Socialism For Dummies

I know from experience that trying to explain socialism to people who are  convinced by some means or other, that the current world order is the only way to go, will not be swayed by me, so save yourself an apoplectic fit, and skip this post.

I was born in 1950. I survived childhood illnesses, and a brain injury, because of that  great socialist achievement in the U.K: the National Healtn Service, paid for by the contributions of  every working adult through National Insurance. I had a decent home to live in, at a rent my parents could afford, because of  a massive post-war housing programme, initiated by a Labour Government. I was educated for free to University level, thanks to the socialist principle that education is a right, not a privilege, so, yeah, I'm a socialist,  because if nobody had been,  I wouldn't be here. Reason enough?

Sometimes I am asked to defend Communism, being called to account for Stalin's purges. I am easy with that, because calling a Socialist,  a Stalinist, is like equating a mild-mannered member of the Conservative Party with a member of the SS in Nazi Germany. I could do it at a push, but there would be no truth to it.

I could list those things that are anathema to we socialists, who are internationalists by default: empire-building, war-mongering , asset-stripping, despotic regimes. vulture capitalism, environmental destruction and climate-change- denial ... and that's just a beginning. These  are problems that free-market capitalism and neoliberal dogma will exacerbate not solve. But here's a guy who can better explain why socialism will save a world that is otherwise hurtling towards destruction. Take a bow, Jeremy Corbyn:

https://youtu.be/pZvAvNJL-gE

The True Democrats

In August 2015 I watched a rank outsider, a pacifist, socialist, a vegetarian, jam-maker romp home against a skilled and polished set of opponents to become leader of what is now, thanks to him, the largest Social Democratic Party in Europe.

 

I am referring to Jeremy Corbyn, and as those who read my blog will know, I joined the party during his acceptance speech, having voted as a Fabian.

 

Jezza, as I hardly ever call him, has had a rough ride since August 2015. Establishment figures of every hue have mounted a pretty relentless campaign of vilification against him: HIM, personally, not his policies: I remember a few of the squalls of outrage: he doesn't bow, he doesn't wear a tie. He rides on trains, he rides a bicycle, he is weak, he is a bully, he has no charisma, he is a cult figure ... And on and on and on.

 

What I first noticed about him was, that he always answer the questions put to him. I was, frankly, amazed! Politicians have 'Media Gurus' that train them in avoiding doing so, by any means possible. If appreciating that he treats me with that kind of respect makes me a dupe of a Cult Figure, so be it.

 

Moving on. Having joined the Labour Party I am now faced with a choice. Will paying the fees and turning up for the vote suffice, or should I get involved. I got involved. I started going to meetings. There are six of us who meet regularly, eight sometimes, though hundreds have joined the Party in our region recently, few others come to meetings.

 

I am now the Chair of our Branch, because I caved when it looked like no-one would stand, and here I am leading meetings giving away jobs, smiling a lot.

 

I like talking about myself, I expect most bloggers do, but this isn't about me. I breezed in, and as I once made abundantly clear if the bastards finally get their own back, and Jeremy Corbyn is ousted, I'm off! I do a great flounce. I know how to cancel a standing order!

 

Cherry looks at me and says, quietly ( she is a quiet person) " You can't. There's too much inequality"

 

I looked at Cherry, and Chris and Roger, the old-timers, so recently enthused by the arrival of a true left- winger as Party Leader. They know the score, they sit it out year after year, doing the donkey work, knocking on doors, distributing leaflets: a thankless task in a Tory town.

 

These are the true democrats. They do what they do because they want people to know things can be different. They give people a choice.

 

And Corbyn? Well, if the attack-dogs hound him out of office, he'll carry on doing what he's always done: Steadfastly standing up for the vulnerable, defending public services, calling out the profiteers and the war-mongers. And me? How could I possibly let Cherry down.

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On the Charisms of Jeremy Corbyn.

