SPGB Meetings (1973)

Party News from the December 1973 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meetings (1973)

Party News from the October 1973 issue of the Socialist Standard

SPGB Meeting: A Socialist View of the Middle East Crisis (1990)

Party News from the September 1990 issue of the Socialist Standard

Blogger's Note:

The letters page of the November 1990 issue of the Socialist Standard carried a couple of comments about the September 11th meeting, including critical comments from the Left-Communist International Communist Current.

There is a recording of the available. Sadly, I can't embed the video on the blog but it is available on the SPGB's website. I haven't listened to it, so I can't vouch for the sound quality.

THE GULF CRISIS – ANOTHER WAR FOR OIL

Panel – Steve Coleman, Richard Headicar, Kerima Mohideen

Venue: Conway Hall, London

Date: 11th September 1990

Annual Conference (1947)

Party News from the May 1947 issue of the Socialist Standard

The 43rd Annual Conference was held at the Conway Hall in London on April 4th, 5th and 6th. 60 Delegates from 22 London and provincial branches examined the party's work during 1946 and discussed how to increase and improve organised Socialist activity in the future. It was a conference of Socialists and there were no disputes about our objective or how to arrive at it. We spent three days in sharpening our weapons of attack on Capitalism. The conference wanted more educational work for members, closer contacts with workers abroad and a continuance of the struggle against Capitalism's parties on the electoral field. It critically surveyed the party's publications and pressed for a greater range of pamphlets dealing with all phases of Capitalism to aid us in our fight for Socialism. The discussions were lively and interesting and it was very encouraging to hear a large number of young delegates competently putting their branches' views. Fraternal greetings were received from companion parties, overseas which were reciprocated by the Conference. It was a democratic conference of working men and women who were united on fundamental issues and it showed how the working-class can manage its own affairs without direction or leadership.

On Sunday evening three speakers hammered home our policy at the Annual Rally which concluded the conference. The conference was successful financially, helped by the income from the Saturday evening social. A large number of members and sympathisers danced and generally enjoyed themselves. Some members want these free and easy social get-togethers to take place more often.

Clifford Groves

Blogger's Note:

The three Party speakers at the Annual Conference Rally were Arthur Mertons (Manchester), Tony Mulheron (Glasgow) and Tony Turner (London).

50 Years Ago: Conference Report (2022)

The 50 Years Ago column from the May 2022 issue of the Socialist Standard

The 1972 Annual Conference of the Socialist Party of Great Britain was held at Conway Hall, London, over Easter and was attended by delegates and visitors from many parts of Britain. Among the resolutions passed were ones criticising the format of the Socialist Standard for being too formal, calling for consideration of publishing Russia 1917-67 in German and committing the Party to contesting at least one seat in every General Election. (…)

At one point the proceedings were undemocratically interrupted by a group calling themselves “the London Situationists” who noisily stopped a discussion on the need to develop Marxist theory in order to hand out An Open Letter to the SPGB. This turned out to be a peculiar amalgam of Freudian pseudo-psychology (both Marcuse and Reich, despite their opposing views), some organisational ideas and an ill-informed criticism of our policy of conscious political action, via the ballot box and Parliament, to establish Socialism. The organisational criticism boiled down to saying that the time was not yet ripe for a formal, centralised socialist group, while the political criticism failed to take into account that the Socialist Party has never said that the establishment of Socialism involves just a few million X’s for Socialism followed by a parliamentary resolution. We have always said that Socialism can only be established by a conscious, participating working class organised not only politically to capture and destroy the State machine but also outside parliament ready to take over and run industry and society generally.

The best—and most readable (most of it is written in mock political French)—part of the document which called for “the automated economy of abundance’’ was clearly influenced by our thinking anyway. Unfortunately, though they will the end they don’t will the means. The spectre of the Russian Revolution still haunts them: their alternative of our policy is “workers’ councils”, i.e. soviets!

(Socialist Standard, May 1972)

The cancelled debate with Mr. Bradley (1940)

Party News from the June 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

A large audience filled Conway Hall on May 19th to hear a debate between Comrade Rubin, for the S.P.G.B., and Mr. G. Bradley, for the Fourth International. Unfortunately, the debate did not take place, owing to the non-appearance of Mr. Bradley. Without any preliminary warning a letter was received from Mr. Bradley at the Hall itself, at the time the debate was to have taken place, saying that he was prevented from attending owing to illness.

As the debate was off, Comrade Rubin gave an address on the question at issue (“Which Way to Socialism — Democracy or Insurrection?”), which was greatly appreciated by the audience.

'Anti-apartheid' denounced (1970)

From the May 1970 issue of the Socialist Standard

Anti-apartheid was denounced as a slogan of British imperialism at a meeting in Conway Hall, London, on 16 March addressed by I. B. Tabata, President of the Unity Movement of South Africa and N. Honono, President of the All-African Convention (a constituent organisation of the Unity Movement).

