Where are the Marxists??

And why we need interdisciplinary Marxist Theory NOW

In this profound period of mounting crises, the self-professed Pro-Working-Class" Marxists, can, it appears, no longer see the woods for the trees!

The very long trajectory of Working Class Politics - from the remarkable Revelations of Karl Marx - to the disappointing political situation we find ourselves in today - has apparently arrived at what seems to be a General Terminal Denouement, with the Climate Crisis and the Ever-Mounting War in Ukraine!

The Soviet Union has long since fallen and China, while purportedly still a Communist State, quietly and undemonstratively chases trade with a still Capitalist Rest-of-the-World, as the Sole Policy for its People. The Socialist Perspective seems to have no place to go!

The World has changed radically to become more like the situation in 1939, when a Nazi-ruled Germany invaded Poland. A new World War is increasingly highly possible now, just as occurred then, but though at that time Britain still had a powerful World Empire, and the Prior Economic Crisis Worldwide was finally fading in a seemingly general recovery.

But NOW there is a Gigantic World Economic Crisis brewing, while both the West, as well as the Hawks in Russia, are itching for a New World War, to supposedly solve the Economic and Political Problems facing the Capitalist Class, along with "The Fruits of Victory", BUT WITHOUT the necessary wherewithal to sustain it, especially as such a Conflict will inevitably vastly speed-up a truly enormous Multi-Sided Cataclysm - not only Economically, but unavoidably also coupled with the mounting Climate Catastrophe too.

And the powers-that-be are already well aware of that eventuality, but because of it, they undoubtedly need to vastly consolidate their Positions and Strength, and to do it while the Working Class still have absolutely NO effective Trades Unions, and NO Revolutionary Parties to lead them in precipitating the necessary Revolution!

For the inevitably coming Crises will certainly change the state of play dramatically! And the Automation that has seemingly replaced the Work Force in much Production, will not mend itself when their minders and fixers are flocking into the Newly Growing Unions, and the rejuvenation of True Marxist Revolutionary Parties of the Working Class begin to grow like Topsy!

The current "seemingly insane" drives of the Ruling Classes demonstrate their obvious realisation of what is increasingly inevitable, and if unprepared-for, could result in their Demise! A Victorious and well-equipped professional Army would be necessary to defeat a rampant Working Class - as the Nazis proved in Germany, after World War One.

The Restricted War, which Putin is waging, doesn't suit the opposing Countries, and today there is evidence that powerful interests in Russia itself feel the same: Remember their Working Class lived in a Socialist country for 74 years before the Victory of the Capitalist Oligarchs. They too will flood-into Working Class Parties when they are necessarily strongly repressed from above!

Russia's army in Ukraine

And who might then be waiting in the wings - China!

(and why is China currently having to deal with a new virulent form of COVID after they dealt so effectively with it when it first emerged? Can you guess how it arrived?)

Now, you would think that there are enough regular commentators around, who call themseves "Marxists" to work on some sort of strategy - but there are in fact literally none who explain things the way I have done here, and what is more, they hardly mention the increasingly important and rapidly changing Contexts, for what is clearly developing totally unhindered!

Yet it had always been the strength of Real Committed Marxists that they also always situate developments in the Delivering Contexts, as they in the end, often, deliver the more unusual consequences! And, the reason for this, is that in them, and even their evident absences within most others:  they have a particular set of preferred outcomes which they strongly signal, while ignoring those that they would rather didn't happen!

Now Richard Wolff is a celebrated "Marxist", but I could find No Trace of a pro Working Class Stance in his comments upon the War in The Ukraine. And a Prior analysis of the way things were developing in the Context involved, should have been what he established FIRST!

As has become increasingly clear, Thinkers upon these matters are always too Single-Discipline based to arrive at a Real Marxist Analysis. They find the same things Marx discovered in History, BUT only within their own Specialist Areas!

And that is never enough!

To cope with the problems of today, both the actual pertetrators AND those seeking Objective Solutions, DID it with their Subject-Blinkers on! And, because of the unavoidable biases involved in both approaches, the problems were NEVER solved, either by the Capitalists in charge, or adequately addressed by the Discipline-limited "professed Marxists"!

For, the cricial limitations of ALL Restricted Approaches, is that by so doing, only a cut-down version of the presently-existing-situation, which occupies ONLY a Single Level within Reality-as-is, will actually deliver a finite solution, BUT always limited to that Precise Context alone.

This relation within a Limited Context and its associated useable Rationalities, is, of course, the root if the Problem - and gives the illusion of" Absolute Truth!" But it certainly isn't so! And we must say Why!

The reason is that these Restricted Situations were in the earlier Evolution of Reality-as-is Absolutely Correct: BUT then ceased to be so as New and Different Levels emerged that changed things fundamentally. Yet these were add-ons at Different New Levels, so the old version could even then be taken as an Approximation to the Modified Current Truth.

Needless to say, this always confused early Thinkers, when it was finally updated, and they didn't for a long time realise the Division of Absolute Truth over Several Levels! They didn't even see the Levels, but instead interpreted them as Different Disciplines!

