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'The individual is a minority'

33  soundings having begun this piece with the literary intervention of ralph ellison and the new black intellectuals and having ended with richard rorty's emphasis on competitive individuality and alexander's notion of modern civil society, we have gone full circle: what first appeared to be a passionate defence of individual achievement in literature and culture on the side of the new black intellectuals, and such leftist intellectuals as richard rorty, develops into a serious analysis of differentiated american society, and a defence of the achievements of modern american democracy - at least in terms of its universalist notions of citizenship. Whether socialists argue the need to get rid of civil society because it is utterly bourgeois, or radical feminists argue that civil society is inherently patriarchal, or black nationalists think of racism as a natural part of civil society - all these discourses suffer from the generalisation of particular discourses and deny the complexity of modern civil society.

Mastering the history of slavery

Reviews soundings issue 9 summer 1998 mastering the history of slavery catherine hall hugh thomas, the slave trade: the history of 'the atlantic slave trade 14401870, picador, £25 robin blackburn, the making of new world slavery: from the baroque to the modem 14924800, verso, £15 the similarity between these two books is limited to scale. Now they will rest before shouldering the endless work they were created to do down here in paradise.' 90  priceless? harriet atkinson art treasures of england: the regional collections exhibition at the royal academy of art, january - april 1998 the explicit aim of the recent art treasures of england exhibition at the royal academy was to celebrate the wealth of the english regional galleries, and the richness of their collections.

Political science: a secret history

Although the 'romance' between joe and jed and the marriage of joe and clarissa are the 'enduring loves' explicitly shown in the novel, there are several analogous relations we are meant to see: jed's love of god, joe's love of science, clarissa's love for john keats and her hunt for an elusive final letter to fanny brawne, the widow's love for her husband killed in the accident, clarissa's love for children. Reviews soundings issue 8 spring 1998 political science: a secret history paul myerscough frederick crews et al, the memory wars: freud's legacy in dispute, granta, £9.99 prior to the publication of t h e unknown freud' in the new york review of books in 1993, frederick crews had received only as much - which is to say as little - attention as any english professor might expect during a career of inconspicuous modesty.

Ecstasy in the unhappy society

Tales of the terrible time of the unhappy society began to spread across the disparate old city settlements that were then strewn across the country, and people looked back with disgust to the failure of men and women of power to have the courage to change the way of the world. 136  ecstasy in the unhappy society this is especially worrying for gay men whom often come to club-land looking for an identity and a way to fit in to a community.4 yet the majority of the gay clubs demand a simple stem masculinity and body building; a pumping techno intensifies the atmosphere.

A Global Sense Of Place

this is not a question of making the ritualistic connections to 'the wider sys¬ tem' - the people in the local meeting who bring up international capitalism every time you try to have a discussion about rubbish-collection - the point is that there are real relations with real content - economic, political, cultural - between any local place and the wider world in which it is set. now, i want to make one simple point moving at a different pace: travelling down to earth from the global perspective, control over mobility both reflects and reinforces power 25 here, and that is about what one might call the power-geometry of it all; the power geometry of time-space com¬ pression. for different social groups, and different individuals, are placed in very distinct ways in relation to these flows and interconnections.

Europe's Vale Of Tears

the formal process of constitutional reform takes at least six months; a general sense that things are moving up as a result of economic reform is unlikely to spread before six years have passed; the third condition of the road to freedom is to provide the social foundations which transform the constitution and the economy from fine-weather into allweather institutions which can withstand the storms generated within and without, and 60 years are barely enough to lay these foundations. It is hard to tell how long the trek through the valley of tears will take, but certain marxism today may 1990 'even if a determined policy brings goods to the shops and creates a currency of real value without black-market exchange rates, there will be many who earn too little to afford the goods'  that it takes longer than the lifetime of the first parliament and always likely that it engenders a degree of disillusionment which threatens the new constitutional framework along with the economic reforms which proised so much but could not deliver in time.

