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Philosophy
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Pamphlet: What We Stand ForLatest International NewsWellred BooksThis month we recommend... Order from Socialist Appeal Fighting Fund appeal 2012
Click here to make an online donation to Socialist Appeal We are aiming for £5000 to be raised this spring. You can help make our drive a great success - donate now! NOV 30th - Reports!
Click HERE for the latest analysis Click HERE for pictures and reports TED GRANT WRITINGS
Click here to purchase Ted Grant Writings Volume One
This volume covers the period 1938-42 and is titled "Trotskyism and the Second World War." Also available:
Latest British NewsBook - 'Reformism or Revolution' - still available
Latest Trade Union NewsMarxist International Review
In Defence Of MarxismLeon Trotsky's classic work "In Defence Of Marxism" Now available from Wellred at a special price
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November marks
the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. This book revolutionised
thinking about the living world because for the first time it provided an
explanation for the evolution of species, something that was long suspected by
scientists. Darwin’s
simple idea – change by natural selection
– is arguably the single most important foundation-stone upon which all modern
biology is based. The Origin of Species was
a triumph of the materialist world outlook, even if Darwin himself didn’t quite
put it that way, and for that reason its publication was celebrated by Marx and
Engels.
Today marks the 69th anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky. Murdered by the cowardly hands of Stalin's henchman, Trotsky's ideas remain as relevant today as ever. We mark this anniversary by reproducing a statement issued by Estevan Volkov, Trotsky's grandson, ten years ago. In doing so we remember the final words from Trotsky's testament: "Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence and enjoy it to the full."
Today is the third anniversary of the death of Ted Grant who died on July 20th 2006 aged 93. To mark this we are making available an article on Marxism from 1994.In September Wellred will be publishing the first volume of Ted Grant's writings.
Ted Grant seizes on evidence of a plot against the right wing Labour Prime minister Harold Wilson to show the real nature of the capitalist state. Behind the democratic façade the state is an organ of capitalist class rule. The establishment will strive might and main to preserve their privileges and will resort to whatever undemocratic measures are necessary to preserve the capitalist system.
Jews throughout the 20th century were attacked as either Communists or rich capitalists. According to this view there was some kind of conspiracy here to overthrow society as we know it. This is pure racist anti-Semitism, which Marxists utterly reject. Jews around the world, and in Israel, belong to different classes and thus have different interests. How does this affect their thinking? Walter Leon looks into the question and connects it to the ups and downs of the class struggle.
The second main thread in all the New Fabian Essays is a criticism of the totalitarian regimes in Russia, China and Eastern Europe, and the identification of Marxism with Stalinism. Here it is necessary to steer between two fatal mistakes. The one typified by the mixed group who maintained long and discreet silences about the crimes of Stalinism, with only the faintest trace of 'criticism'; and those who fail to make a distinction between the political regimes of Stalinism and the basic economic revolution on which the Stalinist bureaucracy and its satellites base themselves. Either mistake can be fatal for the developing left wing in the Labour Party.
Engels' pamphlet, The Part Played
by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man, written in 1876, but not
published until 20 years later, contained many brilliant insights into the
theory of human development. Against a background of very scarce fossil or
other evidence, his application of the method of dialectical materialism to the
problem allowed him to provide a consistent and coherent explanation of human
development well in advance of the majority of his scientific contemporaries;
an explanation that remains to this day the main pivot of any Marxist view of
human development.
The
events of the past year or so, financial meltdown, political instability,
uncertainty over jobs and the threat that many workers could lose their homes
represents a huge shift in society, both internationally and especially in
Britain where the effects of the “credit crunch” have been particularly acute.
In the context of such a deep crisis the halcyon days of the “feel good factor”
and the “15 years of unbroken economic growth”, seem like ancient history.
For over a century Marxists have argued the need to take the banks and
other financial institutions into public ownership as part of the
socialist transformation of society. The founding document of
scientific socialism, the 'Communist Manifesto', in 1848 called for,
"Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a
national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly."
Together with the same author’s
‘Materialist conception of history’ this is a brilliant introduction to
historical materialism. Clearly there are limits to the ‘what if’ way of
looking at historical processes, but the reader will no doubt find Plekhanov’s
conclusion that even such over-arching figures as Napoleon or Robespierre did
not fundamentally change the broad course of historical development compelling.
After all Plekhanov is defending the basic materialist conception of history,
i.e. that progress is determined by material forces that manifest themselves in
the activities of millions of people. He explains it well. In doing so he is
illuminating the interplay of accident and necessity in history.
Milions of workers came out on strike in defence of their pensions. This was the biggest such action for decades. The fight goes on!