Clearly, the whole range of commentators of the current increasingly critical situation, are, whether supporters of the Status quo, OR perhaps surprisingly, even any avowed "Marxist" Critics - they are all, nevertheless still very far from capable of fulfilling their various, intended, and supposedly-opposite objectives - as both of these opposing groups never really address the problems caused in any way that could lead to a sound resolution.

The once reliable trust that could be put in the Marxian Socialists, is, I'm afraid, more or less dissipated by their current inability to both explain and then direct arrived-at solutions, to what will undoubtedly be inflicted upon us, in the coming period!

And, the reasons for the failures of both intensions of the perpetrators, and the inflicted-upon recipients of what has been delivered, wrongly characterise what was actually involved, and where it would lead! The Perpetrators know only what they can do, and that isn't enough to accurately know what effects it will have! While the recipients using extracted Laws taken from wrongly conceptually considered remedial actions, which, therefore, don't get the expected effects right either!

Both sides use Laws extracted in only partly defined ways, for the recipients, and based upon a very different prior experience, by the perpetrators. For in both sets if actions, Wholly New Emergences, when they will happen for the very first time, are absolutely NEVER predictable: so, what will happen is unknowable!

And, because of a multiplicity of these events, there will be NOT a single outcome, but a range of possible outcomes with different probabilities of each happening!

Now, where have we seen this before? Is it not in Quantum Theory?

And, at this stage of the Mess wrought by a rampant, blinkered Capitalism, the Significant Damages to the Environment, and its resiliance-to-recover from such things, has, by now, gone TOO FAR, and Significant Climate Change is already knocking at the door, simultaneously with such a destruction of its means to recover, that a Major Calamity appears unavoidable.

For the Working Class to re-arm with the very latest Developments in Understanding such Situations AND, of course, intervene in them, there is still much to be done!!

Indeed, without the Significant Extention of what Marx brilliantly initiated, and Lenin further developed, of the profound theoretical basis - we have no way of Understanding the complex dynamic Systems and multiple levels involved. Yet this vital theory could not be both further, adequately and necessarily developed, without the current conscious extensions of these ideas into All The Sciences that Marx and Lenin had never addressed - and are NOW being so-extended by this theorist!

The lack that these omissions inflicted upon this Important Body of Theory, is clearly indicated by the oft applied appellation of the term "Scientific Socialism" to Marxism, which is most certainly Untrue, as neither Marx or Lenin, nor anyone else, ever criticised the means and methods of Science from the correct Dialectical Materialist base to, for the very first time, establish such Laws from a philosophical standpoint - as a Socialist Science!

For Science - as was, could never be competent as a basis for that Fundamental Philosophical Stance. And even before this New Turn, the old Causal Laws, so achieved, were regularly added to, by supposedly New Purely Empirical Laws - with Absolutely NO Causal Explanations evidently possible for them.

All attempts to discover such interpretations met with Total Failure, and this caused most physicists great difficulties - for they profoundly believed that all such Laws MUST have Causal Explanations. But, the Positivists Henri Poincare and Ernst Mach insisted that these Empirical Laws should be given equal status with the preferred Causal Laws, within their Empirio Criticism Approach. And though this, at the time, was rejected, the following vast increase in these Empirical Laws, in the Sub Atomic Realm, persuaded the majority of physicists to agree: it rapidly became the norm for all Science!

Jim Schofield's work on Marxist Systems Theory

The Systems Theory of Everything

And, it was only recently, that the Emergence of what is termed Systems Theory proved that Causal Explanations were indeed possible, but NOT residing at the very same Level: for as they were associated ONLY with Systems-of-these-Processes, they were situated at the higher Level of Systems modifications!

Indeed, all of the Sciences were shot through with these systems modifications: reductionist Science was NOT the reliable basis that it used to be assumed to be!

Indeed, the Systems modifications turned out to be many and various and torpedoed the long resorted-to assumption that the tiniest causal relations just were the same but multiplied-up in all bulk situations.

It just isn't true!

AND, most important of all: without the full addressing of ALL the interactions in all bulk situations, the very Natural Stabilities that occur and their Tumultuous Collapses - particularly in Revolutions - will Absolutely Never be understood.

Indeed, even more generally an Important Turn has finally actually been initiated, that had been a very long time in getting to the stage, when Explanatory Theories, across-the-board, could finally deal with their long disabling restrictions, and become more generally applicable!

Marxists must now embrace a holistic Systems approach if they are to deal with any of the problems facing us as a species today. 

Leeds Marxist Society on the Parkinson steps, University of Leeds

The Rape of Yemen

 
Having presented the main Resolution on Yemen, many tears ago at a Young Socialists Annual Conference, I have always searched for a real Socialist account of what has been happening in that part of the World, usually without any real success!

But, the recent virtual video conference compiled by The Workers Party of Britain, is by far and away the best I have seen, and I have therefore suggested that SHAPE present the video in full. For though extensive, that kind of treatment has been exactly what has been essential for some time.