The South African ruling class, argued Tabata (what follows is only a summary of his arguments not an exact report of his speech), was split over how to govern the millions of African workers and peasants on whose labour the South African capitalist economy rested. The bulk of the industrial wealth of South Africa was owned either by capitalists from Britain or the English-speaking section of the White population. British imperialism had come to realise that it was no longer necessary to govern places like India and Africa by means of direct colonial rule. They had learned that it was cheaper and less inconvenient to rule through “independent” governments. However the bulk of the South African electorate, made up of White workers and farmers, was Afrikaans-speaking and traditionally opposed to British imperialism. They followed the lead of the Nationalist Party which preached that the only way to govern the Africans was by police methods. Brutal apartheid was the implementation of this policy of suppression. This the British capitalists and their counter-parts in South Africa, like gold magnate Oppenheimer, regarded as unnecessary and even dangerous in that it could provoke unrest and violence that would endanger their investments. They would prefer to rule through the White opposition parties (with their policy of less rigid segregation) or even, if necessary through organisations like the African National Congress. The “anti-apartheid" campaign by obscuring the class struggle of the African peasants and workers against capitalist exploitation and oppression, served their interests. As the Unity Movement put it in their pamphlet The Revolutionary Road for South Africa:

  In terms of the South African set-up, anti-apartheid means anti-Afrikaner Nationalist Government. It means the return to power of the English speaking sections. It means the entrenchment of imperialism in South Africa and all that that connotes for the exploitation of the mass of the Black population.

This is an analysis which the Socialist Party of Great Britain would largely endorse and is one reason why we do not take part in single-issue campaigns such as “Boycott South African Goods” and "Stop the Cricket Tour”. It is in fact in line with what we ourselves have long argued: that the rigid apartheid imposed by a government drawing its support from a farm-orientated electorate is a hindrance to the development of capitalism in South Africa and is against the interests of both the South African capitalist class and the international capitalists who have investments there. We have always rejected the facile view that apartheid is imposed by these capitalists in order to protect their investments.

The Socialist Party is of course opposed to apartheid, but to separate the struggle against apartheid and other forms of oppression and discrimination from the general struggle for Socialism (which will mean the emancipation of all mankind, irrespective of race or sex) is to play into the hands of that section of the South African ruling class that is opposed to apartheid.

We also have fundamental criticisms of the programme and policy of the Unity Movement, which is heavily influenced by obsolete trotskyist ideas about Russia and China being “workers states”, about leadership and "transitional demands” and about guerilla warfare. Nevertheless, on the issue of anti-apartheid, we concede that they take up a basically correct position. Wc doubt however whether their supporters in this country, who include Tariq Ali, really understand the full implications of this line of argument.

Nazism and Bolshevism: Historical Development Explained (1940)

Party News from the January 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

The Conway Hall (Large Hall) was crowded on Friday, December 8th, to hear Comrades S. Goldstein and S. Rubin deal with the above subject.

The interest of the big audience was maintained throughout. This was exceptionally gratifying, in view of the difficult nature of the subject, which necessitated closely reasoned statements from both speakers.

Many questions followed the two speeches and further evidence of the stimulating effect the meeting had upon the audience was the sale of literature to the value of £8.

Comrade Turner’s appeal from the chair brought a collection of nearly £12 and set the seal on a very successful meeting.

Socialists and the War (1940)

Party News from the January 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

On Sunday, December 17th, Conway Hall was again crowded to hear two rousing speeches from Comrades C. Lestor and R. Robertus on Socialist opposition to the war. The temper of the audience showed itself by the frequent bursts of applause which greeted the many salient points made by both speakers.

During the meeting a Trotskyist was given an opportunity to state his case from the platform for 10 minutes. Comrade R. Robertus replied effectively. The end of the meeting came with many of the numerous written questions on the Chairman's table.

The Chairman, Comrade R. Ambridge, announced that a further meeting would be held on this subject in the same Hall during January, when further opposition and questions would be invited.

Collection amounted to over £12 and literature sales again were high.

Branch News (1961)

Party News from the September 1961 issue of the Socialist Standard

Two items of news regarding the Party’s activity during July must reassure members of the increasing results of the work done by Comrades in our effort to propagate Socialism.

On July 19th the second mid-week Demonstration for Socialism meetings was held at Conway Hall. London. To an audience of nearly 400, Comrades Grant and Hardy (Comrade Fahy in the Chair) held an inspiring meeting. The audience put some excellent questions and took part in discussion—all dealt with by the speakers in full. So much so that many people who were slightly interested in the Party's case, remarked that much had been learned by the discussion and they were anxious to hear and learn more. Good literature sales were made and a collection of £25 odd was taken up. The Propaganda Committee arranged this meeting and plans are being made for a further Demonstration for Socialism on October 18th, in the Caxton Hall, London.

The other item of moment was the result of the small band of literature sellers organised by the new Literature Sales Committee, who sold literature at Earls Court during the Russian Exhibition. Over 1,100 pamphlets were sold, 700 odd were the pamphlet “Russia Since 1917" and the amount handed in to Head Office was nearly £65. This is a remarkable effort and demonstrates so well that if Comrades organise together on such projects, much can be done to get the Party's case over to the workers who must know and understand it in order to achieve the aim of every Socialist—Socialism.

The Autumn Delegate Meeting is being held at Head Office, on Saturday (afternoon 2.30 to 5.30) and Sunday (11.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.) on October 7th and 8th. The Standing Orders Committee are making special efforts to re-arrange the seating arrangements and it is hoped that a good attendance will be there to hear about the successful half-year's work of Party Comrades in London and the Provinces. Scotland and Wales. It is hoped that a report will be available from America where Comrade Gilmac is attending as our representative to the Annual Conference of the W.S.P.

