removed, crises and wars could not occur.

Leadership, supported by the film, was condemned in favour of understanding.

The signing of petitions was stated to be futile whilst the Capitalists know they can count on the national feelings of the vast majority to support them and their wars; in fact a majority of those who signed the petition to “ban the bomb" voted for and helped to elect the very politicians they presented it to.

The question and discussion period showed the audience to be interested in how distribution would take place under Socialism without money and also how we could be sure we would have no dictators under Socialism. One contributor said money gives people “freedom of choice.” These and other points raised were dealt with in the winding up and the meeting was in every way a success. How about coming to our next one?

Harry Baldwin

London Meeting: 'Some Ideological Obstacles to Social Change to Socialism' (a talk by guest speaker) (2015)

A talk by Yehudi Webster (Guest speaker from the U.S.)

Sunday, 1 November at 3pm

The Socialist Party's premises,

52 Clapham High Street,

London SW4 7UN

Yehudi Webster is an associate professor of sociology at California State University, Los Angeles. He is currently teaching and lecturing at Lodz University under the auspices of the U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program. His topic will be New Approaches to Black History.

Professor Webster joined California State L.A. faculty in 1984. He received a M.S. in political economy from Warsaw University, Poland, an M.A. in Soviet studies from the University of London, England, and a Ph.D. in sociology from Warwick University, England. His interests and specialisations include philosophy, reasoning in social sciences, critical thinking, gender, racial, ethnic, and human perspectives on society. He has delivered numerous keynote addresses and conducted international workshops on these subjects. He also the author of two books: Against the Multicultural Agenda: A Critical Thinking Alternative (1997) and The Racialization of America (1992).

Yehudi will address the claims that 'human nature', scarce natural resources, the necessity of money for rational allocation of resources, the collapse of the Soviet 'experiment', and the un-avoidability of violence for governance, all make socialism impossible or Utopian.

Socialist Party Meeting in London (2015)

Lambeth Socialist Group

'All Coppers are Workers: The Police, the State and the Working Class'

Thursday, October 29, 2015 - 7pm

Venue: The Socialist Party's premises, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN

Directions: About four minutes walk from Clapham North tube on the Northern line and three minutes walk from Clapham High Street station on the circular overground line

Free admission and refreshments

Socialist Meeting in London: Peter Watkins' Culloden (2015)

'Culloden' (Film)

Sunday, 18 October 2015 - 6:00pm

Venue: The Socialist Party's premises, 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UN

Directions: About four minutes walk from Clapham North tube on the Northern line and three minutes walk from Clapham High Street station on the circular overground line

'Culloden', a film by Peter Watkins - running time 69 minutes. 

Introduction by Robert Worden with discussion afterwards

Peter Watkins will be 80 years of age in October 2015

"Culloden is a 1964 docudrama for BBC TV.  It portrays the 1746 Battle of Culloden that resulted in the British Army's destruction of the Scottish Jacobite rising of 1745 and, in the words of the narrator, "tore apart forever the clan system of the Scottish Highlands". Described in its opening credits as "an account of one of the most mishandled and brutal battles ever fought in Britain", Culloden was hailed as a breakthrough for its cinematography as well as its use of non-professional actors and its presentation of an historical event in the style of modern TV war reporting. The film was based on John Prebble's study of the battle."

Free admission and refreshments

See Also:

October 2015 Socialist Standard: Peter Watkins: A Revolutionary Film-Maker

Socialist Meeting in Brighton: 'The Environment and Red/Green Politics' (2015)

Socialist Party Meeting

The Environment and Red/Green Politics

Speaker: Howard Pilott 

(SPGB former parliamentary candidate for the Brighton Pavilion constituency)

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

7:30pm - 9:30pm

The Brighthelm Centre (Activities Hall - Lower Ground Floor), North Road, 

Brighton BN1 1YD.

Website: SPGB

Email: spgb@worldsocialism.org

Party News: Conway Hall Meeting (1980)

From the December 1980 issue of the Socialist Standard

The Bomb and the Dole Queue—Abolish the Cause, brought 110 people on November 10 to Conway Hall. Three speakers dealt with the subject matter. Steve Coleman, referring to the weapons of mass destruction, denied the relevance of a new-born CND in dealing with this issue. Socialists were not discriminatory; they opposed war in all its forms. E. Hardy showed the absurdity of Labour and Tory Government schemes to deal with unemployment. More, or less, government expenditure had little impact on the dole queue. This was an in-built feature of a system based on production for profit. Dick Donnelly from Glasgow Branch posed the socialist alternative to capitalism that gives rise not only to the problems dealt with by the other speakers but additional problems that were a chunk of working class life. He rammed home the need for workers to reject all leaders and media imposed ideas, and work for socialism where human needs will be the determining factor. A world of co-operation with social conditions that allowed men and women to realise their potential.