The Ron And Nik Show

there has been no congressional criticism of the $2.2 billion supplied to the afghan mujaheddin, and no press marxism today june 1988 'the importance of the inf treaty lies in the extent to which it can produce a broader momentum of east-west detente in arms control and the third world'  'since 1980 there have been no further successful anti-us third world revolutions, and the balance has shifted in the direction of the usa' leaks about the mechanisms of arms supplies or the sites and forms of training provided in pakistan. if the inf agreement reflects some more nebulous willingness of both sides to compromise, it also indicates that moscow and washington have run up against substantial internal obstacles in the arms race: the russians can ill afford a further uninhibited round of strategic competition, the americans have discovered that even their economic and technological power has its limits, and that the attempt to bankrupt the ussr through an arms race has done not a little to enhance their own budget deficit and weaken their competitiveness vis-a-vis japan and western europe.

What Is To Be Done?

One of the party academics preparing drafts for gorbachev's big speech to open the party conference on june 28 found himself, to his increasingly delighted surprise, writing that it was significant that lenin had never been general secretary of the party, that the office from which the nation is ruled should not depend on the way stalin hijacked the party bureaucracy 60 years ago. In the days before the 27th party conference in february 1986, copies of pravda even sold out before dawn one morning when the party daily printed a famous letter complaining about the privileged and 'secret' shops and hospitals available to the party elite.

A Spectre Haunts The East

The polish press, light-years ahead of the soviet media in its degree i marxism today february 1988  east germany population: 16.7m *nmp per capita: £4,507 nmp growth: 1987 2.0% 1988 2.5% • strongest economy in eastern europe • society least touched by glasnost and perestroika apart from romania poland population: 37.4m nmp per capital: £1,232 nmp growth: 1987 3.2% 1988 3.2% • second stage of economic reform started in january • could seethe most dramatic political reforms in eastern europe czechoslovakia population: 15.5m gmp growth: 1987 2.0-2.s% 19882.2-2.8% • 20th anniversary of the prague spring • some sign of economic reform romania population: 22.9m nmp growth: 19872.0-3.0% 19882.5-3.5% • the most centralised and inflexible economy in eastern europe • very serious shortages • outlook for reform bleak hungary population: 10.7m nmp per capita: £1,313 nmp growth: 19871.7% 1988 1.2% • economy in serious difficulties, with large debts to the west • most liberal of the east european societies • kadar soon to retire, with grosz, the pm, the most likely successor bulgaria population: 9.0m nmp growth: 1987 2.0-3.0% 1988 3.5% • the ussr's most loyal east european ally • programme of economic restructuring 'net material product approximates to gross national product less depreciation and the output of most services. Coming after a whole retinue of consultative councils, revamped elections and sweeping amnesties, which 28 the referendum offered the most far-reaching economic reforms and deepseated political democratisation yet to be encountered within eastern europe' caught even their beneficiaries by surprise, the referendum was another example of a leadership reaching out to society but, as always, on its own terms, ver the preceding years, this j society had witnessed a ' plummeting standard of living for the bulk of its population, and greater social inequality in favour of those who could turn poland's economic predicament to their own advantage.

Parent Power At The Chalkface

Parent Power At The Chalkface Kenneth Baker is appealing to parents over the heads

In The Land Of The Dispossessed

These divisions are the product of irrevocable changes in britain's 'employment base': the rise and persistence of mass long term unemployment, and recurrent short term unemployment; while the growth of a peripheral workforce of part timers, temporary workers, and the self employed, have accompanied rising security and prosperity for those in full time employment. The differences which existed within the full employment labour market, differences of earnings and skills, have been superseded by a much more radical polarisation between those secure within the labour market, those bobbing in and out of employment, and those stuck firmly on the edges in long term unemployment.