Wembley Branch members returned from holiday at the end of July and ready for the fray once more. Plans in hand at the time of going to Press, included a combined canvassing and propaganda trip to Southsea on August 27th and an indoor public meeting in the Autumn at Wembley. This will be the Branch’s first attempt at indoor propaganda and careful arrangements will be necessary. All branch members will be informed and are urged to give their utmost support.

The Branch has held a series of very successful meetings at Gloucester Road with attentive audiences and literature sales showing a marked improvement on previous seasons. Is this part of a general awakening of interest in our case? We hope so and anyway Branch members will do their best to exploit it to the full. Canvassing efforts continue and the practice is to send a team to selected areas month by month, with one comrade following up the contacts made. Some good contacts have been made, but the Branch is restricted by manpower shortage. Absent Comrades please note.

The following is an extract from a letter received from Comrade Everson of New Zealand.

  “In New Zealand at present there is much concern about the possibility of Great Britain joining the European Common Market. A very gloomy future is predicted by the politicians. Mr. Holyoake and company have taken the opportunity to use it as an excuse to postpone their tax reducing election promise for ‘at least another year!’ Many young married workers I contact are very worried about the future, not simply at being unemployed, but at losing overtime work. In spite of the child allowance of 15s. per week for each child, the lower paid workers, reduced to the much boasted 40 hour week, would suffer hardships, unemployment would be disastrous. What a system! After all the years of so-called prosperity, referred to by the Labour politicians as the ‘Honeymoon’, a short spell of unemployment would put most workers on the bread line".

Bright Note. It is noticeable, after some long while of static membership numbers, that applications for membership to the Party are becoming a much more frequent item of E.C. business.

Phyllis Howard

Recent Socialist Activities (1991)

Party News from the October 1991 issue of the Socialist Standard

A hundred people attended the Socialist Party meeting in Conway Hall, Central London. on 3 September on recent events in the Soviet Union at which the speakers exposed the twin lies that "the socialist countries” had been socialist and “the free world” free. The Socialist Party had been the one organisation in this country' which had consistently opposed the view that Russia had had anything to do with socialism; capitalism had never been abolished in Russia but had been developed there under the Bolshevik dictators Lenin and Stalin in the form of a state-run capitalism; this state capitalism was now giving way to a more market-directed type of capitalism, and now everyone could see that Russia was capitalist; our position had been completely vindicated.

Opposition came from a group of Leninists who distributed a leaflet headed "Stalinism was the Gravedigger of the October Revolution" which spoke of "the shining example of workers' revolution which 1917 still represents" when, allegedly, the working class took power "under the political leadership of its class party". This whitewash of Lenin and defence of the Bolshevik coup was not well received by the assembled workers.

The first meeting in the new series of Central London Sunday afternoon meetings got off to a good start on 8 September when over 30 people filled the meeting room in Dick Sheppard House, Euston, to hear the opening talk on "Why We Need to Change Society". Details of this month’s subjects can be found on the Meetings Page of this issue.

Letters: Anti-War Meeting (1990)

Letters to the Editors from the November 1990 issue of the Socialist Standard


Anti-War Meeting

Dear Editors

I attended the meeting at Conway Hall on Tuesday 11th September when the subject discussed was 'the Gulf Crisis’. The speakers put the Socialist case very powerfully which clearly illustrated the true and fundamental nature of the crisis—oil; and the one who had lived in Kuwait gave valuable information on the history of the State and the existing circumstances of the people.

I had to leave early and it maybe that the debate with the audience livened up and took a more serious turn after I had gone, but I left feeling disappointed and with a general impression that the sound arguments of the Socialist Party had been delivered in a manner inclined to beget antagonism from the general public. I felt that a degree of recognition of the dilemma of the Western Powers and the act of aggression by Saddam Hussein would not have been out of place. No thinking person will disagree with the diagnosis of the Party and their assertion that international war is inherent in the capitalist system, but given the circumstances of our obscene capitalist world what other outcome could we expect?

Would you not agree that some glimmer of hope arises from the fact that the United Nations, whatever their motives, have shown unification in their condemnation of aggression by a militarily powerful State over a small and militarily weak one? This surely cannot be a bad thing! It is a move, however inadequate we may regard it, towards a semblance of co-operation, which I would have thought would give some encouragement to Socialists, who by the nature of their philosophy advocate co-operation and not competition. Who knows—the co-operation idea could catch on and develop in other spheres! Similarly, I think Socialists can be encouraged by the Green Party which, though not fully understanding the nature of commodity production, has come to understand that in order to solve the ecological problems facing us we must take a serious look at the mode and manner of the production process.

Like members of the Socialist Party I want the Socialist case to become widely known and to be properly understood. This is no easy task for the Socialist Party—our rotten system is deeply ingrained into the minds and manners of men and it is going to take a lot to remove it. Maybe sometimes a softer approach rather than a bullheaded all-out condemnation of the efforts of those who try to bring about some improvement within existing conditions is required. I put it to you.

George Pearson

London SW20

Reply:
You are quite mistaken about the United Nations. Like the old League of Nations this is a "league of bandits" bringing together the political representatives of all the ruling classes in the world. It can only act with the agreement and acquiescence of the dominant capitalist States— America, Russia, Britain, France and China—and is being used on this occasion as a flag of convenience under which the Western powers are mustering to prepare any military action that might be necessary to protect the security of their oil supplies. We see nothing hopeful in such military co-operation to defend the commercial interests of the capitalists of the West.

