tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733583.post9119931090668172219..comments2024-03-04T08:34:20.376+00:00Comments on John's Labour blog: SPGB attack SPEW over "union branches...hi-jacked by Vanguardist parties...”John Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14269161145575667147noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733583.post-18723166390683550722012-03-11T18:17:51.930+00:002012-03-11T18:17:51.930+00:00Hi Johnny
I cannot remember for sure why I put th...Hi Johnny<br /><br />I cannot remember for sure why I put that poster featuring Lenin in the collage but it is also next to the SPEW symbol so I may have intended it to relate to them? <br /><br />Or I might have just bunged it because the collage needed 4 photos?John Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14269161145575667147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733583.post-53618040969311347562012-03-11T16:51:48.197+00:002012-03-11T16:51:48.197+00:00I don't really get your little collage of phot...I don't really get your little collage of photos, it seems rather misleading to have the SPGB sign next to a book by Lenin. The SPGB as I am sure you know is probably the most anti-lennist political organisation in Britain.johnnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03607857369724746306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733583.post-91100851235301255092010-05-09T20:52:59.349+01:002010-05-09T20:52:59.349+01:00thanks Alan for that clarification!thanks Alan for that clarification!John Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14269161145575667147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733583.post-28615022612001451812010-04-28T08:08:51.997+01:002010-04-28T08:08:51.997+01:00"...if you wanted to join the SPGB they use t..."...if you wanted to join the SPGB they use to make you sit a rigorous exam to see if you were good enough to be allowed to join!!!..."<br /><br />Rather over-egging the pudding.<br /><br />We actually do have a test for membership.The SPGB will not allow a person to join it until the applicant has convinced the branch that she or he is a conscious socialist.There would be no point in a socialist organisation giving full democratic rights to those who, in any significant way, disagreed with the socialist case. The outcome of that would be entirely predictable.<br />This does not mean that the SPGB has set itself up as an intellectual elite into which only those well versed in Marxist scholarship may enter. The SPGB has good reason to ensure that only conscious socialists can join, for, once admitted, all members are equal and it would clearly not be in the interest of the Party to offer equality of power to those who are not able to demonstrate equality of basic socialist understanding. Once a member, s/he have the same rights as the oldest member to sit on any committee, vote, speak, and have access to all information. Thanks to the test all members are conscious socialists and there is genuine internal democracy, and of that we are fiercely proud.<br /><br />Consider what happens when people join other groups which don't have this test.The new applicant has to be approved as being "all right". The individual is therefore judged by the group according to a range of what might be called "credential indicators". Hard work (often, paper selling) and obedience by new members is the main criterion of trustworthiness in the organisation. In these hierarchical, "top-down" groups the leaders strive at all costs to remain as the leadership , and reward only those with proven commitment to the "party line" with preferential treatment, more responsibility and more say. New members who present the wrong indicators remain peripheral to the party structure, and finding themselves unable to influence decision-making at any level, eventually give up and leave, often embittered by the hard work they put in and the hollowness of the party's claims of equality and democracy.ajohnstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7733583.post-16230455943624773422010-04-22T23:29:50.681+01:002010-04-22T23:29:50.681+01:00I'm only sorry I didn't write this post!I'm only sorry I didn't write this post!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com