While SHAPE Journal & this blog usually concentrate upon new developments in Marxist Theory, most particularly within Philosophy and Science, as the primary area of study, SHAPE also represents an Internationalist Socialist Political line too - so, we reproduce this important piece here with the greatest enthusiasm!

The Origin of the Ruling Classes

The ruling class obtained their power and wealth using violence

Long, long ago, in a now-totally-vanished Early Civilisation, certain dedicated people struggled with all their might to begin to understand Reality-as-it-actually-existed. And in that initial, and mostly pre-Productive era, the main purpose was always primarily to see what caused things to both Change and even Develop, in the ways that nature clearly did. 

These were remarkable People, having only recently abandoned the nomadic of existence of their forefathers, and conquered how to work-with-Nature, settle in a single permanent place, and plant-and-tend crops, as well as pen-in and domesticate certain animals, they had crossed the Rubicon, that had long restricted their development, which had lasted, scarcely-changing, for literally millions of years. 

They knew what they had achieved, and were already beginning to think differently about the world. And also, to consider what other possibly different behaviours could also be tried-out, that might, in the future, produce dramatically different alternative possibilities. And, the purposes for establishing such objectives, were seen to be to both explaining their own Past History, and, armed with such understanding, perhaps be in such a position to avoid old mistakes, and to struggle instead for something a whole lot better!

But that wasn't yet happening. 

For instead, other groups of people, who were NOT such seekers of truth, and were still living as constantly-wandering Hunter/Gatherers, were motivated by seeing those settled people, who were clearly much better off than they were, to instead shape their future by the Use of Force - directed entirely to acquire those things using violence, for their own exclusive benefit, BUT, at the same time, effectively preventing others from doing that very same thing to them.

And those possible builders of an alternative future, currently enjoying the benefits of a productive life, were not yet equipped to attempt to either understand or withstand the warlike objectives of jealous onlookers from outside: who did know what they, themselves, were already fully capable of achieving, such things, just as they had in the past, by the obvious use of Force. They could vanquish any possible present and future opponents by employing a First Strike Strategy, and then, thereafter, remaining fully-equipped to perpetuate their achieved dominance, if ever they were challenged, both either by those that they now ruled, or by any wholly new forces, with the very same objectives as they themselves had originally pursued. But, such rule by conquest was no contract between rulers and ruled: there was no doubt as to who was in charge.

The earliest raids were just surprise attacks, and the attackers couldn't take-and-carry-off very much, but the hunters could inflict serious hurt and even deaths upon the defenders, and would be back frequently, if some form of effective defence were not put in place. But the only at-all-competent defenders would be other groups of Hunter/Gatherers, and they would not usually be either available nor willing when required.

Ultimately, a surprising solution was settled upon by chance, when desperate Hunter/Gatherers were taken in and helped by a Farming community, and then when a raid occurred, the hunters who had been taken in effectively defended their new friends, and beat the invaders off. And a deal was made, that in return for such defences, the Farming Community would continue to provide the needs of their Hunter defenders.

And, after a series of successful defences, the "Village Hunters" quickly became lauded heroes, and sometimes were even asked to be the leaders and protectors of the Community.

So, initially from good intentions, the Community had acquired a nascent Ruling Leadership of non productive warrior leaders. And a New Class had been established whose greatest asset was their ability to Fight-and-Win, but certainly NOT to work!

So, the later Leaders and Defenders of civilization would naturally come from this now privileged Class. 

And, they would want to maintain their Status and Privileges, even long after their use as Defenders ceased to be either necessary or possible.

And today, long after this leader/defender role has vanished - and after so much social upheaval in the name of equality and social progress - the Class that so became established at the dawn of civilisation, still largely remain in place.

Have a look at today's ruling class and the activities they enjoy if you're in any doubt...

Organising for Real Social Change

In spite of several major crises, such as the decade-long slump in the 1930s, and the similar and still continuing Depression commencing in 2008, the problems which caused them have not, and indeed cannot, be solved, whilever we live within a Capitalist Economic System.

For, this system is driven by maximising Profit for the Few, while directly extracting the wherewithal to maintain and extend the System, from the the work and the pockets of the majority of the People - the Many! And, the consequences throughout the last century have been totally horrendous - TWO World Wars with literally Tens of Millions of Deaths - entirely due to rival Capitalist powers wanting bigger shares! Impending climate catastrophe as the system requires perpetual growth and the destruction of the natural world which that necessitates. And, also, there have been - Revolutions in TWO of the biggest Countries in the World, whose stated purpose was to build Socialism and bury Capitalism for ever.

So, how has Capitalism survived?

There is no easy answer, but one of the primary reasons the many haven't been able to overthrow the few is because literally ALL the means of disseminating Information are in the biased hands of the Wealthy, and even the apparently Democratic Political Systems, worldwide, have been bought to both speak and act always in a pro-capitalist way!

Yet, even so, it has all been insufficient, and we are now living within a period of literally constant wars - either to supress any divergence from the pro Capitalist Bloc, or to supress any challenge the dominance of the current hegemony of the Leading Capitalist Power - the USA!