Collete and I are friends, and will remain so, but we did have a bit of a heated discussion on the EU Referendum and the failure of Jeremy Corbyn to deliver more than 63% of the Labour vote for Remain.

"He lacks charisma," she says. All I can say to that, is: I have been to hear him and it's not true. I guess it's what you believe charisma to be, that we're disagreeing over.

Here's an old, old story.

The people of Israel were ruled by Judges, who seemed, on the whole, to be doing a reasonable job, but the people of Israel got bored with them, so they went to the Lord God and said,

"We want a King. Everybody else has a King and we want one."

"Okay ..." said the Lord God, "But you do KNOW that a King will enrich himself at your expense, pick fights with your neighbours and send you off to die in his battles, don't you?"

"Yes, Yes," said the people, of Israel, "We know this, but never mind, we still want a King."

"So who do you want then?" asked the Lord God, eyeing up a few good people.

"Saul!" They said, "We want Saul!"

What?? asked the Lord God, in amazement.. "You want SAUL ? The donkey herdsman???

"Oh yes!" Said the the people of Israel, "WE WANT SAUL! WE WANT SAUL!!"

And why? Asked the Lord God, who sometimes will give you what you ask for, "Would you want a donkey herdsman to be your King??"

"Because" clamoured the people, "He has the qualities we want in a leader!" He's tall, dark, and handsome!"

The rest is history. You can read the whole disastrous story for yourself in the Bible in the Book of Kings.

I am tempted to let you work out what I want you to for yourself, and to infer from it that the clamour for anyone but Corbyn parallels the biblical narrative, but you might think it a bit of a stretch, and I am unwilling to leave it there.

There is more to charisma than being able to wow a crowd. Hitler aced THAT one. There are the charisms of an upright man who has battled sincerely for unpopular causes his entire career, because they are just. A man who doesn't fake manic enthusiasm for a trumped up cause, or tell lies to win an argument.

Honesty, sincerity and a passion for social justice are charisms too.

If the British people want a donkey-herder for a King, they'll get one. And when the nation devours itself in partisan strife, and the Labour Party commits political suicide, don't say you didn't know it was coming.

I told you so.

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News Round-Up

There's a bit of a controversy over here about right-wing bias in the BBC. It does look a bit skewed to be honest. But these things usually even themselves out. Besides, I am no longer in a position to complain about BBC news, because I no longer watch it. It's a price Auntie appears willing to pay.

So I get my news from my Twitter feed, which is unashamedly biased, but in a GOOD way. I only get the news I want to hear.

I am very disappointed that Peter Phillips is being paid to ask other people to pay to go to his granny's birthday bash in the Mall. Of course I am glad the Queen has made it to ninety as the alternative would be inconceivable, but this 'pay as you party' wheeze says everything about the Upper Class attitude to the rest of us that is going to lead to us into becoming a Republic one day.

A PR firm has the job of persuading me to clean the streets for the big event: it's wasting somebody's money.

I was at a newsy event myself last week, I hauled my lazy arse off to London to attend a Fabian's conference that featured Jeremy Corbyn. Nothing flashy about Jez. He has the quiet, unassuming authoritative air of a man at home in his skin. I like it. He has a mountain to climb though, because people are stupid. Sorry, I have to say it. Look at the facts: Corbyn says something unconventional like let's not waste billions of money we're CONSTANTLY being told we don't have, on an obscene and obsolete weapons system, we can't even use. He is excoriated in the Tory press. Stupid people just can't work out that democracy only works if all sides are heard. I have to listen to enough of that over-privileged, over-stuffed imbecile David Cameron. Come on! Let's have some balance.

That's better!

Sometimes you just have to let rip.

Sorry if I've offended anyone:it was probably intentional.

:)

 

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Now The Real Work Begins

So Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour Party by a landslide. All the doom-ranting and nay-saying was to no avai:if anything it probably made the electorate MORE inclined to vote for him, not less.