Nearly an hour of questions and discussion followed. Dick Donnelly rounded the meeting off with a moving and lucid exhortation to workers to join us now in establishing a harmonious, classless society, quoting Marx's message to the working class, "You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to gain".

Summer School 2015: New Perspectives on Socialism (2015)

From the March 2015 issue of the Socialist Standard

The principles of revolutionary socialism were formed over a hundred years ago. Then,  capitalist growth was being fuelled by the technological and logistical developments   following the Industrial Revolution. Since then, the history of capitalism has been marked by economic peaks and troughs, two World Wars, the rise and fall of state capitalism, massive advances in science, and widespread shifts in culture and beliefs. The Socialist Party of Great Britain argues that its original principles are still valid despite all these changes. This is because the basic structure of capitalism persists, regardless of  differences in the way it is organised.

But is this right? Has society changed so much that class structure and the role of the state are significantly different now compared to previous centuries? What effects have these changes had on class consciousness and the likelihood of revolution? And how should revolutionary socialists respond through their theory and activity? It’s always healthy to re-examine our beliefs, to see if they still apply to our ever-changing world. This weekend of talks and discussion will be an opportunity to take a fresh look at several important aspects of the socialist viewpoint.

Full residential cost (including accommodation and meals Friday  evening to Sunday afternoon) is £80. The concessionary rate is £40. Day visitors are welcome, but please book in advance. To book a place, send a cheque (payable to the Socialist Party of Great Britain) to Summer School, Sutton Farm, Aldborough, Boroughbridge, York, YO51 9ER, or book online through the QR code or athttp://spgb.net/summerschool2015.

E-mail enquiries to spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk

"What's Wrong With Using Parliament?"

Via the SPGB's MeetUp Page:

Saturday, 20th November 5pm.

Official launch of The Socialist Party's latest publication:

"What's Wrong With Using Parliament?",

with an introduction by Stair.

"Stair has had a long interest and involvement with what he may have described at one time as "anti-authoritarian politics".

Housmans was one of the destinations he had on his agenda pre-internet on numerous trips to London when further exploring these ideas.

His employment meant he did his "time" in the "retail and service sector" and will talk about his experience of the attitudes and positions of his fellow workers and how some of these observations tie into the question of "how we get from here to there", a classless, wageless, moneyless, stateless society.

This pamphlet comes at a time when many people are questioning the destructive effects of capitalism and also with it a rejection of leaders and the traditional left. This is something that can be encouraged. The aim of the pamphlet is to show that there is another view of social change that may be a "blind spot" with those who get involved with "anti-capitalist", "activist" or/and "anarchist" politics".

Location: Housmans Bookshop

5 Caledonian Road,

Kings Cross,

London N1 9DX

SPGB London Day School: 'Can You Buy Happiness?'

Day School

– Saturday, 25th September from 12.00 noon

Socialist Party premises,

52 Clapham High St, SW4 7UN

(nearest tube:Clapham North)

Happy Shopper

Ed Blewitt (Clinical Psychologist) will look how our understanding of happiness is closely related to consumerism. Ed’s talk on the ‘Happy shopper’ is taking a look at how the happiness industry developed in the 19th century in the form of the good life through to its modern guise of an ‘individual feeling’. This shift in the social perspective is compatible with the capitalist notion of an atomistic individual separated from society where the search for happiness is the individual’s goal in life.

Manhattan for a handful of beads

Peter Rigg (Analytical Psycho-therapist) He's titled his talk 'Manhattan for a handful of beads’ in a systematic approach which argues and illustrates how we’ve been sold consumerism in the form of cars, mobile phones, holidays, etc., in exchange for true democracy. Peter will be drawing a parallel between infantile functioning and consumer culture and between psychological maturity and democracy, besides touching on the illusion of being a sovereign consumer. In short, Peter will be putting consumerism on the couch!