And, no matter what setbacks the war-mongers get, they simply redouble their efforts, to maintain the status quo - one way or another. 

It is becoming an existential Crisis for Capitalism, and as they have NO solutions - they still carry on with the vast increases in Debt, which precipitated the continuing Crisis of 2008! It hasn't been a solution to that, so stepping it up again to even higher levels won't solve things now.

So, how can the People break out of their currently powerless position?

They have to FIRST bypass the usual means, and take to the streets!

And, then they must strive to build Socialist Political Parties with the Theory necessary to inform their actions.

And that MUST be Marxist - BUT NOT the distorted versions of the Stalinist/Communist and even the Trotskyist aberrations, but a NEW and Genuine Marxism, based upon the contributions of Karl Marx, but now finally extended into Science, where it is currently exposing the myths of Modern Sub Atomic Physics, as well as rejecting the many Damaging Revisions, in the name of Marxism, which are no such thing!

There is no shortage of Issues: get out there and DEMONSTRATE!

Chomsky & Krauss

On Morality and Power

But NEVER, of course, Social Class

I have been listening to a questioning interview of Noam Chomsky, conducted by Laurence Krauss in the Origins series of Public Lectures at Arizona State University.

It was about the History of Mankind, and its frequently unspeakable bestiality, contrasting markedly with the approach, analysis and explanations, by philosophers such as Chomsky, who have always throughout that long history revealed and condemned such atrocities, and argued for a much more critical approach by the populace.

But, the questions, as defined by Krauss, were to do with the Nature of Mankind, which could be said to have, in the past, allowed such a History, and why they seemed to never listen, allowing such atrocities to have always continued - even getting vastly worse, over time. Krauss seemed to be implicitely questioning Mankind's essential natural Moral Fibre, by their forever ignoring of these clearly evident Truths.

But surely, the actual answers carried out were never instituted by the People, and were really about the very different Social Class Interests, always promoted by the Ruling Classes, who were always the sole deciders, and hence the real perpetrators, and those who had managed to both obtain and keep their Privileges, Class Policies and Power, by consciously and consistemtly ensuring their continued dominance, by their somehow regularly maintained Power, and the seeming multiplicity of possible policies, and purposely confused by added and profusely published lies.

So, that along with their Control, allowed them to enforce them as they pleased, and as a necessary defence against those who lusted after owning and them despoiling our resolutely defended rights!

Though Chomsky fought hard to deny the culpability of Mankind itself, by defending their moral fabric, it still allowed the opposite case of a general culpability to be posed.

And, of course, the mode of questioning, by Krauss, was about Mankind in general, rather than those means, by which clear minority groups and leaders were both originally established, and there-after maintained in power.

The actual modes of life involved, and the Classes that were then enabled to carry them out, and impose their explanations, were NEVER EVER addressed, for if they had been, the culprits would have been easily exposed, and perhaps the appropriate actions to remedy the various producing situations could have been discussed.

They weren't!

And that was because the whole issue was purposely cast into the "Advice of Wise Prophets" and the unwillingness of the People to listen to them - blaming the masses, basically.

And, how else could it have been exposed, when delivered solely by members of the "Wise Prophet clan" - The Intellectuals?

Many of that clan of Intellectuals were mentioned, but blatently absent of course, was Karl Marx, whose main contibutions via the adoption and use of Dialectical Materialism, and his characterisation of the nature of a whole series of different Human Societies - all determined by which Social Classes had achieved the power within each of them and knew how to maintain it.

For Marx was both a professional historian and a philosophic follower of Hegel, due to the latter's brilliant conceptions of the importance and significant occurrences of Qualitative Changes, which Marx immediately-knew had historically opened the door to explaining the natures and trajectories of such societies, as well as their ultimate demises in Social Revolutions!

Indeed, in the very way Krauss conducted the interview, the always unstated but nevertheless evident question was surely:

"Why didn't the people follow the prophets and change their societies?"

For, one after the other, NO such changes were ever suggested! What was the matter with them?

Krauss was evidently well aware of the unvoiced alternative, and he was clearly under pressure to keep the discussion where he needed it to be, so he increasingly guided the ensuing discussion, by posing past utterences by Chomsky, and asking him to defend them, until the overrun in time was sufficient for him to terminate the interview, without ever letting it explore the radical alternative.

It should be emphasized the the whole Origins Project (and indeed the significant building up of ASU) has been extensively financed by both billionaires and a series of major Capitalist Enterprises, and many of his chosen experts in the extensive Origins Project are both evidently and overtly often employees or even Owners or CEOs of major Capitalist Enterprises.

POSTSCRIPT:

Indeed, having perused most of the Lectures in the Origins Project, it soon became clearly evident that to Krauss, a unity of Academia with Big Business Finance and its supported technical endeavours is THE way forward for both Capitalism and Mankind, even though the evidence, as the current Crisis continues to unfold, quite clearly is only the sure way to Armageddon!

The Coming Slump! What has to be Done?

Is the Left suitably equipped?

The pro-capitalist economists, when asked about the current worsening situation, are up-in-arms - they just don't know what has to be done!