 

I am delighted, for Jeremy and for our nation, of course I am, but I am a little bit sorry for myself ... You see, it means I'll have to get off Twitter and out of bed and actually DO something.

 

I made a start, I joined the Labour Party during Jeremy's victory speech (Yes, in bed, via Twitter ...) now the real work begins.

 

Jeremy Corbyn isn't going to attract big money for glitzy ads in prominent places, he's going to have to rely on foot-soldiers going out and about sharing the vision of a fairer, kinder society. This feels better to me, doesn't it to you?

 

This man has the support of poets. You know what, that means a whole lot more than being in the pocket of the Murdoch Empire, or being at the beck and call of minor celebrities ...

 

A lot of people are smiling right now, a few, I suspect, in spite of themselves. Something new, and slightly dangerous is happening, and I LOVE it!

 

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Fun While It Lasted!

I'm writing this less than an hour before the winner of the contest for the leadership of the Labour Party is announced, and WOW!! What a ride!

As a result of this splendid, chaotic, fabulous contest, I have decided to become a member of the Labour Party. Win or lose, Jeremy Corbyn has electrified politics. Love him or loathe him, it can never again be said that a candidate that incites passion, and doesn't temper his beliefs to the prejudices of a focus group,  is 'unelectable'.

But wait! The fun isn't over yet! Think of the possible scenarios for next Wednesday should Jeremy face that nice Mr Cameron at Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons! Baying Tory MP's (baying is not optional in the Commons, the Grown-Ups are in the House of Lords) dazed Labour MP's, other groupings delicious with anticipation ...

Our nation is split, many of our citizens are suffering hardship, the problems overseas are overwhelming. The time has come for a serious man, not given to baying, to stand up, quietly, and say 'Enough!'

 

 

 

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I Follow Jez:A Twitter Update

My emergence as a political activist has had a surprising result. I have doubled the number of followers on Twitter!

In the interests of veracity, I have to say this was not hard to do, as I only had twenty-something, but nevertheless, I am heartened by it, and every Follower is welcomed and esteemed.

By the way, I learned a lot about twitter and the fickleness of its adherents the day I was unfollowed by Cheltenham. Imagine that! Unfollowed by a town! Thrown aside by 116,000 people in an instant! That, I reckon is an achievement, and possibly a record.

I often intrigue my husband with my obsession over the epitaph destined to adorn my tombstone. I say, 'intrigue', because 'bore', doesn't quite cut it. Intrigue enters the equation when you factor in the certainty that, at my own request, I will not have a tombstone at all. (I'm heading for a woodland burial, under a beech tree...) My long-standing favourite was, " 'She Made Herself Laugh' Phil 4v4", but I am now leaning towards, "'Unfollowed By Cheltenham" Ecclesiastes 1 v 2".

I digress.

Twitter is proving invaluable as a resource for keeping up with the Corbyn4Leader debate, as I follow several newspapers and some commentators, though I am careful to abide by my own confirmation bias and leave 'The Daily Telegraph' and 'The Daily Mail' to get along without me.

So. My eyes are being opened to the weird world of the newspaper comment columns. I am tempted to dip my toe in, but am reluctant to do so, because everybody is so nasty to one another. I don't do nasty, and I know jolly well that engaging in these debates achieves zilch, unless you enjoy swearing in public and shouting over a fence with your hands over your ears. (Which pretty much explains 'confirmation bias' in case you wondered.)

The piece by former Prime Minister Tony Blair accusing Jeremy Corbyn of living in an 'Alice In Wonderland fantasy world'. really caused the fur to fly. Personally, I would have loved to have known what was in those comments that were withdrawn, as the ones that were left up were pretty eye-watering.

