LENIN'S TOMB

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A joint statement from the Conservative Party and the conservative press posted by Richard Seymour

The government and the right-wing media would like it to be known that they are very disappointed with the lack of scruple, principle and resolve on the part of the capitalist class. In these difficult, austere times, it was incumbent on them to make very public, proud, ostentatious use of freebie labour, and to show class-wide unity in the offensive: not wilt under the slightest pressure from the Socialist Guardian BBC Bloody Trotskyspart General Strike Workers Party.

The aforementioned parties have therefore decreed the following:

1) it is a disgrace that a tiny party with no seats in parliament can make us look likely bloody idiots;

2) of course, we don't look like idiots - they look like idiots, we look great, and we're winning (winning, winning, winning!);

3) businesses have to stiffen their spines and stop pretending that they're embarrassed to be seen in public with us... yeah, well, does our face look bovvered?;

4) you turn if you want to, Greggs, Tesco and the rest, but we're not for turning, unless you want us to. Do you want us to? Do you want some free money? We'll give you free money. Look, have Iain Duncan Smith's house, he doesn't need it, he sleeps in the fucking crypt.;

5) it's not true that we're very unpopular. The SWP is very unpopular. We have written it in our columns, and said so on the television, and now everyone knows just how unpopular the SWP is.;

6) the SWP is a tiny party, completely irrelevant, things would be perfectly okay if everyone would stop talking about the SWP.;

7) the SWP has eaten our hamster.

Labels: hopeless attempt at red-baiting, media, right to work, ruling class, socialism, socialist workers' party, swp, tories, unemployment, workfare

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Chris Harman RIP posted by Richard Seymour

I am saddened to hear the news that Chris Harman, revolutionary socialist and leading theoretician of the International Socialist tradition, died following a cardiac arrest in Cairo last night. Before his death, he edited the International Socialism journal, and had written an accessible critique of mainstream economic theory, Zombie Capitalism. I personally owe a considerable portion of my Bildung to the man, as it was trawling his back catalogue - Explaining the Crisis, Economics of the Madhouse, etc., plus innumerable articles for International Socialism, (sophisticated polemics against high theorists such as Ernest Mandel and Alec Nove among them) - that enabled me to first get a basic grip of some economic theory. In addition, his historical work, culminating in the magisterial A People's History of the World, provided an invaluable introduction to the topics I would later have to deal with in my degree. Generations of socialists will owe a similar debt, I expect. He is also one of the few such writers to have his work recommended in an album sleeve.

Labels: chris harman, international socialism, socialism, socialist workers' party

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Open letter to the left posted by Richard Seymour

This week's Socialist Worker carries this open letter, addressed to the Left. I consider it a big step in the right direction. I would particularly emphasise and duplicate its call to convene of a conference of all those who want to find a way of uniting the left in the coming elections:

An open letter to the left from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
Labour’s vote collapsed to a historic low in last week’s elections as the right made gains. The Tories under David Cameron are now set to win the next general election.

The British National Party (BNP) secured two seats in the European parliament. Never before have fascists achieved such a success in Britain.

The result has sent a shockwave across the labour and anti-fascist movements, and the left.

The meltdown of the Labour vote and the civil war engulfing the party poses a question – where do we go from here?

The fascists pose a threat to working class organisations, black, Asian and other residents of this country – who BNP führer Nick Griffin dubs “alien” – our civil liberties and much else.

History teaches us that fascism can be fought and stopped, but only if we unite to resist it.

The SWP firmly believes that the first priority is to build even greater unity and resistance to the fascists over the coming months and years.

The BNP believes it has created the momentum for it to achieve a breakthrough. We have to break its momentum.

The success of the anti-Nazi festival in Stoke and the numbers of people who joined in anti-fascist campaigning shows the basis is there for a powerful movement against the Nazis.

The Nazis’ success will encourage those within the BNP urging a “return to the streets”.