Some are even referring-back to the result of the Great Depression of 1929-1941, a World War, as the only way to stop the alternative: Social Revolution!

Yet, the First World War didn't stop the Revolution in Russia! It probably enabled it.

The consensus among the group of economists involved in this set of interviews, varied from making the People pay for it all by a "new kind of inflation", to a cancelling of State Debts via a World War with creditor nations!

But, of course, no-one asked the People.

And where is the solution of the Left?

What is delivered currently the UK is a long, slow rebuilding to what they already have in Europe, with Socialist and Communist Parties and a Trades Union Movement. But, that is certainly no better than the current reaction directly from the People, which has been the Yellow Vest Protests in France.

But nothing yet from Revolutionaries!

Capitalism is finished: and if we don't bury-it-deep, it will pull us all down with it, into another Dark Age, if not something worse.

The rulers of the Capitalist powers have Nuclear Weapons, and the means to deliver them. And they are the only people to have ever used them before - in Japan!

Much as I am in favour of democracy in the workplace, I'm afraid Worker Co-ops are nowhere near enough to counter Capital's downward spiral. The Super-rich will have to be separated from their Wealth-and-Power! And, any threat of that, will cause them to turn, once again, to Fascism to restore the situation. This is what Fascism is for.

Do you doubt it?

Mass actions will be necessary - BUT of the order of The Yellow Jackets TIMES 100!

New political parties will be necessary, for the likes of the Blairites in the British Labour Party cannot be trusted. And both the Republicans and the Democrats in the USA are hopelessly tied to their funding by the Rich who are causing this mess.

The Left must organise into political Parties committed to terminating Capitalism and establishing Socialism by Revolutionary Means.

Be prepared to defend your streets, your families and your comrades against the mounting forces of the Right! For they will come.

FIGHT NOW FOR SOCIALISM

DeMOCKracy!

When the USA says it wants to see Democracy in Venezuela,
what do they really mean, and what is their real intention?

What are Real Democracy's necessary prerequisites and how is it subverted?

The usual call from the Powers-That-Be, in the rich Capitalist countries of the West, is for the "deprived nations" to be converted to "Democracy" (by force if necessary) as a solution to all their problems!

What? All by itself? And just by suggesting it?

"No, of course not: they will need guidance from US. We would send people in to help!"

What "people"? Soldiers with guns?

"Well occasionally, yes... There will be opponents to Democracy"

You should recognise the programme by now!

They have been "helping" in this way for some time... in Korea, then Vietnam, and latterly in many parts of Latin America, not to mention Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and many others. Will Venezuela be next?

Democracy protests in Venezuela

Can Democracy really be instituted this way?

Emphatically NOT!

Real democracy has to be an authentic bottom-up struggle of the people against the rule of rich and powerful individuals and cliques. For if the powerful remain in place, the resulting "Democracy" will always be a fake - indeed a DeMOCKracy, often worse than the system that preceded the regime change.

And what above all other factors prevents Real Democracy for forming? 

Concentrated Wealth and Power will always kill it STONE DEAD! 

So, all the means of establishing Wealth as an End-in-Itself must be made illegal, by a new democratic state! Inheritance of Wealth must be illegal too. While these unfair concentrations of power exist, the people cannot truly rule themselves.

All enterprises must become state-run services or grassroots worker cooperatives. And both Local and National Democratic Government must institute both full and regular information directly to the electors in public meetings, with an instituted instant recall, and immediate replacement of misbehaving / corrupt representatives.

Democracy means

Rule of the People, 

by the People

and

For the People

So, schemes instituted from above (or outside) are always intended to remove real democratic power.

Haunting Henry Moore

Real Remembrance

As the Tories and their clerics continued to celebrate the First World War on Sunday, only one moment reflected its real Truth and Horror.

(Two of my uncles perished in that mangle of mud and blood, and it killed my illiterate Grandma when she heard.)

That moment was the tribute to Sassoon and Owen on Sky Arts. And their words simply must scream SHAME on our horrendous Ruling Class, who never gave a damn about the Working Class soldiers they condemned to death, and still don't.

Here's some real remembrance.

Dulce et Decorum Est 

BY WILFRED OWEN

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 gas-shells dropping softly 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.

The Alliance of Toffs with Yobs

Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the former leader of Ukip, has been criticised for inviting far-right "activist" Tommy Robinson to the Palace of Westminster.

What fuels the rise of the far-right?

And where does it lead?

Listening to the Radio, or watching TV News, may indicate what is happening currently, in the still extant aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis - and by far and away the biggest since the Great Depression of the 1930s, yet no real reasons are ever given, or likely outcomes revealed.

Yet, the best indicators are very clearly available in History!

But, you have to focus on the final, dissociating crises of played-out, dying systems, as the once seemingly unassailable Ruling Classes desperately and violently struggled then, as they do now, to survive.

They were then, and are now, a tiny minority of the World's population, but they had then, and have now, both the power and the money to "run-the-show" their way. But, as that show begins to fall-apart beneath their well-shod feet, so the old performances now increasingly cease to enwrap their audiences. New ways and new alliances become imperative!