I actually supported Tony Blair: he did some good things, and he made some mistakes, (as my brother, when a communist, once famously said about Joseph Stalin). I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt over the Iraq war, at least until the Chilcot Report is published. Duped by the CIA is my opinion as of now ... Therefore I don't come at this as the hard-left fantasist as my commentator- friends are wont to call me: I am a centre-left Social Democrat, who condemns wildcat strikes and zero-hour contracts in equal measure. (As a for instance ... )

However, I think that Mr Blair has misread the supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, and here's why:

The current crop of political leaders have insulated themselves from the lives of people who struggle. Leftish leaders, like Mr Blair have swallowed the 'orthodoxy' (challenged by many top economists) that austerity is the only way to make Britain great again. The problem is that, in terms of human misery, the cost is too high, and people like me, run of the mill soft-lefties, are waking up to this.

It is not OK to redefine child poverty so that the numbers could be massaged down. It is not right to introduce further cuts to benefits, so that more people have to resort to Food Banks. It is not humane to remove benefits in order to punish people with homelessness and starvation. (Think of the outrage if Putin announced something like this!) It is not compassionate to cut the benefits of people who are dying. it is not just that the poorest amongst us should bear the social cost of the banking crisis that they did not create.

Those of us who work with the victims of these policies know this, and this is why I voted for Jeremy.

Whom I now follow on Twitter.

Postscript: I read that this week bankers bonuses returned to pre-2008 levels. Because I don't do nasty, I have nothing to add.

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You Can Only See ...

My teacher, Richard Rohr, often says, "You can only see, what you've been taught to see." This has been brought home to me as I follow the campaign for the Labour Leadership.

I have voted for Jeremy Corbyn, and I did so because Jeremy DID NOT attend Oxford or Cambridge University, to study economics, like all his rivals, he HAS had a life outside the Westminster hothouse, and he DID vote against further cuts in welfare.

So what is it the centre-right political class is not seeing? Forty economists, not all Corbyn supporters, have written to the British press to say he's right on austerity. It won't stimulate the economy, it won't bring about a recovery, it will further impoverish the lives of the poorest, which will, in all probability, weaken the social fabric of our nation. So why do the three other candidates support the austerity programme designed by the opposition to dismantle the welfare state? Because they all studied economics at Oxbridge of course. And you cannot see what you weren't taught to see.

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To Frack Or Not To Frack

I have been following the mucky history of 'fracking' for some time on The Diane Rehm Show. (Regular readers know I get a lot of my foresight from American Public Radio, because whatever horrors are visited on our cousins in the USA, inevitably cross the Atlantic ... ) The promise that fracking was 'safe' because the carcinogens added to the high pressure water jets that break the shale rocks to release the gas, would not pollute drinking water, turned out to be undeliverable. "Ah yes!" The oil industry reassures us, "Faulty kit, not dangerous practice!" Well, really, if the oil giants couldn't get something as important as public health right straight away, why trust them with a second bite of the cherry?
And it's happening. Here it comes. Our lovely government that promised local autonomy is now saying, "Except when you don't allow fracking!" So just wait for it ... Some of our most beautiful landscapes will be despoiled, and the lives of many of our citizens disrupted by the roads that have to be laid to accommodate the heavy plant that has to go in and out, by those very goings in and out, and inevitably, someone, somewhere will get a dose of something nasty and everyone in government will be shocked and dismayed, like they didn't see THAT one coming. ...
The best science says we can't take out of the ground any more of the greenhouse-gas emitting hydrocarbons without destroying the biosphere. The legacy we leave to our descendants, if we carry on like this, if we allow fracking, is a dying planet. But hey! Politicians only think in bursts of five years, and crossing their fingers, they hope the mess they create now, will either go away, or get blamed on someone else ... And now, who knows? With luck, there might not be anyone left to blame them anyway!
My hope lies in a massive awakening of consciousness in the sleeping populace. I thought that very unlikely until tens of thousands of disenfranchised Brits joined the Labour Party to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. Who is a both red AND green. You should hear the establishment squeal! They didn't see THAT one coming either.
To destroy the planet for short-term gain is immoral. Corbyn offers a real alternative to the short-sighted adherence to unbridled self-interest that dogs the current political system. He might not be able to stop this  juggernaut, but he will stand in its way. Let's face it, someone has to. I, for one, will stand with him.