We can and do recognise hopeful developments within capitalism but this does not extend to preparations for war.

Editors.

Holier than thou?

The following report of the same meeting appeared in the October 1990 issue of "World Revolution".

On 11 September the Socialist Party of Great Britain held a public meeting on the Gulf crisis. This meeting was called on a working class terrain, since the SP denounces both sides in the conflict as equally obnoxious from the standpoint of the workers.

The ICC comrades present at this meeting affirmed our agreement with this basic class position. Or rather, attempted to affirm it, because our efforts to do so were drowned in a cascade of objections from the praesidium. Normally at SPGB meetings we are not obstructed from putting forward our positions. We can only assume that this sea-change occurred because this was a big meeting with the ‘gentlemen of the press' present, and the SPGB wanted to present itself nationally as the only force in British (parliamentary) politics to be taking a stand against the war. The SPGB was clearly embarrassed that the 'Leninists' of the ICC, who they like to lump in with leftist groups like the SWP, were taking an even more intransigent stand than they were. This sectarian attitude, which is based on the idea that the SP alone in the entire world defends the interests of the working class, is moreover rooted at the very heart of the SP's politics.

However, all the provisions made by the praesidium to run a tight ship at the meeting did not prevent them from clashing against the rocks when the simple and obvious question was posed to them by a member of the audience: what should workers do about the situation?’

The point is not that this is an easy question to answer in a detailed fashion, but that the SP cannot answer it even in principle. They had no answer in the First World War, nor in the Second, and they still don't have an answer today.

This is because they have no conception of the working class as an active force in history. They are completely lost in a fantasy in which the working class comes to power through the mechanisms of bourgeois democracy, through elections and such-like. Therefore, they cannot answer the question of how the mass of the working class can act to avert war.

And the only ’answer' they could give to the questioner was to tell her, essentially, to join the SP—and hope that this would be as individually fulfilling for her as it was for them!

Reply:
We are heartened that we are not alone in taking up the position that the threatening war in the Middle East is a capitalist conflict over oil and trade, routes-and that no issue is at stake, on either side, justifying the sacrifice of the life of a single member of the working class.

What to do? When war threatens or breaks out, all that Socialists can do is to denounce this as yet another manifestation of the barbarity of capitalism and to reaffirm that the workers of the world have a common interest in uniting to end capitalism and establish socialism as a world community without frontiers based on the common ownership and democratic control of the world's natural and industrial resources.

Readers interested in (if they have not already guessed) our views on the ICC and their admiration for Lenin are referred to an article in the August 1980 issue of the Socialist Standard (available from our Head Office for the price of a stamped addressed envelope). Those who want to verify that the meeting was conducted in our habitual democratic manner can purchase the tape-recording of the meeting—as, indeed, we urge all those interested in the socialist position on the Gulf crisis to do.

Editors.

Conference Report (1972)

Party News from the May 1972 issue of the Socialist Standard

The 1972 annual conference of the Socialist Party of Great Britain was held at Conway Hall, London, over Easter and was attended by delegates and visitors from many parts of Britain. Among the resolutions passed were ones criticising the format of the Socialist Standard for being too formal, calling for consideration of publishing Russia 1917-67 in German and committing the Party to contesting at least one seat in every General Election. Conference again discussed the Party’s attitude to reforms and the following resolution was carried:

That this Conference affirms that the Socialist Party of Great Britain has as its sole object the establishment of Socialism. It is a revolutionary Party based on the class struggle. All reforms are put into operation on behalf of one section or another of the capitalists in their own interests, even though some may contain incidental advantages to the workers. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is opposed to the workers wasting time and energy in attempting to improve capitalism by means of reforms, thus obscuring the class struggle. Consequently, the Party cannot support any action aimed at gaining or maintaining a reform as such support would not only confuse the workers but it would overlook the fact that the Party’s sole object is the establishment of Socialism. We must therefore confine ourselves directly to the furtherance of that object and not take any steps up the blind alley of reformism. This statement deals with reforms, not with the Party’s attitude to the struggle of the workers on the industrial field.

At one point the proceedings were undemocratically interrupted by a group calling themselves “the London Situationists” who noisily stopped a discussion on the need to develop Marxist theory in order to hand out An Open Letter to the SPGB. This turned out to be a peculiar amalgam of Freudian pseudo-psychology (both Marcuse and Reich, despite their opposing views), some organisational ideas and an ill-informed criticism of our policy of conscious political action, via the ballot box and Parliament, to establish Socialism. The organisational criticism boiled down to saying that the time was not yet ripe for a formal, centralised socialist group, while the political criticism failed to take into account that the Socialist Party has never said that the establishment of Socialism involves just a few million X’s for Socialism followed by a parliamentary resolution. We have always said that Socialism can only be established by a conscious, participating working class organised not only politically to capture and destroy the State machine but also outside parliament ready to take over and run industry and society generally.

The best—and most readable (most of it is written in mock political French)—part of the document which called for “the automated economy of abundance’’ was clearly influenced by our thinking anyway. Unfortunately, though they will the end they don’t will the means. The spectre of the Russian Revolution still haunts them: their alternative of our policy is “workers’ councils”, i.e. soviets!