And, even the scarcely-effective organisations of the Working Class have to be emasculated and their leaders besmirched with invented lies!

Do you doubt this scenario?

Look around you!

As the Roman Empire began to crumble, the rich retired into well-defended and well-equipped Latifundia - walled enclaves, mirrored today by gated communities.

And, alliances with backward, prejudiced communities were, and still are, both fostered and financed to supply the paraphernalia, slogans, and easily-identified "targets" to be blamed for their difficulties!

What was the general solution for most Ruling Classes in the 1930s?

It was Fascism and War!

Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Japan and many other Ruling Classes not only established Fascism at home, but extended it vastly by conquest, in a truly World War!

Can you foresee a possible World War 3?

The inappropriate issues focussed upon by the Media (owned, of course, by the Ruling Class) must be cast aside!

The problem is Capitalism - an economic system which is dying - and the solution is Socialism!

We have to understand what is happening, and who are enemies are: the Rich are the instigators, but we must be ready for the Yobs, who they will recruit to attempt to destroy us! If they march in our streets, as they did in Cable Street in London in the 1930s, they must be defeated NOW as we defeated them then!

Tories OUT!

Socialism IN!

Organise at every level for the coming struggle! Be like the heroic Grenfell survivors - Organise and Fight Back!

No Future

Abandoned mall in the USA

No Future Under Capitalism

....for Anyone

The Economic System of Capitalism must have a Market for what it produces. So, primarily, that means people to buy its products.

But, just as important in determining its imperatives, is how it works economically, based upon both the Financial Requirements side and on the Necessary Results side: it must attract the necessary investment to finance both the Means of Production, their regular updating to stay competitive, and have enough overall Profits to pay the required Dividends to its Investors.

But, it must also have Labour to carry out its productive operations: and that must be as cheap as possible.

Now, the main problem since its inception has never changed!

Most of the customers (ultimately) will also be those producing the products. It, therefore, presents the major unavoidable contradiction in Capitalism. For, keeping wages as low as possible, while having enough customers with money to buy the products are, ultimately, diametrically opposed requirements.

Do you require a proof?

For, the whole 300 years of its History, Capitalism has hit this contradiction every few years, when it inevitably suffers a Recession, Depression or even a Slump - and when it does large numbers of workers are sacked, and find new jobs almost impossible to find.

The corner was often turned by taking on the unemployed at much lower wages, so a new balance could be achieved, and these would be at different companies to those from which they had been sacked. Indeed, these "Down-Turns" were frequent enough, for an ever present Pool of the Unemployed to be regularly used in this way!

Now, a purely single area Capitalism, could never grow enough for the new Employing Class and their investors, so they extended their reach to ever new areas, both in their own Country, and then abroad. And, as those exterior countries had been conquered by the so-called Metropolitan Capitalist Hubs, both cheap raw materials and low-wage workers could be easily maintained there.

Abandoned mall in China

This is the Imperialist Development of Capitalism, as very successfully employed by England (and later by the following United Kingdom).

And, interestingly, this was significantly modified by the United States of America, by constantly extending its boundaries to the West and South, disposing of the indigenous populations, as it did so, and distributing of the taken land cheaply to the torrent of poor workers from the East of the USA, and to similar immigrant people from Europe.

But, in addition, both of these nations largely solved their most pressing problem, by resorting to wholesale slavery, to provide "owned labour" both in America in their Southern States, and by Britain in its Caribbean Colonies.

Of course, such "solutions" were always only temporary! For the imperatives of the system, necessarily re-asserted themselves all the time. And, with the end of Imperialism after the Second World War, those means were also curtailed - to be replaced by the installing-and-supporting of corrupt regimes in the ex-colonies to act as well-paid intermediaries.

Indeed, for both the colonial owners and the USA there was also the threat of Socialism, following the Russian and Chinese Revolutions, and the forced "socialisation" of Eastern Europe. For then, America, in particular, embarked upon an almost constant set of wars to prevent any further extensions, and set up militarily-supported Capitalist alternatives instead.

But, the underlying drive of Capitalism always-and-inevitably re-asserts itself, and whatever modifications are instituted, nothing can replace the need for Profit!

Equally the essential contradictions can also never be resolved within Capitalism: for even in War, the usually resorted to "final solution", the soldiers required are once again the ordinary Working People - and to fight they have to be armed!

It was just such "people-in-arms" that carried through the Russian Revolution.

Think about it! 

Why were Nuclear weapons invented?

The promise of war without soldiers

Why are wealthy Americans armed to the teeth, and increasingly live in effectively "gated communities"?

Why must there always be an Enemy, threatening the status quo?

Why has America got by far the mightiest Military in the World?

Who is really threatening America?

It is you!

What the capitalist rulers fear most is the mass of ordinary workers finally rebelling!

So, how about a future without Capitalism?

Abandoned mall in Austin Texas has been transformed into a community college

Re-using dying malls

Countering "Give up now you'll never do it!"

London 2003 saw the largest protest in its history. Over a million people took to the streets to show their opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The war went ahead anyway...

