Socialist Meeting in Toronto: Socialism as a Practical Alternative

The Socialist Party of Canada

Presents

Socialism as a Practical Alternative

A discussion on the problems of society and how to solve them.

Saturday, August 22nd

2:00pm - 4:00pm

Toronto Reference Library

789 Yonge (just north of Bloor)

Website: The Socialist Party of Canada

Email: sp@iname.com

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More Dietzgen

Further to the recent post on the blog of Steve Coleman speaking on the subject of 'Joseph Dieztgen and Dialectical Thought' - and the accompanying assorted Dietzgen links - fellows WSPer, Morgan M., has posted me a link to another article on Dietzgen that appeared in the August 1918 issue of the Western Clarion*:

'Proletarian Logic' by Rab**

*The Western Clarion was the paper of the Socialist Party of Canada, and dates from 1904 onwards. After 1918, it's history gets a bit sketchy as the Canadian Government banned its publication of its outspoken opposition to the war: "But there remained always a small and hardy group who carried on the theoretical work of the Party; and its official organ "The Western Clarion," forever in dutch with the authorities, continued to reach its readers. Banned, it became "The Emancipator"; banned again, it became "The Red Flag"; there was never a time when those interested could not receive the journal "Published in the Interest of the Working Class Alone."" [From here.]

** 'Rab' was the pen name of Isaac Rabinowich, a founder member of the WSPUS. See pic accompanying this post.

The Imagine Files

You can click on the image on the left for the PDF of the latest issue of 'Imagine', the occasional journal of the Socialist Party of Canada, a sister party to the WSPUS and the SPGB.

The 16 page issue is centered around the general theme of socialist activity in Canada these past hundred years, and carries the following historical articles and reprints that may be of interest to readers:

100 Years For Socialism

A Century of Socialist Journalism

The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike

A Timeline of the Early History of the Socialist Party of Canada

The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike article is a reprint from a 1969 issue of the old SPC/WSPUS journal, 'The Western Socialist', and is of especial interest as its author, Bill Pritchard, was a witness to the General Strike.

I'd also recommend J.M Milne's 'A Timeline of the Early History of the Socialist Party of Canada', if only because in detailing the vicissitudes of the SPC in those early and relatively successful years, Milne helps remind me that the reform/revolution question wasn't settled once and for all by that W.B. (Upton Park) letter that was sent to the Socialist Standard back in February 1910. There are choppy waters ahead, and that's how it should be.

ADDENDUM

Of related interest, the 'What's New? page of the Socialist History Project carries a couple of Socialist Party of Canada propaganda leaflets that were originally published in 1912:

The Evolution of Human Society

Religion – Thy Name Is Superstition

In fact, the Socialist History Project - a website devoted to the study of the history of the Left in Canada - carries a hell of a lot of excellent resources relating to the Socialist Party of Canada:

The Pre-Communist Left

Socialist Party of Canada, 1931-

Larry Gambone's 'The Impossibilists'

New Socialist Website

Bookmarks at the ready.

Kudos to Morgan M. (and his mate FN Brill) for the spade work in putting together the new website for the World Socialist Party of the United States. Now you have all those impossibilist hyperlinks at your fingertips.

It looks like a nice blend of contemporary articles alongside reprints of material from the long history of the *cough* World Socialists* in North America.

Articles that caught my eye on the 'is it a website or is it a blog?' include:

How Money Downed the Minneapolis Bridge

The Ballot Over The Bullet

The Wildcat Strike (from The Western Socialist, July-August, 1953)

Paul Mattick's review of Hayek's 'Road To Serfdom' (from The Western Socialist, September 1946)

Interview With a WSPUS Union Organizer

Who will do the dirty work? We all will!

I have to make a special mention of the innovation - for the WSM, that is - of including mp3s on the website. Of course, front and centre is the 'heavy stuff'; SPGB talks on 'War' and 'Israel, Intifada and Peace' (plus an interesting recording from 68/69, where the late Socialist Party of Canada member, Bill Pritchard, recounts the foundation of the One Big Union in 1919), but I also like the decision to include 'light stuff' such as the following mp3s:

The Fugs', 'Kill For Peace'

Chumbawamba's, 'That’s How Grateful We Are'

Groucho Marx's, 'I'm Against It'

Fatima Mansions, 'Shiny Happy People'

No doubt this FN Brill bloke was influenced by the classic 2003 SPGB Mix compilation CD, 'The Secret Melody of the Class Struggle',** that was specially produced for the SPGB stall at Glastonbury that year.

*The *cough* is in place 'cos I think the term 'World Socialists' is a bit naff.

**Original working title for the political pop music compilation CD was 'The Best Impossibilist Album in the World...Ever!'