Party News Briefs (1956)

Party News from the March 1956 issue of the Socialist Standard

There are several items of interest to report and it would be as well to note these in diaries. The Annual Conference Friday, Saturday and Sunday. March 30th. 31st and April 1st. at Conway Hall, is of great interest to all Party members. The proceedings open each day at 11 a.m, Should any Provincial delegates require accommodation or information please write direct (or through branch secretaries) to the General Secretary or Party Organiser. Particularly in cases where delegates require accommodation, it is essential that arrangements are not left to the last moment as it may cause inconvenience to themselves and to members who would prefer to be prepared rather than make hurried arrangements during Conference time.

On the Saturday the Annual Dance and Social will be held in the same hall, and on the Sunday evening a Propaganda Rally will be held, this also at Conway Hall. It is hoped that these three functions will be well attended and members are asked to make every effort to come along.

*    *    *    *

Monday, March 12th, at 7.30 p.m., also at Conway Hall, a meeting is being held—speakers Comrades Bryan and May. The subject “ Britain’s Departing Empire—the Socialist Attitude.” As the Party has not held any large Central London meetings this season, it is hoped that this one will be really successful and the Propaganda Committee urges members to advertise the meeting as widely as possible, the Subject is an interesting one and should attract a good audience.

*    *    *    *

Debate with I.L.P., held at the Central Library, Bermondsey, on Monday, 6th February, was very successful, the debate was well attended and although no hard words were bandied (Comrade Wilmott said he was in a very good mood!) both Comrade Wilmott and Frank Maitland (I.L.P.) provided food for thought and made the evening an interesting one. Joe Thomas (Worker's League) was an able Chairman.

*    *    *    *

Ealing Branch.—Ealing Branch are already making active preparations for their May Sales Drive to dispose of 1,000 Socialist Standards. In an effort to extend the idea throughout the Party, it has circularised all Branches (and Central Branch members) with a view to getting them to accept certain basic commitments. These are (1) to guarantee to carry out a minimum of eight canvasses; (2) to double their usual order of S.S. (this means also committing themselves to twice their usual financial outgoings); and (3) to insert announcements of their canvassing programmes in the May S.S. Several branches have already responded to this appeal and many others are expected to do so. It is intended to set up a committee, composed of members from the various branches taking part in the drive, to co-ordinate and direct activities. We ask all branches and individual members to co-operate with us to the utmost to make the drive a success.

Phyllis Howard

Successful Rally at Conway Hall (1939)

Party News from the December 1939 issue of the Socialist Standard

Conway Hall (large hall) was packed to capacity on Friday, November 10th, to hear the Socialist Party of Great Britain’s statement on the present war situation. The audience showed its sympathy and agreement with the aims of Socialism by the warm welcome it gave to the Chairman, Comrade S. Goldstein, and the Speaker, Comrade A. Turner.

Owing to unforeseen circumstances other advertised speakers did not speak, but the meeting proceeded to a successful conclusion.

The collection amounted to over £15 and a quantity of French money donated by French sympathisers. Literature to the value of over £5 was sold.

The support given at this meeting makes it evident that a large number of the working-class public are eager to hear reasoned statements from the Socialist point of view and a number of further meetings will be held at the same hall. These meetings are advertised elsewhere in this issue.

Propaganda Committee.

A Week of Meetings in London (1967)

Party News from the October 1967 issue of the Socialist Standard

The Socialist Party of Gt. Britain organised a demonstration for Socialism in Trafalgar Square on Sunday afternoon, September 3rd. Despite uncertain weather there was a large crowd throughout the 2½ hour meeting, listening to the socialist case and putting questions to the speakers.

Over £16 worth of socialist pamphlets and journals were bought by interested workers, including 480 copies of the Socialist Standard. (In addition 300 Socialist Standards were sold in Hyde Park on the same day.) Our introductory leaflets in different languages were also much in demand and helped us to explain the Socialist Party’s position to workers from France, Germany, Turkey, Vietnam and elsewhere.

A photograph of the meeting which appeared next day in The Times picked out very nicely one of our slogans calling for “Abolition of the Wages System”. Surely the first time that phrase has appeared in those august columns!

Monday September 4th

The newly formed Camden group held its first meeting—on “Israel, Vietnam, Biafra— Problems for the Left”—on Monday evening. Over forty people turned up to discuss these issues.

The group meets at ‘The Enterprise’, Chalk Farm Road—which is opposite the Round House. The room is comfortable and the atmosphere relaxed and informal. So if you want to discuss socialist ideas, or have other views which you would like to give an airing, why not come along to the next meeting?

Thursday 7th September

The Socialist Party held two teach-ins on Thursday evening. One was at Conway Hall, where representatives from Oxfam, the United Nations Association, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the SPGB opened a discussion on “World Hunger—What is the solution?" Although most of those present were not members of the Socialist Party, the audience was keenly aware of the deficiencies in the ‘solutions’ to world hunger put forward by the various reformist organisations. The socialist analysis of food shortages came across as the only positive and constructive answer to this problem of capitalism.

The other teach-in, organised jointly by West London and Greenford branches, was also well-attended. There was a wide-ranging discussion on Socialism and socialist tactics, with various brands of trotskysists and other would-be socialists ‘arguing’ a case for entrism.

