Note of Blogs of Note

A fundamental aspect of socialist principle is the idea of solidarity. I was pleased, last month, to host the “Carnival of Socialism”, here at Boffy’s Blog, as a means of doing that. But, over the last few weeks and months, there are a few blogs that I have tended to visit more often than others, because of a general sympathy with the ideas presented, and the attitude of those producing the blogs. In a spirit of solidarity with other socialist bloggers, I want to draw attention to some of them, and their blogs.

One of the blogs I have been visiting, quite often, recently, is Charlie McMenamin over at Excuse Me While I Step Outside . Charlie describes himself as an ex-Marxist, but I think that Marxists are a bit like Catholics, either you are really just lapsed, and feeling guilty about your lack of activity, or else you’ve completely gone over to the other side. Charlie certainly hasn’t done the latter, as his posts demonstrate.

I liked his summary of current Left views on the recession, here , and not just because I got a mention in it!

Still, my most frequently visited site is that of Phil, over at “A Very Public Sociologist”. Although Phil is a member of the SP, whose comrades, in its predecessor, the Militant, I spent many a wasted hour, in my youth, arguing against, I like his blog a lot. In fact, this post Election Analysis , which details the discussion within the SP Branch, is a far cry from the old Militant sectarianism, where no such display of varying ideas from the Party line would have been admitted to exist.

I only came across the People’s Republic of Teesside blog when doing the Carnival. I was impressed with it then, and I’ve continued to be impressed since. As someone interested in history, I was taken by this recent post , which, sparking off from the antics of the terrible Stuart Bell, gives a history of Ellen Wilkinson, who was elected as Labour MP for Middlesbrough in 1929.

The same is true of Though Cowards Flinch , whose post here raises important questions about reforming democracy.

In a different vein, Pumista’s blog is an Eclectica of interesting posts, of which this one attracted me recently Herr Bronstein .

I have some affinity for “The Commune”. During the time when I was writing a blog on the AWL website, and, in particular, during the period when I was taking issue with the AWL’s position on Iraq, I found myself in almost complete agreement with the ideas put forward by Dave Broder and the Minority, some of whom, eventually, left the AWL to set up the Commune. In fact, I had been arguing, for about a year or so, the position that the Minority held, before their views became represented in the AWL’s public presentation. The Commune also have a similar view to me about “bottom-up” socialism, though I wouldn’t agree with some of their formulations and arguments. Similarly, I wouldn’t agree with the position adopted on the Labour Party in the post Here , for the reasons I’ve set out in many of my posts, but I do agree with the proposition that the Left cannot see a way forward as being a return to the 1970’s, of the establishment of some Labour Party Mark II, or via, the advocacy of state socialism! We do have to present workers, as the post says, with the concept that a different way of organising society is possible, and, as I have set out, we have to demonstrate that concept in practice, as a means of providing workers with immediate solutions to their problems.

I have also found myself in agreement with many of the arguments put forward by the CPGB, though, as my debates here with Mike McNair demonstrate, I have considerable disagreements with them too. CPGB supporter Serge’s Fist has some really excellent posts. This post on The United Front , I liked particularly, because it repeats an argument I have been making for several years that the Left completely misunderstands the United Front. On the one hand, it describes as Popular Fronts, things such as anti-fascist campaigns that include Liberals and Vicars, when they are no such thing, because a Popular Front requires some degree of Governmental or Administrative power, and a consequent limiting of political programme and action by socialists, whilst they describe as a United Front attempts by miniscule sects to negotiate joint activity with the Workers Party, often, as the post says, without the Workers’ Party being aware that it has been involved in any such negotiation!!!!

Meanwhile Madame Miaow has this post about the failure of the Left. Who’s Left

That’s all I have time for, for now, but do check out these other socialist blogs, because we should all support each other, and all engage, in a comradely way, with the views of others. That after all is the way the Left will, ultimately, defeat the closed minds of the fascists and other reactionaries.