Josh Asker spoke at a virtual meeting of 115 people at Socialism 2020:
For the capitalist class it is an advantage to have two parties supporting capitalism. That is why Margaret Thatcher thought her greatest achievement was to transform not just one party but two.
Labour was effectively two parties under Corbyn. The possibility of turning Labour into a mass working class party has been pushed back.
And yet there are mass campaigns like the Black Lives Matter and campaigns by the trade unions so the conditions for a mass working class party exist.
Workers find their aspirations are no longer represented in Labour. All the Labour opposition has been saying to the government is "we agree with what you are doing but you did it too late."
Political representation for workers at the ballot box is necessary.
In fact Johnson has spent more than Corbyn proposed to spend. Yet Corbyn's spending plans were derided as a "magic money tree" at the time.
We need to have a conference to bring together the working class movements to create a council and parliamentary challenge.
Labour conference can no longer determine policy. Labour became a completely capitalist party under Blair. In the late 19th Century the working class movement had a capitalist party - the Liberal Party - which purported to represent them.
It will not be a straightforward fight any more than the genesis of the Labour Party itself was.
For a start trade unions should not be giving money to MPs and councillors who vote for cuts. The whole issue of affiliation to a capitalist party is being raised in the trade unions. Union money should be used to promote union policies.
A major demand will be that the working class should not be made to pay for the Covid-19 crisis.
If Sir Keir is interested in fighting racism why isn't he leading a political campaign against anti-semitism and Zionism?
A political campaign is not the same as bureaucratic expulsions.
If he insists Zionism is not racism he should be locked up for crimes against the English language.
The disgrace is that NHS staff are being charged for parking at all. There are plenty of reasons why Matt Hancock should be ashamed of himself and his inability to do anything about this would be yet another.
Of course Sir Keir is too busy pursuing a vendetta against Jeremy Corbyn to do anything.
We need a new party of the working class. The Parliamentary Labour Party are out of touch with the rank and file and out of touch with reality.
Marie van der Zil appeared on the Today program with the curious accusation that a committee of the Labour Party was "political" whereas the self-appointed Board of Deputies of British Jews is not at all political with its support for Israel. And I'm the Queen of Sheba.
Whom does the BoD represent?
In a response to the BoD’s recent demands that the Labour leadership candidates must agree to sign up to their 10 ‘pledges’, Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) have responded by advising the candidates that the BoD have no right to claim to speak for the British “Jewish Community”, especially given that Charedi Jews (approx 20% of the British Jewish population) do not recognise their authority. They also point out that they can’t claim to represent the 50% of all British Jews who happen to be secular either.
The full article is well-worth reading.
It is all a pretext to attack Jeremy Corbyn and Marie van der Zil attacks all Socialists when she attacks him.
Barr, the US attorney-general has authorised investigation of unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Trump. He will also investigate Trump’s allegation that there are fairies at the bottom of his garden.
People will celebrate the downfall of Trump and that is quite reasonable. They should also subject Joe Biden to the closest scrutiny. There was no working-class candidate in this duel of millionaires.
Whatever Trump has or has not done, he will go down in history for throwing his toys out of the pram. He will need that expensive team of lawyers now or his next job could be in prison.
The wheel of fortune has turned against Trump but can all he has done be undone in four years? An independent intervention by the working class would make all the difference.
Socialists do not give up.
Remembrance Sunday
"Dulce et Decorum Est pro Patria Mori" was a phrase they taught public
school boys. "It is sweet and fitting to die for your country." or
better yet get your servants to go off and die on your behalf
obviously.
DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . .
.
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918
--
http://derekmcmillan.com/
Total fiction books = 12
The latest is "Brevity"
Those
who survived the Great War, greeted the 11th of November as
the end of the insanity and the beginning of peace. They would
have been mystified to see generals and royals using it as an
opportunity to celebrate war over a hundred years later.
Since
the end of the Second World War, there has not been a single
day of peace. In my lifetime there has been one imperial war
of conquest after another.
The
red poppy is an ambiguous symbol. On the one hand it
represents remembering those who fell in war and the money is
used to support those soldiers who suffered as a result of
war.
On the other hand it is used by generals and the royal family to glorify war. If anyone dares to criticise this disgusting militarism they are immediately accused of disrespecting the fallen and being too mean to help the military victims of warfare. This has been characterised as "Poppy Fascism".
The
Anzac monument in Sydney is "for all the victims of war",
friend or foe, military or civilian. Since the second
world war and the advent of mass civilian bombing, wars
have seen a massive increase in civilian casualties. We
are just "collateral damage" as far as the Pentagon is
concerned.
Socialist
internationalism is the only basis on which militarism can be
opposed. The people of Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan are some of
the poorest people in the world. What with the ruthless
bombing campaigns of American Imperialism and the disgusting
brutality of the Taliban and ISIL their sufferings have been
made worse.
Masks are not obligatory.
The government was adamant that there would be no lockdown and ridiculed
Sir Keir Starmer when he suggested one. The government has now changed
its tune, not for the first or last time.
The government is now adamant that schools and colleges are to remain
open come hell or high water. This is mistaken bravado.
Office for National Statistics figures estimate that 1% of primary
pupils and 2% of secondary pupils have the virus and that these levels
have increased dramatically since wider opening in September.
Lives could be lost to save the face of the government. It is too high a
price.
I've written to my MP. So can you. It is best to use your own words because MPs filter anything which appears to be from a lobbying group.