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Jeremy Corbyn

Being soft left, and having a bit of time on my hands now that I'm retired, I joined the Fabian Society a few years ago. I even attended a meeting and I quite enjoyed myself, and might even go to another one day.
You will have gathered that I am a camp-follower rather an activist. I'm almost apologetic about it. To some people, learning that I am a closet socialist will come as a shock. Worse than declaring myself a Satanist to some. Less fun certainly, there having been no ritual dancing, or worse, at the Fabian Society meeting.
I may well have kept quiet about the whole thing. Politics being a done deal, the pinks are out, the oranges are dead in the water, the pale blues are triumphing over us for a while, you know, same old, same old, nothing changes, I only vote out of habit.
Then I got something interesting in my Twitter feed a couple of months ago. A stirring, a rumbling, a gentle start to a very quiet revolution. 'Put Corbyn on the ballot!' some lefties were saying and I thought "Hey-ho, well, in the interest of fairness, might as well." You know, hardly a response.
Then I started to watch the guy, listen to him, see what was happening. People were actually INTERESTED. Young people. The great number of turned-off people who I may be the first to call the 'unelecting'. I even thought about stumping up £3 to put my oar in.
Then a Fabian email told me I didn't have to. If I registered, and was duly checked out and verified as a True Fabian and not a Tory taking the piss, I was already entitled!!! So I did, and I can.
Today I received an email from my nice Labour MEP Ms Clare Moody,( UKIP one, not so nice. Never answered my query about his attendance record and expenses claim. SHAME ON YOU, EARL OF DARTFORD!) Ms Moody wrote to me telling me that she was voting for Yvette in the Leadership contest. I wrote back telling HER to vote for Jeremy Corbyn. I know you're dying to know what I said, so here it is:

Dear Clare Moody,

Thank you for your email today recommending that I should vote for
Yvette Cooper. I'm going to take time to explain to you why I'm voting
for Jeremy Corbyn.

Firstly, who I am. A retired primary school headteacher, who owes a
great deal to socialism. Without the great reforms following WW2 I may
have died because my parents couldn't afford hospital treatment when I
was four , and I would have been undereducated, having been denied a
decent education ... .

The Labour Party in those days seemed unafraid to be passionate about
social justice. Today, it appears to me to be 'Tory-lite' entirely
concerned with 'being electable' - a spurious and self-defeating
concept at best, that turns off many voters who see it as self-serving
and totally, totally uninspiring.

Barak Obama was 'unelectable' before he was elected, before his passion
for justice woke up the conscience of the left (and the centre ) and
broke the tired mould.

And look what the Scottish Nationalists achieved! First they wrung
improbable promises from a frightened establishment ( where was the 'no
alternative' mantra THEN?) then they wiped the floor with the
opposition in the General Election. Why? Because ordinary people like
me woke up to the fact that here were people in politics with passion,
rooted in the lives of the people they were asking to vote for them,
and not afraid of being 'unelectable '.

I could go on. Believe me I am, and always will be, a Labour supporter,
because I remember what the alternative looked like, but I have my eyes
open and can see clearly that nobody but Jeremy Corbyn in the current
leadership race will attract new voters. THAT is the lesson of the last
defeat.

Now I'm going to invite you to take a cool hard look at a different
perspective, the one I hold. Read Paul Krugman on the economics of
austerity. Look at what Nicola Sturgeon has achieved with the
'unelecting' and vote for Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership election.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Francis

9d928e8bf21d355367a8/d2cb40637d3cab328df4
(Signed with an electronic signature in accordance with subsection 7(3)
of the Electronic Communications Act 2000.)

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