Labour's Pain, Alliance Pleasure

In fact, like all political feelings, that populist 'normalcy' exists in relation to other political 17 'since 1983, labour has ducked the political implications of who and what it is trying to represent' forces; if the voices of trade unionism, of blacks and gays and feminism etc, can be heard to speak for shared political beliefs; no more, for shared political advancement, the less the identification as 'normal people' will be clung to. That is not the same as replacing labour as the alternative to conservatism, an alternative which would force marxism today april 1987 'his words are turned aside and mocked as windbaggery; he goes not for the jugular but the funny bone'  the alliance to pick up on precisely those labour traditions which it has had to eschew to show it's not labour under another guise.

How much is it worth?

the two films, jack hazan’s a bigger splash and fass­ binder’s the bitter tears of petra von kant, are both built round a homosexual love affair; in the german film it is a lesbian relationship, in hazan’s it is a relationship between two men. In the hockney film directly, in petra von kant symbolically, this society is shown as one in which the cult of possessions vitiates even human relationships, reaching an extreme that becomes hysterical.

Economism & The Question of Women

At a time when patriots are jailed without trial in theory & practice—the real divide northern ireland or shot down for oppos­ this seeming contradiction between ing the sell-out in rhodesia, when the theory and practice can be seen in the level of prices at home is only matched by trade unions’ lack of mobilisation on the the level of unemployment, is it not equal pay issue, it can be seen in the low possible, even given the fact that women numbers of women in leadership positions are oppressed, that the liberation of in labour organisations, and it can be seen women must wait until these more crucial in the ambivalent attitude the labour problems facing the working class are movement as a whole displays to the women’s liberation movement-the only solved-until we have socialism and every­ part of the left to take on aggressively the one can be liberated. establish socialism and the struggle against the oppression of women-that this male chauvinist piggery socialist system can come about in britain without any prior significant change in if one is a supporter of the women’s liberation movement, it would be tempt­ the role and status of women.

THE HARDEST GAME OF ALL

professional boxing in this country is monitored by the british boxing board of control. The sport's rehabilitation as a major spectator draw was confirmed in june when barry mcguigan fought his way to the world featherweight title before a packed loftus road stadium and the biggest tv audience of the month - even coronation street had to take a back seat.

Let a Thousand Enterprises Bloom

A complicated system of tax reductions and exemptions is also suggested in order to help offset the higher cost of raw materials although industry is supposed to absorb most of this cost by reducing wasteful consumption.  december 1984 marxism today the fifth modernisation the reforms demand therefore much higher standards of administration and leadership by the chinese government and party bureaucracies than have been previously achieved. planning (a) planning: planning in a socialist society, argues the document, can only be 'rough and elastic' for a long time to come, and should seek 'to exercise control over major issues while allowing flexibility on minor ones'.

The Changing Face of Royalty

of all the royal family, it is the queen herself who must rest on a plane higher than everyone else's - especially if the natural order of british life is to prevail.  july 1984 the recent scandals that have risked 'dragging the queen's name down into the dirt' all indicate the extent of moral panic that is generated when some unworthy person comes too near the queen. the best of british to start with, the royal family say something about british identity: what it means to be british.

Feminism is Dead? Long Live Feminism

As act, made it more difficult for women to jean gardiner has pointed out,2 it is not so at the sharp end of women's oppression claim unemployment benefit, and cut the much that women are being forced back by men, the national women's aid service sector on which thousands of absolutely into the home; more to the federation have reported an increase in women rely for support and in which point is that their rates of pay and working domestic violence. More optimistically, however, it could also mean that there is a greater willingness amongst women to report domestic violence and an increased effectiveness of the women's aid federation in providing an escape route for battered women and their children and in breaking the silence surrounding the battering of women.

For whom the Block Votes?

What they're trying to do is two things; first, weaken the power of the trade union movement, in particular the power to take effective action against the employer or indeed against government; and secondly, change the political nature of trade unionism in britain and in particular to weaken the historic political link between the trade union movement and the labour party. The trade unions for labour victory are saying to the labour party you ought to do x, y and z. now for labour there is a credibility problem: at the end of the day there is no actual evidence that they can deliver the goods because their members didn't vote labour.

