How you can do a spot of work for Socialism (1936)

Socialist Standard News from the November 1936 issue of the Socialist Standard

The majority of the libraries in the big towns now show a copy of The Socialist Standard. We would like to get The Socialist Standard on show in every library in the land. Our Libraries Committee will co-operate with you in bringing this about, but it falls on you, as a local resident, to take the initiative.

Write to the chief librarian of your own public library and ask why The Socialist Standard is not on show. Get your friends to write. Inform our Libraries Committee that you are doing this, and they will reinforce your enquiry by writing a letter from Head Office enclosing a specimen copy of The Socialist Standard.

An interesting fact which you can mention in your letter is that the New York State Public Library recently acquired a complete set of Socialist Standard’s, right back to the first issue.

Libraries naturally vary in their methods of acquiring literature, but you can say that The Socialist Standard can be obtained through W. H. Smith & Son, or by subscription direct, or the Socialist Party of Great Britain will keep the library supplied free of charge.

The most effective method of getting The Socialist Standard on show is by pressure from local residents, either by interviewing or by letter, but letters are the most effective, because they can be retained and submitted by the librarian to the local libraries committee. If you do not know exactly how to frame your letter, write to the Libraries Committee, 42, Gt. Dover Street, S.E.l, and they will help you in the task.

We are fully convinced that those who realise what a big thing Socialism is, and the necessity for it, will tackle this job right away.

New Party Pamphlet: War and the Working Class (1936)

Party Notice from the November 1936 issue of the Socialist Standard 

Do you know why modern wars occur?

Do you know what is the Socialist attitude towards war?

Do you know that the S.P.G.B. was the only political organisation in Great Britain which proclaimed its Socialist opposition to the Great War immediately it broke out and kept to that attitude throughout the War?

Do you know what attitude you as a worker should take up towards war?

For answers to these and other questions read

"WAR AND THE WORKING CLASS” .

36 pages, 2d. Post free 2½d.

Blogger's Note:

The text of this pamphlet is available on the SPGB website.

Reproduced below is the preface from that pamphlet.

War and the Working Class

The Socialist Party States the Case

Preface

The Socialist Party of Great Britain, like a voice crying in the wilderness, has always maintained that capitalism and war are inseparable.

There can be no capitalism without conflicts of economic interest. From these arise the national rivalries and hatreds, the fears and armaments which may at any time provoke war on a terrifying scale. Most people do not take the Socialist view. Even when faced with the Great World War of 1914-18 human hopefulness everywhere refused to accept what appeared to be a doctrine of despair. To say that capitalism must produce tense international situations from which war may burst at any crisis seemed like the passive acceptance of a series of wars, each more horrible than the last. So in the midst of the last Great War the peoples of all lands cherished a belief in a new world freed from fear and from war. It was left to the S.P.G.B., in its official organ, the Socialist Standard, in November, 1914, to insist on the bitter truth: “… the facts point irresistibly to further great wars. They indicate that no sooner will the present struggle have ceased than diplomats will be at work forming new alliances, and the Krupps and Armstrongs busy evolving fresh ‘surprises’ and mightier means of war. . .”

Nobody will now deny that the world is as ripe for war as in 1914. The diminishing number of those who can believe in the League of Nations since the Abyssinian fiasco carry on a disheartened struggle. The Conservatively-minded preach armaments and still more armaments, “to ensure peace and security”, while those who claim to stand for progress can think of no solution more hopeful than to restore Colonies to German capitalism – in other words to return to the state of affairs out of which the last war arose!

Only the Socialist can look realities in the face and not give way to despair. Our message is one of hope—of coming triumph. You have the choice of roads, a choice which all humanity must make. The one road is the road of blood and tears, of capitalism and war. The other is the road to Socialism. Only by ending the exploitation of man by man can we strike at the roots of war.

Executive Committee, S.P.G.B. August. 1936.

SPGB Meetings and Economics Classes (1936)

Party News from the November 1936 issue of the Socialist Standard 

Blogger's Notes:

'Reginald' was the name that Augustus Snellgrove used for speaking engagements and writing for the Socialist Standard. 

'G. Clifford' was Clifford Groves.

'R. Robertus' was Robert Reynolds.

Though 'N. Nesbit' is listed repeatedly in the Socialist Standard during this period, either as a Party lecturer or as an outdoor speaker, there is no record of a 'Nesbit' in the Party membership records.

'Hardy' was the name Edgar Hardcastle used when listed as a speaker at Party meetings. He wrote for the Socialist Standard under the pen-name of 'H'.

SPGB Meetings and Educational Visits (1936)

Party News from the November 1936 issue of the Socialist Standard 

Blogger's Notes:

• 'L. Otway' was the husband of May Otway. Both Otways joined Walthamstow Branch of the SPGB in October 1924. Whilst May Otway resigned her membership of the Party in April 1940, L. Otway was lapsed from Party membership in May 1942.
• Thirty years before debating the SPGB in Glasgow in November 1936, Guy Aldred was in correspondence with the SPGB about possibly joining the Party. He never did. Twenty-six years after that debate at the Clarion Scouts' Hall against John Higgins of the SPGB, Aldred stood against a SPGB candidate at the November 1962 Glasgow Woodside bye-election. What's interesting about the debate with Aldred is that there is no mention of the fact that in 1936 he would have been a leading member of the United Socialist Movement. I wonder if he spoke as their representative in the debate, or was he just speaking in an individual capacity?
• 'Robertus' was Robert Reynolds.
• 'G. Clifford' was Clifford Groves.
• 'H. Russell' was Henry Russell. He joined the Southwark Branch of the SPGB in September 1933 and he was a member of the Party until his membership was lapsed in November 1952.