Sunday 10th September

The week ended with a five-hour meeting in Hyde Park. A string of party members spoke from a specially erected platform on the grass. There was some lively discussion and on more than one occasion a member of the audience was given the platform in order to explain his objections to Socialism, a socialist speaker then replying. Party literature was again selling briskly and—many workers from Germany and Austria were interested in the Wiener Freie Wort—the organ of our comrades in the League of Democratic Socialists.

Our Propaganda in War Time (1940)

Party News from the March 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

At the outbreak of the war, many thought that Socialist propaganda would become, if not impossible, exceedingly difficult. 

Unlike other political parties, we did not wait a week or so before venturing forth—within two hours of the declaration of war, a huge crowd in Hyde Park were listening attentively to our speakers stating the Party’s attitude to the war.

Despite many difficulties which the war situation has imposed upon the Party, our propaganda efforts have been expanded considerably. In London, Conway Hall has been the scene of five mass meetings within the last four months. At each of these meetings the literature sales and collections have reflected the tremendous enthusiasm of the audiences for the Socialist message, and their questions and discussions have revealed an intelligent understanding. A high standard has been set for the future.

Every Sunday evening the smaller Conway Hall has been packed to capacity by audiences eager to learn the Socialist Party’s case. The quantity of literature sold at these meetings is remarkable, and as the weeks went by the consistency of the sales proved that it was no mere passing phase. Sales at these meetings would have been even higher had we been able to meet all the demands for such publications as the “Western Socialist” and the pamphlet “Bolshevism." Other meetings had exhausted our available supplies.

The news from Glasgow Branch is just as encouraging—packed meetings and record sales of literature. Manchester Branch staged a successful mass meeting at Stockport on January 7th, in addition to their normal propaganda.

An indication that the influence of the Socialist Party is widening rapidly is to be found in the ever-increasing number of requests from other organisations that we should send a speaker to state the Socialist case. In many parts of Greater London, branches of such organisations as the Trade Unions and the Peace Pledge Union have been addressed by our representatives. In almost every case the response to our case has been good.

Mid-week outdoor propaganda continues successfully—especially among city workers at Finsbury Pavement, Tower Hill, etc. Excellent literature sales are the rule at these meetings. Our Sunday meetings at Hyde Park continue to attract thousands.

As is to be expected from this increasing interest in the Socialist Party, our membership is growing. Sympathisers of yesterday are the active members of to-day. The Party has thousands of sympathisers—YOU may be one of them. If you are, why not apply for membership? Perhaps you cannot get along to the meetings advertised? Then why not write to us for particulars of branches, or groups, in your locality? The Party has demonstrated its ability to arouse the interest of those workers whom its resources enable it to contact. Your active membership will strengthen our resources—strengthen them for the most vital task of the age—the propagation of Socialist ideas. 

                           Write immediately to: —

                                      The Central Organiser,

                                                     42, Great Dover Street, 

                                                                                            S.E.1.

Annihilation or Socialism? (1958)

From the June 1958 issue of the Socialist Standard

Address by J. D'Arcy at Conway Hall on Easter Sunday

Mr Chairman,

The proposition may seem a phantasy, insofar as we are actually deliberating the effects of the greatest destructive weapon known to man, the Hydrogen Bomb, and yet it is a reality. Socialists are not committed to the view that the Hydrogen Bomb will abolish civilisation, our main point is not only that mankind is taking a terrible risk in introducing Hydrogen Bombs, but the basic question of War itself. A peculiarity of those interested in the abolition of the Hydrogen Bomb is that they are not interested in Socialism, neither are they interested in the cause of war. In fact, the opposite is true. Take the illogical position of the Aldermaston March leaders, Michael Foot, Donald Soper, Ian Mikardo, Canon Collins, among others. These are fervent supporters of the Labour Party, who incidentally were the first British Government to approve the manufacture of nuclear weapons, including the proposals to erect factories like Harwell and Aldermaston.

It is quite useless to apply to these people the normal reasoning processes, as their whole theories and concepts of the nature of the world they live in are irrational, unscientific and in fact unnatural.

The main criterion for abolishing the Hydrogen Bomb is the amount of damage it does, the amount of life and property which will be destroyed. Whilst this is a relative assessment compared with the present methods of waging war, it is an illogical reason. Capitalism itself, outside of War and H. Bombs, literally mutilates human society at all times. So devastating are the effects of the Hydrogen Bomb that a number of local authorities have formed the view that no Civil Defence is possible against such a weapon. St Pancras Borough Council and Coventry City Council have refused to operate Civil Defence schemes, as they regard them as completely futile. Governments naturally can never take the view that no Civil Defence is possible, as they must hold out some hope of protection.

Mr. Bevan, at the last Labour Party Conference, refused to commit the Labour Party to the abolition of the Hydrogen Bomb. He claimed that people must face the facts in the present world situation—facts of a situation largely the creation of Labour Party policy and ultimately Labour Government policy for the retention and running of capitalism. Communist government policy does not differ. Mr. Gromyko, who announced to the United Nations assembly a few days ago that Russia was abandoning Hydrogen Bomb tests (not abolishing the bomb), and invited other governments to do likewise. It would appear that the Russian government have found out all they need to know about the use of this weapon, apart from the fact that they are trying to out-manoeuvre American and British capitalism in the field of diplomacy. It seems that British and American capitalism, trusted allies, will not exchange nuclear secrets with each other.

