Well, well, well, it’s been quite a week or two. Rob Ford supposedly smoking crack on video. Doug Ford’s past as a supposed hash dealer exposed – along with the drug related charges and violence connected with his other siblings. This follows and endless string of scandals, foibles and general
Continue readingAuthor: Shawn Whitney
RedBedHead: I Heart Rob Ford
Well, well, well, it’s been quite a week or two. Rob Ford supposedly smoking crack on video. Doug Ford’s past as a supposed hash dealer exposed – along with the drug related charges and violence connected with his other siblings. This follows and endless string of scandals, foibles and general
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism & Religion: Part 3
Religion is the origin of all social thought – philosophy, science, law, ethics, etc. Like the social thought that we now consider secular, it is also imbued with a referent principle that provides a foundational justification for its imperatives and truth claims. For religion the foundational principle is the will
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism & Religion: Part 3
Religion is the origin of all social thought – philosophy, science, law, ethics, etc. Like the social thought that we now consider secular, it is also imbued with a referent principle that provides a foundational justification for its imperatives and truth claims. For religion the foundational principle is the will of God, for liberal society it is natural law, for Marxism it is human
RedBedHead: Marxism & Religion: Part 3
Religion is the origin of all social thought – philosophy, science, law, ethics, etc. Like the social thought that we now consider secular, it is also imbued with a referent principle that provides a foundational justification for its imperatives and truth claims. For religion the foundational principle is the will
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism & Religion: Part 2 – From Hatred to Brotherhood
Marxism is a child of the Enlightenment. It was born of the revolutions in politics, philosophy and economy that shook Europe and America from the 17th Century through to the 19th Century. As such it was tempered in part in the polemics and struggles against religious authority. After all, religion
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism & Religion: Part 2 – From Hatred to Brotherhood
Marxism is a child of the Enlightenment. It was born of the revolutions in politics, philosophy and economy that shook Europe and America from the 17th Century through to the 19th Century. As such it was tempered in part in the polemics and struggles a…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism & Religion: Part 2 – From Hatred to Brotherhood
Marxism is a child of the Enlightenment. It was born of the revolutions in politics, philosophy and economy that shook Europe and America from the 17th Century through to the 19th Century. As such it was tempered in part in the polemics and struggles against religious authority. After all, religion
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism and Religion: Part 1
This is really a thumbnail sketch of trying to wrap my head around a Marxist approach to religion. This really comes out of the experience, evolving from the approach pioneered in contemporary times by Chris Harman, of relating to imperialism in the Mi…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism and Religion: Part 1
This is really a thumbnail sketch of trying to wrap my head around a Marxist approach to religion. This really comes out of the experience, evolving from the approach pioneered in contemporary times by Chris Harman, of relating to imperialism in the Middle East and the role of Islamism in
Continue readingRedBedHead: Marxism and Religion: Part 1
This is really a thumbnail sketch of trying to wrap my head around a Marxist approach to religion. This really comes out of the experience, evolving from the approach pioneered in contemporary times by Chris Harman, of relating to imperialism in the Middle East and the role of Islamism in
Continue readingRedBedHead: Is The SWP A Dead Duck: Part 2
It isn’t only in the nations, like the former USSR, that bureaucracy can use its control of wealth and power to defeat grassroots challengers. What happened with the rise of Stalinism was an historically profound human tragedy. But the process of bureaucracy developing independence from its original base can occur
Continue readingRedBedHead: Is The SWP A Dead Duck: Part 2
It isn’t only in the nations, like the former USSR, that bureaucracy can use its control of wealth and power to defeat grassroots challengers. What happened with the rise of Stalinism was an historically profound human tragedy. But the process of bureaucracy developing independence from its original base can occur on a much smaller scale and this holds lessons for revolutionaries grappling with
RedBedHead: Is The SWP A Dead Duck: Part 2
It isn’t only in the nations, like the former USSR, that bureaucracy can use its control of wealth and power to defeat grassroots challengers. What happened with the rise of Stalinism was an historically profound human tragedy. But the process of bureaucracy developing independence from its original base can occur
Continue readingRedBedHead: Is The SWP A Dead Duck: Part 1
I’ve come across more than a few obituaries for the SWP in the last week or so, particularly since a number of people split from the party and are now forming the IS Network. This article on the Left Unity website, for instance, starts with the following statement: “The SWP
Continue readingRedBedHead: Is The SWP A Dead Duck: Part 1
I’ve come across more than a few obituaries for the SWP in the last week or so, particularly since a number of people split from the party and are now forming the IS Network. This article on the Left Unity website, for instance, starts with the following statement:
“The SWP – one of the most successful organising forces on the British left over the last few decades – is close to death…”
But
RedBedHead: Is The SWP A Dead Duck: Part 1
I’ve come across more than a few obituaries for the SWP in the last week or so, particularly since a number of people split from the party and are now forming the IS Network. This article on the Left Unity website, for instance, starts with the following statement: “The SWP
Continue readingRedBedHead: SWP Bureaucracy & The IST: Part 2
The debate with the US ISO remains a source of much controversy, having ended with the biggest split from the Tendency to date. This makes it worth exploration and, I believe, it is an example of the way in which the SWP’s growing bureaucracy negatively impacted the IST. However, both of the dominant narratives of the events leading up to the ISOs expulsion are, in my view, one sided. The main
RedBedHead: SWP Bureaucracy & The IST: Part 2
The debate with the US ISO remains a source of much controversy, having ended with the biggest split from the Tendency to date. This makes it worth exploration and, I believe, it is an example of the way in which the SWP’s growing bureaucracy negatively impacted the IST. However, both
Continue readingRedBedHead: SWP Bureaucracy & The IST: Part 2
The debate with the US ISO remains a source of much controversy, having ended with the biggest split from the Tendency to date. This makes it worth exploration and, I believe, it is an example of the way in which the SWP’s growing bureaucracy negatively impacted the IST. However, both
Continue reading