Outflanking the Wealth-Dominated Authority and Opinion

In my professional life I have often had to succeed in spite of seemingly unconquerable odds ranged against what I knew to be necessary. What I wanted to do was dismissed by all the authoritive voices, and even by literally all those who actually agreed with me! The informed consensus was:-

"Give up now, you'll never do it!"

Indeed, all alternative actions, suggested from bothsides, but for obviously very different reasons, was to, "Do what you can, and where you can!", and be satisfied that: you had, at least, made a justified, if token, effort.

Not good enough!

For, while you are making minor changes for a handful of recipients, the powers that be are changing things for thousands and then millions. I'm afraid that such tokens amount to letting the wealth-organised authorities do it their way, and in doing so, turn your well-intensioned tokens into betrayals.

For, those tokens promise great possibilities, which are not only never delivered, but just persuade those who had temporarily benefited from them that, more generally, "Absolutely nothing could be done!"

But, on two crucial occasions, a way was found to implement changes beyond a temporary token contribution.

An appeal, via the man whose name was attached to the institution in which I was working, managed to acquire two obsolescent Mainframe Computers from a local major firm, who were upgrading, and these were identical to the one on which I had been doing extended research at a local University. And, all this also came at a time when the Government were suggesting Link Courses between Further Education Colleges and Local Schools - to give pupils experience of what they would need in their future workplaces. Clearly, I was in a position to connect these "token, costless" ventures into something very different!

Within a short period we had built a Computing Section doing several quality courses both in-house and via Links with local Schools. It was on a shoestring, but we knew what we were doing, and backed it up with an independent organisation for doing the same for other Colleges across the Country, as well as getting more equipment for our own institution and maintaining a sufficient standard.

Now, I did mention two cases!

Years later I was working with a Researcher in Dance Performance and Choreography, who had major problems using exemplar materials on video, for use in teaching the principles involved in both of these disciplines. We got together and solved her problems using computer controlled Laser Discs, and within a year had won a British Interactive Video Award for Excellence, with our first product "The Dance Disc".

But, our revolutionary methods were still rejected by the Dance Education Authorities, and for a whole decade we were unable to proceed further. But, this was the 1990s and the internet was looming!

We decided to sell over the internet, via, initially, giving away free Demo Discs (usable upon the then numerous desktop computers), which we had taken from our first product, or were cut-down versions of potential new products. We managed to totally by-pass the Dance Establishment, and, via the Internet, and, in the end, produced a dozen titles, including one translated into Dutch, and with both known-contacts and supplied-users in over 100 countries, worldwide.

Clearly, the Authorities are dominated by people with very different priorities to the majority of people working in that given area.

So, the policy must be to outflank them, when they hinder necessary progress!

Now, admittedly, this isn't as easy as it sounds, because things-move-on, and a possible outflanking, at one time, can be impossible later-on!

For example, the increasing interventions by Governments and their agencies into the Internet, which, let's be crystal clear, is no longer run by enthusiastic, principled and committed amateurs, but by multi-billion dollar Corporations, whose interests are allying, ever-more-closely, with pro-wealth Governments. The bypassing solutions of the future will have to be different from those of the past!

And, of course, for those of the Left with a political agenda, these arguments are even more crucial. Are the methods of the past up to the problems emerging daily as World Capitalism repeatedly fails to counter the devastating effects of the 2008 slump? Of course not! For, with the newspaper and communications media in their pockets, Capitalist Governments are finding scapegoats, everywhere, to hide the real causes of the continuing crisis.

As happened with the 1929-1941 slump, the same methods led to Fascist Governments in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Japan and even Finland: and similar Right-Wing movements are now growing literally everywhere. And, to up the ante still further, War is now endemic for the USA, as they intervene all over the Globe in attempts to maintain their prior dominance, but now, more and more, by Force!

But, the biggest demonstration ever, in the UK, as was marshalled against the War of Intervention in Iraq, still achieved nothing!

The resources were there, but not the necessary Organisation!

The past strength of the Unions has been drastically diminished by Capitalist Governments; and the nature of the new jobs to "replace" those lost in the 2008 Slump are "zero-hours", self-employed, or part-time, with neither security, protection or the organisations to fight for such things, for the workers involved. But, the only real weapon of the Working Class is, and always has been, Organisation: it is all they can have!

So, what new forms must this take in the current period to provide that crucial and deciding power to WIN?

We are, after all, the Many, and with joint steadfast action we can (and must) defeat the Few!

To answer these questions constructively, we must define exactly what is lacking, and change our current activism into a questing, seeking, informing and empowering agitation, primarily supplying what the Working Class "both need, and need-to-know!", and, "to effectively organise!". And, such information should no longer be a ready-made series of policies - arrived at only by distant leaders and handed down to be used by activists, everywhere, and in the same way. Instead, they must be finding out what is, locally, both required and demanded.

And formulating demands and arguments to be used with other, as yet, unconvinced workers - and in so doing constantly empowering the theorists too!

