January Standard 2014
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Socialist Standard January 2014 1 Contact Details socialist UK BRANCHES & CONTACTS Frankfi eld, Cork. Tel: 021 4896427. Email: [email protected] LONDON Newtownabbey : Nigel McCullough. North London branch . Meets 2nd Tuesday Tel: 028 90852062. standard 7.30pm. The Coronet, 338-346 Holloway SCOTLAND Road, London N7 6NJ. Chris Dufton: Email: Edinburgh branch . Meets1st Thur. 7.00- [email protected]. Tel: 020 7609 9.00pm. The Quaker Hall, Victoria Terrace JANUARY 2014 0983 (above Victoria Street), Edinburgh. South London branch . Meets 1st Tues. J. Moir. Tel: 0131 440 0995. 7.00pm. Head Offi ce. 52 Clapham High St, [email protected] Branch SW4 7UN. Tel: 020 7622 3811 website: contents West London branch . Meets 1st & 3rd http://geocities.com/edinburghbranch/ Tues. 8pm. Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfi eld Glasgow branch . Meets 3rd Wednesday of Terrace (corner Sutton Court Rd), W4. each month at 8pm in Community Central FEATURES Corres: 51 Gayford Road, London W12 9BY. Halls, 304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow. Peter What about the Roma? 10 Hendrie, 75 Lairhills Road, East Kilbride, MIDLANDS Glasgow G75 0LH. Tel: 01355 903105. West Midlands Regional branch . Meets Email: peter.anna.hendrie@blueyonder. History in the school 12 last Sunday of the month, the Briar Rose co.uk. pub, 25 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham B2 5RE. Dundee . Ian Ratcliffe, 16 Birkhall Ave, syllabus Tel: Tony Gluck 01242 235615. Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD6 8PX. Weight of Chains 14 Email: [email protected] Tel: 01328 541643. Lothian Socialist Discussion @ NORTHEAST Autonomous Centre Edinburgh, ACE, 17 Marx, co-ops & capitalism 16 Northeast branch . Contact: Brian Barry, 86 West Montgomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 Edgmond Ct, Ryhope, Sunderland SR2 0DY. 5HA. Meets 4th Wednesday of each month Tel: 0191 521 0690. 7.30-9.00pm. Tel: F.Anderson 07724 082753. NORTHWEST Lancaster branch . Meets fortnightly WALES REGULARS 8.30pm. P. Shannon, 10 Green Street, Swansea branch . Meets 2nd Mon, 7.30pm, Lancaster LA1 1DZ. Tel: 01524 382380 Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres: Pathfi nders 4 Email: [email protected] Geoffrey Williams, 19 Baptist Well Street, Manchester branch . Paul Bennett, 6 Waun Wen, Swansea SA1 6FB. Halo Halo! 6 Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M21 7LB. Tel: 01792 643624 Tel: 0161 860 7189 Cardiff and District . Corres: Richard Cooking the Books 7 Bolton . Tel: H. McLaughlin. 01204 844589 Botterill, 21 Pen-Y-Bryn Rd, Gabalfa, Material World Cumbria . Brendan Cummings, 19 Queen Cardiff, CF14 3LG. Tel: 02920-615826 8 St, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BG Email: [email protected] Greasy Pole 9 Carlisle : Robert Whitfi eld. Email: Llandudno [email protected] Tel: 07906 373975 Contact: Gareth Whitley - Email: gwhitley@ Cooking the Books 18 Rochdale . Tel: R. Chadwick. 01706 522365 hotmail.co.uk Southeast Manchester . Enquiries: Blanche Mixed Media 19 Preston, 68 Fountains Road, M32 9PH INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS Reviews 20 YORKSHIRE Latin America . J.M. Morel, Calle 7 edif 45 Proper Gander 21 Huddersfi eld: Richard Rainferd, 28 apto 102, Multis nuevo La loteria, Armitage Rd, Armitage Bridge, Huddersfi eld La Vega, Rep. Dominicana. Meetings 22 HD4 7PD. Tel: 01484 327468 AFRICA Todmorden : Keith Scholey, 1 Leeview Ct, Kenya . Patrick Ndege, PO Box 78105, 50 Years Ago 23 Windsor Rd, OL14 5LJ. Tel: 01706 814 149 Nairobi. Swaziland . Mandla Ntshakala, PO Box 981, Action Replay 23 SOUTH /SOUTHEAST /SOUTHWEST Manzini. Kent and Sussex Regional branch. Meets Zambia. Kephas Mulenga, PO Box 280168, Voice from the Back 24 second Sunday every month at 2.00pm at Kitwe. Free Lunch 24 The Muggleton Inn, High Street, Maidstone ASIA ME14 1HJ. India . World Socialist Group, contact 52 Email: [email protected] Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UN Tel: 07973 142701. Japan . Michael. Email: japan.wsm@gmail. South West Regional branch. Meets 2nd com Saturday of each month in the Railway EUROPE Tavern, Salisbury, 2.00pm (check before Denmark . Graham Taylor, Kjaerslund 9, The Socialist Party attending). Shane Roberts, 86 High Street, fl oor 2 (middle), DK-8260 Viby J 52 Clapham High Street, Bristol BS5 6DN. Tel: 0117 9511199 Germany . Norbert. London SW4 7UN Canterbury . Rob Cox, 4 Stanhope Road, E-mail: [email protected] Tel : 0207 622 3811 Deal, Kent, CT14 6AB Norway . Robert Stafford. Luton . Nick White, 59 Heywood Drive, LU2 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 7LP Italy. Gian Maria Freddi, Via Felice Casorati Website : www.worldsocialism.org/spgb Redruth . Harry Sowden, 5 Clarence Villas, n. 6A, 37131 Verona Blog: http://socialismoryourmoneyback. Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 1PB. Spain . Alberto Gordillo, Avenida del Parque blogspot.com/ Tel: 01209 219293 2/2/3 Puerta A, 13200 Manzanares. EAST ANGLIA COMPANION PARTIES OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION ORDERS East Anglian Regional branch. Meets every should be sent to the address above. two months on a Saturday afternoon (see World Socialist Party of Australia. RATES: One year subscription (normal rate) meetings page for details). P. O. Box 1266 North Richmond 3121, £15. One year subscription (low/unwaged) £10. Pat Deutz, 11 The Links, Billericay, CM12 Victoria, Australia. Europe rate £20 (Air mail). Rest of world £25 0EX. [email protected] Email: [email protected] (Air mail). Voluntary supporters subscription David Porter, Eastholme, Bush Drive, Socialist Party of Canada/Parti Socialiste £20 or more. Cheques payable to ‘The Socialist Eccles-on-Sea, NR12 0SF. du Canada . Box 4280, Victoria B.C. V8X Party of Great Britain’. Tel: 01692 582533. 3X8 Canada. Richard Headicar, 42 Woodcote, Firs Rd, Email:[email protected] Hethersett, NR9 3JD. Tel: 01603 814343. World Socialist Party (New Zealand) P.O. The next meeting of the Executive Committee Cambridge . Andrew Westley, 10 Marksby Box 1929, Auckland, NI, New Zealand. will be on Saturday 1 February at the address Close, Duxford, Cambridge CB2 4RS. World Socialist Party of the United States above. Correspondence should be sent to Tel: 07890343044 P.O. Box 440247, Boston, MA 02144 USA. the General Secretary. All articles, letters Email: [email protected] and notices should be sent to the Editorial IRELAND Cork : Kevin Cronin, 5 Curragh Woods, Committee. SPGB Media: (+44) 7732 831192/4 2 Socialist Standard January 2014 Introducing The Socialist Party The Socialist Party is like no other political new socialists. We publish pamphlets will be able to draw on and greater will be party in Britain. It is made up of people who and books, as well as CDs, DVDs and the new ideas for building the movement have joined together because we want to various other informative material. We which you will be able to bring us. get rid of the profi t system and establish also give talks and take part in debates; The Socialist Party is an organisation of real socialism. Our aim is to persuade attend rallies, meetings and demos; run equals. There is no leader and there are others to become socialist and act for educational conferences; host internet no followers. So, if you are going to join themselves, organising democratically discussion forums, make fi lms presenting we want you to be sure that you agree and without leaders, to bring about the our ideas, and contest elections when fully with what we stand for and that we kind of society that we are advocating practical. Socialist literature is available are satisfi ed that you understand the case in this journal. We are solely concerned in Arabic, Bengali, Dutch, Esperanto, for socialism. with building a movement of socialists for French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, If you would like more details about socialism. We are not a reformist party Swedish and Turkish as well as English. The Socialist Party, complete and with a programme of policies to patch up The more of you who join The Socialist return the form on page 23. capitalism. Party the more we will be able to get our We use every possible opportunity to make ideas across, the more experiences we socialist standard JANUARY 2014 Editorial 2014: Year of Xenophobia? FROM ONE point of view the prospects for 2014 don’t look majority, who do not and, to live, have to sell their mental and good. The elections to the European Parliament in May physical energies to those who do for a wage or a salary. threaten to become a festival of xenophobia as the main Wars are not fought between ‘nations’ but between states, parties try to outbid UKIP by being as, if not more, anti- and states represent the interest of their ruling, owning class. foreigner than them. August will see the ceremonies to mark Wars arise out of the confl ict of economics between states, the outbreak of the First World War. These, too, threaten representing the owning class within them, over sources of to become a celebration of nationalism, with prominent raw materials, trade routes, markets, investment outlets and historians already arguing that it was a justifi able war which strategic areas to protect these. The slaughter of the First Britain deserved to win. World War was no exception. This means that this year, in addition to our usual activity of Nationalism is used by states to win support – and cannon putting across the case for socialism, we will have to step up fodder – for wars. But it can prove counter-productive if it the socialist case against nationalism and war. escapes from state control, as it risks doing over the question The phrase ‘Nation-State’ itself assumes that the states of Europe. The interest of the dominant section of the into which the world is divided are the political expression of capitalist class in Britain is that Britain should stay in the EU pre-existing ‘nations’. In fact, it’s the other way round. It is so as to have free access to the European ‘single market’, the ‘nation’ that is the creation of the state.