Socialist Standard

Socialist Standard | The Socialist Party of Great Britain

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"On 20 January Donald Trump officially became president of the United States, much to the consternation of almost 50 percent of the US electorate, and many others around the world."

Bookwomble February 2025's #SocialistStandard includes articles on climate change and regreening projects, the murder of Brian Thompson, socialist ideas on the internet, poverty and homelessness, the Irish general election, 'human nature' arguments against socialism, consumerism, sport and capitalism, and veganism.
Free to download: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020s/2025/no-1446-februa... (edited) 5h

Leftcoastzen Thanks for posting, I read the editorial, will be reading more ! 4h

Bookwomble @Leftcoastzen ✊😊 2h

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Bookwomble

Socialist Standard | The Socialist Party of Great Britain

"When the brutal 50-year tyranny of the Assad dynasty collapsed last month, people danced in the streets in many parts of Syria as they contemplated an unprecedented new beginning."
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

#SocialistStandard issue 1445, has an editorial about the regime change in Syria, a main article about how tech companies leverage political power, continues its series of essays about socialism based on an address by William Morris, ⬇️

Bookwomble ... examines the social structures behind the incidence of celebrity abusers, and has a Marxist critique of the 1947 classic Christmas film, “Miracle on 34th Street“. Great fun!
The full issue freely available here: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020s/2025/no-1445-januar... (edited) 1mo

TrishB Great mix of stuff 👍🏻 1mo

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Bookwomble

Socialist Standard | The Socialist Party of Great Britain

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"So the 'isolationist' section of the ruling class has won control of political power in the United States." - Editorial: "Trump Triumphs"

#SocialistStandard #1444 examines Trump's election win, the cover story being about climate change, the catastrophic floods in Spain, and the likely impact of the POTUS Elect's denialism.
Also included, the fourth part of an analysis of a speech by William Morris; a rather ⬇️

Bookwomble ... sneery, supercilious article on religions, the content of which I'm broadly in agreement with, the tone of which I found condescending and grating; articles on poverty and taxation; whether capitalism was historical inevitable, and; a review of an investigation by Hope Not Hate into big business funding of far right groups and alt-right "research" into "race science". Rounded off with some reviews of books I won't read, and a Marxist view ⬇️ 2mo

Bookwomble ... of long-running radio soap opera, The Archers! 🚜
It's rarely a barrel of laughs, the Socialist Standard, but I am finding it interesting, and having come to the end of my free trial subscription, I'm going to pay for one.
The full issue can be downloaded as a pdf here: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020s/2024/no-1444-decemb... 2mo

CarolynM I think it might be worth it just for the Marxist take on The Archers 🤣 2mo

Bookwomble @CarolynM It wasn't an in-depth analysis, but it was an interesting "And Finally..." segment ? 2mo

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Bookwomble

Socialist Standard | The Socialist Party of Great Britain

I received #SocialistStandard #1443 on 1st November, but couldn't face reading it then. As the strap line says, whoever would've won workers would've lost, but by far the worst of the possibilities happened.

"The main effect of capitalist elections is not to bring about real change but to promote the illusion of change."

"If capitalist democracy is a rigged circus anyway, some will think, why not elect the most outrageous clown?" ?

Bookwomble Their main concern is the economy, which a barrage of Republican disinformation has represented as a failed basket-case under Biden. This isn't so, objectively speaking. The economy is in fact very healthy, at least for wealth owners...A healthy economy of desperate workers is capitalism's ideal operating condition." I'll try to post something else that's positive, if I can find it ?? 3mo

Leftcoastzen Sigh 3mo

Bookwomble @Leftcoastzen I get your sigh. I did have a slight hesitation as my thumb was heading towards the Post button, wondering if it is "too soon". For myself, I find a kind of relief in learning about the workings of capitalism and capitalists, as it makes sense of the otherwise incomprehensible. People are strange, as Jim Morrison said, but getting to know them helps with compassion (admittedly, I've a long way to go with some people! ?). 3mo

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Anna40 I moved from Europe to the US 10 years ago and it never ceases to amaze me how capitalistic this country is, how everything is about consumption be it money, food, people, nature. I‘m generalizing, I know, and not every American is a capitalist but the majority yes. So this would be interesting to read. The article is not online, is it? 3mo

Bookwomble @Anna40 I don't think the specific article is online, but below is a link to the website for the SPGB, which does have articles, resources and information on it 🙂 https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/ 3mo

Anna40 Thank you 3mo

Bookwomble @Anna40 Ooh - you can download a pdf of the whole issue for free! ✊ https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020s/2024/no-1443-novemb... 3mo

Anna40 Great! Thanks! 3mo

Jari-chan Thank you for the link! 3mo

Bookwomble @Jari-chan You're welcome 😊 3mo

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Bookwomble

Socialist Standard | The Socialist Party of Great Britain

"In 2023, three million people in the UK appealed to food banks for food relief. That's one in twenty of the population who did not have enough to eat for some part of last year... In the United States, the world's richest nation, the number of people visiting food banks last year hit 26 million, one American in 13."

Sobering statistics.

#SocialistStandard #1441

GingerAntics But in the states, that‘s a moral failing… of the people who need the aid. The people who caused the need are saints and heroes (and getting massive tax breaks). 4mo

Bookwomble @GingerAntics That's exactly the conservative view here, also. Dickens wrote about conceptions of the deserving and undeserving poor 200 years ago, and we see constantly that those attitudes prevail in the ruling classes, though their idea of 'deserving' seems to shrink. Thatcher went on record saying that the only reason you could be poor in our society was "psychological defect": no insight into how capitalism y its nature engenders poverty. 4mo

GingerAntics @Bookwomble I knew I didn‘t like Thatcher, but wow that‘s even worse than I expected. Was the following sentence of her statement that people with “psychological defect” shouldn‘t be allowed to procreate? What about all the people with psychological defect that were never diagnosed or weren‘t diagnosed until adulthood? I suppose those were fake diagnoses. 🙄 So disgusting. 4mo

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Bookwomble @GingerAntics I need to make a correction: she used the phrase \“personality defect\“, not \“psychological defect\“. It was from an interview she gave to a Christian publication when asked about the persistence of poverty, to which she replied that in a developed Western country, with all its advantages and opportunities, the only conclusion you can come to about people living in poverty is that it\'s due to their own \“personality defect\“. (edited) 4mo

Bookwomble https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10008783-nowadays-there-really-is-no-primary-po... 4mo

GingerAntics @Bookwomble she sure was good at victim blaming! 4mo

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