There is a danger in discussing the abolition of the Hydrogen Bomb as an end in itself, as it tends to encourage political support of the kind Socialists have been asked to give in the past on issues always isolated, such as the Rent Restrictions Act. Democracy."End War" Campaigns, in which all the gentlemen previously named have had more than a passing interest.

The S.P.G.B. has been continually invited to abandon Socialism, join the Labour or Communist parties, or the Independent Labour Party. Above all, it has been advised to abandon its uncompromising hostility to capitalism and its political parties. The question they throw at us, "Where have you gone in 55 years?" they never apply to themselves, for obvious reasons. Political activity today, apart from that carried on by Socialists, is concerned purely with social reforms. There are more social problems today than ever, a bigger variety, and consequently more well-meaning and time-wasting reformers. New social problems such as Hydrogen Bombs, intense Nationalism, Juvenile Delinquency, Drug Addiction and Crime, and Road Accidents, are added to the old recurring problems of Unemployment, War, Disease and Hunger; which are no nearer solution in spite of the energy and time spent on them. Socialists arc. not ignorant of the different kinds of social problems, but they view them with a difference. The difference is—we look for the common factor, the common denominator. The common factor is that these problems are mainly endured by that section of the population, the working class, both here and abroad.

The same common factor operates in the international disputes between Governments—that factor being the monopoly of the wealth produced by that working class and its realisation in Rent, Interest and Profit. The Socialist combines all the parts, and plans his activities accordingly. When you have added up the parts we are left with a world divided into two main social groups— Owners and Non-Owners; buyers of labour power and sellers of labour power.

How can we ignore our own conclusions? Or, for that matter, how can anyone ignore the existence of a class struggle, the existence of social problems, which have a common origin and consequently a common solution? Before the solution, let us take a closer look at the nature of Capitalist society. What is its function? What is the law of its existence and consequently its objects?

Capitalism is a system of society which produces goods incidentally. Fundamentally its aim is the amassing of surplus value. Productivity and Profit are interchangeable and synonymous terms. There is a complete divorce of production and consumption. Production is earned out for profit and not for use. Thus we have the exploitation of the majority of society as a means to enrich a small minority—the capitalist class. Capitalism is contradictory and anti-social.

Governments of all countries seek to maintain this social relationship of owner and non-owners, buyer and seller. Each is struggling for the monopoly. Mr. Khrushchev, the new Russian Czar, in one continent, exhorting the workers to produce more in less time (Sunday Express, 8th April, 1958): Mr. Eisenhower, the American President, endeavouring to satisfy the 5½ million unemployed, who took the same advice from him two years ago, the same bad advice which Mr. Khrushchev now gives to East European workers.

What can we look forward to? The fall of the American Government in the winter, the probable fall of the tottering Tory Government here, and the election of a Labour Government with its sterile and barren policies. The complete inability of French capitalism to deal with the Algerian problem; two or three major strikes, and unlimited exhortations to work harder to stave off unemployment. Are people interested in Socialism or T.V. sets? Can they understand Socialism? Most workers want to be left alone to indulge their hobbies, dig their gardens, or watch their T.V. sets. Most are not interested in politics, and would remain uninterested if it were not for the demands made upon them by capitalism. Capitalism will not let them dig their gardens or watch their T.V. sets. Capitalism, with its social problems, induces them to react along the lines of social reform. We claim that the working class as a whole can canalise their activity for social reform into activity for Socialism. Socialism is the common ownership and democratic control of the means of wealth production, irrespective of race or sex. This is the kind of society the Socialist Party wants to establish. What is the problem of the Socialist Party of Great Britain? Our problem is to get people interested in Socialism; it is our job and our responsibility —a responsibility to persuade and provoke people into accepting our ideas. This is our object and this will be our achievement.

Jim D'Arcy

Atheism, Religion and Socialism. (1932)

From the February 1932 issue of the Socialist Standard

Economics and atheism.

Mr. Chapman Cohen, the Editor of the Freethinker, is an "advanced” thinker who described Communism as the religion of Russia. He builds up his argument on the insistence on certain kinds of teaching in Russia, to the exclusion of any other ideas whatever.

Mr. Chapman Cohen, however, has no ground for calling this Communism, and uses this term as loosely as any Christian could do.

The limited point of view of Freethought was indicated by him in the Freethinker (November 1st, 1931).

He says that Conservatism, Liberalism, and Capitalism are equally atheistic with Socialism.

Atheism, or Freethought, then, is limited to. the opposition to religion. Freedom of thought and freedom of expression, however, cover a wider field than a negation of religion. Any Freethinker who applied his free thinking to social life would find that the basis of freedom is economic. Those who control our livelihood are in a position to repress our activities and to compel us either to keep quiet or lose "our” jobs. This brings the Freethinker up against the question of material conditions.

At a lecture at Great Alie Street Forum, London, on December 12th, Mr. Cohen vigorously denied that the workers were struggling to-day for bread and butter. The struggle to-day, he said, was psychological. All the efforts of workers to get better things or to make their livelihood secure were not material, but a product of higher mental states. Reason, not economics, was the guide, according to the Apostle of Atheism.

Christian Science and atheism.