This would mean marches targeting multiracial areas and increased racist attacks. We need to be ready to mobilise to stop that occurring.

Griffin predicted a “perfect storm” would secure the BNP’s success. The first part of that storm he identified was the impact of the recession.

The BNP’s policies of scapegoating migrants, black and Asian people will divide working people and make it easier to drive through sackings, and attacks on services and pensions.

Unity is not a luxury. It is a necessity. If we do not stand together we will pay the price for a crisis we did not cause.

The second lesson from the European elections is that we need a united fightback to save jobs and services.

If Cameron is elected he will attempt to drive through policies of austerity at the expense of the vast majority of the British people.

But the Tories’ vote fell last week and they are nervous about pushing through attacks.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne told business leaders, “After three months in power we will be the most unpopular government since the war.”

We need to prepare for battle.

But there is a third and vital issue facing the left and the wider working class. The crisis that has engulfed Westminster benefited the BNP.

The revelations of corruption, which cabinet members were involved in, were too much for many Labour voters, who could not bring themselves to vote for the party.

One answer to the problem is to say that we should swallow everything New Labour has done and back it to keep David Cameron, and the BNP, out.

Yet it would take a miracle for Gordon Brown to be elected back into Downing Street.

The danger is that by simply clinging on we would be pulled down with the wreckage of New Labour.

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS civil service workers’ union, has asked how, come the general election, can we ask working people to cast a ballot for ministers like Pat McFadden.

McFadden is pushing through the privatisation of the post office.

Serwotka proposes that trade unions should stand candidates.

Those who campaigned against the BNP in the elections know that when they said to people, “Don’t vote Nazi” they were often then asked who people should vote for.

The fact that there is no single, united left alternative to Labour means there was no clear answer available.

The European election results demonstrate that the left of Labour vote was small, fragmented and dispersed.

The Greens did not make significant gains either. The mass of Labour voters simply did not vote. We cannot afford a repeat of that.

The SWP is all too aware of the differences and difficulties involved in constructing such an alternative.

We do not believe we have all the answers or a perfect prescription for a left wing alternative.

But we do believe we have to urgently start a debate and begin planning to come together to offer such an alternative at the next election, with the awareness that Gordon Brown might not survive his full term.

One simple step would be to convene a conference of all those committed to presenting candidates representing working class interests at the next election.

The SWP is prepared to help initiate such a gathering and to commit its forces to such a project.

We look forward to your response.

Labels: elections, left, new labour, socialism, socialist workers' party, swp

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Marxism 2009 posted by Richard Seymour

The timetable for this year's Marxism festival is out, although still being updated. For anyone who wants to know, I will be speaking alongside playwright David Edgar on the topic of Left-Right defectors on Monday 6th July, 10am at the main hall in the Friends Meeting House. Now, I need 900 or so of you to buy tickets and show up that morning. And if you feel like 'spontaneously' delivering a standing ovation at the end, I won't be offended. Aside from that, there is a good line up to dissect every vital issue of the day. David Harvey will be introducing you to Capital, Tariq Ali will speak on the American Empire, and Gary Younge will explain the rise of Obama. John Bellamy Foster will talk about Marx and ecology, and there will be a speaker from France's Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste to talk about the exciting new party and its prospects. The excellent Paul Gilroy has a meeting on 'the state of black Britain', and Graham Turner will talk about the credit crunch. History enthusiasts would do well to drop in on Neil Faulkner discussing the Roman Empire, (you might see if he has any thoughts on Bryan Ward-Perkins' findings which would seem to challenge his thesis). On the culture front, Michael Rosen and Lowkey will celebrate the life and works of Adrian Mitchell, there will be a tribute to Harold Pinter, Nick Broomfield will introduce one of his documentaries, and there will be the now regular Cultures of Resistance gig. Oh, and there will be endless frivolity and frolicking on the grass around Bloomsbury.

Labels: marxism 2009, socialism, socialist workers' party, the complete and utter works of richard seymour, the liberal defense of murder