And, as always, the necessary forces will be found within the Youth! Primarily, because it is they who are the hardest hit, yet unencumbered by the old, now useless, methods of the past. It was the youth who literally "did everything" after the Grenfell Disaster, to help and organise for those affected - Did you notice how young, committed. intelligent and energetic they were?

Those must be the forces to be won!

And, in addition, all those, who are qualified, should be communicating their expertise to such workers: Not as it is done on the Radio, Television and Films as "Entertainment", but as enabling-possibilities for our Class! Teachers and experts in particular areas should be explaining what they do to workers as exciting, valuable and worthwhile occupations.

For, Education as it is usually inflicted upon the children of workers - "to fit them for work when they leave", must be given a vastly wider remit, and introduce them to the excitement of all aspects of human activities. The polar opposite of what is currently happening in education under the Tories.

Now, one more personal experience of the writer, must be related to negate the Nay-Sayers for such an approach. Years ago, I was working in Glasgow, where we started a "Youth Training" initiative in Bridgeton (a poor-Working Class area). At that time, there seemed to be only myself, who could offer anything both useful and exciting - I was an established Computer Programmer, so I taught unemployed Working Class Youth to program computers. They loved it, and wanted more, but the next level-up required more expensive equipment, and we didn't have the resources to supply one-each! I contacted my old comrades from one of my previous posts, which was carrying on with what I had started over a decade previously, and asked them to get me a redundant Mainframe Computer, which they did, and we installed it in a warehouse in Bridgeton.

Sadly, soon after, I terminally fell-out with my employers, and had to get another job in England, so I personally was unable to carry that project to completion. But, it again showed what could be done! Who could gainsay such outflanking! It had bypassed both all the usual provision of such facilities, and their usual intentions

Notice though, I was the only academic I knew who was doing such things!

Clearly, there are many such provisions that committed and competent professionals could make, as well as other services that are vanishing from situations such as we are suffering at present.

Communal services like Libraries are closing down everywhere!

What can you do?

Abandoned library in Blackpool

Postscript:

Years ago, the city I was then working in were due to demolish a row of ancient shops, but there was a delay! They agreed to allow a temporary use, rent-free, if those taking one on looked after it. Myself and my partner, applied and got one of these shops, and turned it into an Art Gallery. It lasted for a whole year! People who care can rally communities to run such things themselves if needs be...

Rise of the Oligarchs

How Nationalised Services Became Private Empires

A trajectory which is never explained is "how could a Socialist State, with Nationalised property relations and State-owned Industries and Public Services. turn back into a Capitalist State once more, with most industries back in the hands of private owners?

Theoretically, there should have been nobody left within such a State, with enough prodigious wealth to ever buy these back! So, how was it achieved?

It wasn't an armed Counter-Revolution, so it must have been organised by a new, democratically-elected Government, with such as its "winning policy", promised in an election! But, why did they win, and what forces within Society were strongly in favour of such a radical change?

It wouldn't be the workers, unless, of course, they had been lied-to - for example, by promising, "More Freedom", "More Democracy" and "Less Corruption"!

But then, what section of Society would make such promises, while also wanting industry to remain in their hands, but, now primarily, for their own profit? It could only be one already privileged group - The Bureaucracy! They had been running the Nationalised Industries, ostensibly "for the people", and had got a taste for the even better life they could lead, if they got much-increased rewards for what they already were doing, but no longer as "privileged servants", but instead as owners! 

But, how could this possibly be organised?

Simply giving everything back to the pre-revolutionary Capitalists was not likely to be popular, so, could they be sold at a "knock down" price to "the best" of those who had been running things for the people for so long? Who else could it be? The prior state media would have been extolling the virtues of particular Public Servants, and the People would, most certainly, "have their favourites": no-one else would even be nationally known, at least politically.

NOTE: It is interesting how certain entertainers can also "fit the bill", in such situations, and head up "new parties" too! But who, among these well-known figures, were the known perpetrators of Corruption, and who could be trusted to continue to serve the people?

That was easy!

All those who were known to have actually extorted the backhanders, were the "baddies". While those "never-evidently-involved", and were now condemning such things, and from the higher echelons of the Bureaucracy; were they the "goodies"? So, in the rising political tumult, the easily-identified baddies would be out, while those they had actually been working for, and who had amassed the money needed to buy - they would be in!

The new government of ex-bureaucrats sold the Nationalised Industries at knock down prices to those with the money, and used that money to finance various projects that "proved which side they were on!" How else could the State owned industries have been sold-off?

And, how else could the billionaire Oligarchs have arisen so very quickly? It just had to be "Privatisation-on-steroids" - no wonder the new powers-that-be considered drugs-for-athletes a legitimate way forward! 

So, this analysis doesn't only fit the Failed Socialist States such as Russia and its Empire, but even Modern China - ostensibly still Socialist!

So what is all this anti-Russian, anti-China and even anti-Iran propaganda promoted by western politicians all about?! For their "dreaded enemies" are no longer threatening the End of Capitalism, but are energetically subscribing to it!

It is clearly the new inter-Capitalist rivalries. Remember, such rivalries caused both World War I and World War II!