The driving force of history was not material conditions, but mind. Mary Baker Eddy, the Christian Scientist, and Chapman Cohen, the Freethinker, find a common ground in their ideas. In fact, all believers in religion ridicule the materialist conception of history on the same grounds as the "Freethinker"; they all say that the material conditions of wealth production and distribution are not the cause of social change. They argue that changing mental concepts are the fundamental cause of social change. In reply to questions, Mr. Cohen asserted that he was putting forward good Socialist arguments in describing all ideas as social in origin. The cause of mental changes, according to him, was to be found in social, not material, conditions.

He was faced by the argument that if the struggle for better things to-day was psychological, then we could get the things we wanted by leaving it to psychological effort.

Actually, every student of social affairs knows that the changed conditions and social freedom we want depend upon control of material things—wealth, money, food, clothing and shelter—that is, access to the means of living.

What are social conditions?

Social conditions are the cause of mental change. True. But what are social conditions? According to the Editor of the Freethinker, they are the ideas, religions, politics, institutions, newspapers, churches, property, in fact everything in society. The dominant force in social conditions among men is mind, he said. Among animals it was food, clothing and shelter. Men are different; they have got beyond the animal stage. Men are idealists; animals are not.

Typical of the superstition of the Freethinker, as such, the lecturer idolised reason, but failed to see that material conditions determine, in the long run, the things we reason about and the success or otherwise of ideals held by men. The reasoners before the French Revolution idolised liberty, freedom of contract, absence of authority, and equality. The conditions of French feudalism repressed capitalism and gave rise to these ideas. The nature of the material conditions made the victory of the Revolution limit the liberty and fraternity to the bourgeois virtues of freedom for the capitalist and repression for the worker.

The class struggle and freethought.

Those who apply their Freethought and evolutionary ideas to social life find that the basis of all social conditions is material. The conditions of wealth production and distribution form the foundation of modern society. From this foundation the class divisions and struggles arise and develop. The class struggle is never mentioned by the Atheist, who is too busy with abstractions and abstract ideas to deal concretely with social life.

The class struggle is a product of the material conditions and becomes the greatest driving force in social evolution. Atheist or theist, rationalist or materialist —it they belong to the working class—are compelled to accept the terms of the owning class in order to live. Their daily life is limited by their economic position as a class without property, compelled to struggle for a bare “living wage.” Their ideals, their hopes and ambitions are denied expression if these conflict with the interests of the property-owning class.

Whether we like it or not, “sordid” materialists or aesthetic idealists though we may be, we are compelled to occupy our lives with the first, the essential thing in life—the securing of the wherewithal to live. That brings us up against the owning class. When we understand the struggle as well as take part in it, our object will be to get control of the material means of production. Only then will freedom of thought become a reality instead of the present sham.

"The religion of Russia."

The Rationalist lecturer, Mr. S. K. Ratcliffe (of the Manchester Guardian) has recently returned from Russia and lectured on a recent Sunday at Conway Hall on “The Religion of Communism.” The Monthly Record of the institute gives a summary of his lecture, from which the following is an extract:—

To consider the differences between Communism and Christianity, the Communists believe the universe to be without a God and man to be without a soul; they believe in class-hate, in the class-war, in dictatorship as a means to an end, and in the subjection of the individual. Marxism stands for a negation of the quintessence of the old religions—charity, compassion, forgiveness, the contrite spirit, the elevation of the humble and the meek. It is important to realise the width of the chasm that separates Marxism from the spirit of Buddha or of Christ. One may see this in the manner in which the Russians have set themselves to liquidate prostitution, for their object is not the redemption of the individual but the elimination of a social evil.

Mr. Ratcliffe has for many years been prominent on the lecture platform, especially in his yearly tour of American cities. The quotation given here shows that little knowledge is required to be a lecturer to Liberals and Rationalists.

He takes his Marxism from the present situation in Russia and labels the struggle there, the “Communist Religion.” Charity, forgiveness, etc., are foreign to Marxism, according to this supporter of the Great War.

Marxism is a word used to mean the teachings of Marx. Is there anything in Marx opposed to human kindness and the other elements of developed social life? On the contrary, the essential idea of Marx is to teach the workers to end this class-riven society which makes for cruelty, servility and repression. Marx taught that economic necessity demands a co-operative commonwealth. Then the social feelings would be liberated instead of being crushed in the struggle for existence.

Rationalist illusions.

Mr. Ratcliffe finds that under the powerful State-controlled machine of Russia the individual is subjected. He does not understand that the economic and mental development of Russia to-day does not allow Socialism to be established, apart altogether from the fact that there can be no such thing as National Socialism. The subjection in Russia under dictatorship can only be judged by an examination of the rise of Bolshevism to power and the conditions which gave it birth. If Mr. Ratcliffe knew anything about Marxism or Socialism, he would not expect Communism to rise “ in a night ” out of the nightmare that was Czarism.

He does not even realise that prostitution is an economic question. He evidently thinks that women sell themselves for money because their hearts are wicked or that they are born in sin. The Russians should “redeem the individual” women by inviting the Salvation Army or the Ethical Society to save their souls. Perhaps Mr. Ratcliife explained to Stalin how prostitution is “liquidated” in democratic Britain and America.

In a later lecture at the Conway Hall on the “Clash of Systems,” Mr. Ratcliffe criticised Russia’s lack of freedom of speech. He claimed it was inherent in Socialism. The fundamental difference between State Capitalism in Russia and Socialism as advocated by Marx is evidently quite unknown to him.

Adolph Kohn