The consumption of capitalism

Brian Johnson (retired Disability Counsellor) We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘Keeping up with Jones’ but rarely established how such phrases have impacted on the social relationships within the family and wider society. Brian will investigate the social drives that set consumerism in motion with a thorough analysis on how consumerism affects all classes. His talk on ‘The
consumption of capitalism’ delves into how consumerism is having an effect on our expectations and aspirations, lifestyles, perceptions of reality and much more.

Refreshments will be available during the talks. There will be a social in the evening with some light musical entertainment by Peter Rigg along with food and drink. All in all this half day school promises to be an event full of insight; engaging and entertaining.

Socialist Meeting in London: Hunter, Fisherman, Shepherd and Critic

One for your diary:

And the accompanying blurb:

Hunter, Fisherman, Shepherd, Critic: Karl Marx's Vision of the Free Individual

A lot of nonsense is talked about Karl Marx, most of it from people who have never read him.

Many consider his work to be discredited by the dictatorial regimes that were set up in his name. But what did Karl Marx actually have to say?

Was he in favour of dictatorship? Did he think that the state should impose dull uniformity, rigid regimentation and boring work on its citizens? Did he think that human nature and talents should be suppressed in the name of equality and altruism and for the benefit of a collectivity?

No. In fact, Karl Marx's driving passion his whole life was the free development of the individual. Karl Marx was not opposed to the capitalist ideas of choice, liberty and individual freedom. He supported the ideas, but opposed the society that prevented them becoming a reality.

He wanted to be able "to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic".

In this talk, we will consider whether Karl Marx's vision of the free individual is just an idle dream, or something that could actually be achieved. And if so, how?

Speaker: Stuart Watkins

All welcome.

Free entry. Free discussion. Free refreshments.

I'm sure it will be an excellent talk. The speaker at the meeting is an excellent writer for both the Socialist Standard, and his personal blog, Big Chief Tablets.

Business Growth in Conflict With the Environment

Film of a Socialist Party talk given by Glenn Morris in London on the 3rd July 2010. You can access all five parts of the talk here.

Socialist Meeting in London: Class struggle and climate change

Socialist Party public meeting

"Class struggle and climate change - the politics of personal consumption."

"We keep being told, these days, to reduce, re-use and recycle, to cut down on the meat, the car, the pets and the foreign holidays, to turn down, switch off, unplug and stand-by. The moral pressure-front of climate change is firmly upon us, yet when we take a look at the figures we find that the domestic share of consumption and waste is a small part of the overall picture, and that the lion's share is neither in our control nor even in the control of governments. It is in the hands of the tiny percentage of the Earth's population whom luck or inheritance have made into the super-rich. These are the people defecating on the global doorstep and then blaming the rest of us for the smell.

It's enough to make any class-conscious worker spit and say to hell with recycling. But that would be a big mistake."

Speaker: Paddy Shannon

Saturday, June 19th

6pm

The Socialist Party Head Office,

52 Clapham High Street,

London SW4 7UN.

(nearest tubes: Clapham North and Clapham Common.)

Website: SPGB

Email: spgb@worldsocialism.org

Socialism Or Your Money Back Blog

SPGB Election Forum: 'Can politicians save the planet?'

Socialist Meeting in London: Social Change and Class Interest

Socialist Party public meeting

Social Change and Class Interest

Speaker: Pat Deutz

Sunday, October 4th

6pm

The Socialist Party Head Office,

52 Clapham High Street,

London SW4 7UN.

(nearest tubes: Clapham North and Clapham Common.)

Website: SPGB

Email: spgb@worldsocialism.org

Socialism Or Your Money Back Blog

Socialist Meeting in London: Masters and Servants

Socialist Party public meeting

“The free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves”

Speaker: Danny Lambert

Sunday, September 6th

6pm

The Socialist Party Head Office,

52 Clapham High Street,

London SW4 7UN.

(nearest tubes: Clapham North and Clapham Common.)

Website: SPGB

Email: spgb@worldsocialism.org

Socialism Or Your Money Back Blog

Socialist Meeting in London: Marx, Myth and Money

The Socialist Party

Presents

Marx, Myth and Money

Speaker: Pat Deutz

Saturday, August 29th

7pm

The Socialist Party Head Office,

52 Clapham High Street,

London SW4 7UN.

(nearest tubes: Clapham North and Clapham Common.)

Website: SPGB

Email: spgb@worldsocialism.org

Socialism Or Your Money Back Blog