Keeping Women in their Place

But although both equal opportunities and health and safety aspects might tactically be useful ways of explaining why sexual harassment at work is a legitimate issue for the union, we need to take the bull by the horns and confront what is really the problem: that we live in a world which is patriarchal and oppresses women, and that whenever men and women come into contact, the power relations between them surface, to the disadvantage of women. marxism today 23 first in the field was nalgo which issued a statement following the work done by the equal opportunities working party of their liverpool branch,6 and the appalling case of two nalgo members in brent who were dismissed after complaining of harassment.7 then natfhe's women's rights panel initiated discussion and put out a statement.8 both of these statements give advice about how to tackle an instance of sexual harassment, and also point out the necessity for agreement between management and union that sexual harassment will not be tolerated.

Coming in from the Cold

Some of the arguments we had to fight in the early stages of the march were for instance: we want a class march not a peoples march; we want a socialist alternative programme as the peoples march alternative instead of simply the demand for full employment; when bobby sands died there was a move to get all the marchers to wear black armbands; there was continuous harrassment against the church by certain sections of the march. tb it is worth analysing what is meant by non-political because you talked about non-political in terms of non-political trade unionism and you talked about the peoples march as a non-political march now... pc non-party political.

The English Rising of 1381

What is remarkable is the way that their vision of a society of free and equal men and women fused with the ancient peasant demand for freedom of status and tenure, in the fomulation of a programme which, though entirely incapable of realisation, given the historical forces at work in the late middle ages, did challenge root and branch the ideas of the ruling class. however, whatever the grievances of craftsmen, journeymen, small free landowners and burgesses, the basic motive force of discontent and action is to be found in the landlord-tenant relationship, which was as much the defining relationship of feudal society, as the capitalist-wage earner relationship is of capitalist society — even though in both cases many elements seem to be outside that relationship.

The Forward Face of Feminism

types of organisations although i don't want to rigidly classify organisations and groupings which are continually changing and developing, illustrations of what i mean would include socialist feminist groups, conferences, and journals like red rag, feminist review and more recently women in action; groups of public sector workers such as the politics of health group, health fightback and groups in specific unions like nalgo and nupe, and the new journal critical social policy; the national housing liaison committee which brings together activists from tenants' groups, women's groups, ucatt branches and trades councils; several combine committees 3 and left groupings like the poeu, broad left; research, information and campaigning centres like the coventry and nottingham workshops and the network of such centres which has now been created. The extraordinary response, interest and enthusiasm shown by trade unionists to the plan for socially useful production first developed by the lucas aerospace combine committee; the success of the poeu broad left's campaign around alternative policies on new technologies; the four trades councils' inquiry into state intervention; 2 the growing involvement of industrial trade unionists in campaigns on nuclear power and  discussion environmental issues, and on the other hand the increasing involvement of socialist economists and other socialist academics with industrial trade unionists are all indications of this development.

The Forward Face of Feminism

For, over the last 10 years feminists haven't simply been underwriting traditional labour movement demands — for the right of women to work and for welfare services which enable women to enter paid employment — we have october 1980 15 also been looking at the quality of welfare services on offer, the relationship they have to womens' lives in general and not just to the lives of women as workers, and at the specific relationship of women to paid work.3 yet as the crisis develops and we begin to see something of the extent of the tories' reactionary programme, it is tempting for the left to abandon the lessons of 68, that socialism needs to be for something as well as against something, that it must involve people in its making rather than acting on their behalf, and to see feminism as a luxury, which in a period of retrenchment and recession we cannot afford. There is a real danger, too, that we will avoid the difficult task of defining socialism in relation to feminism and feminism in relation to socialism by creating a new, basically humanist movement which assumes a fundamental human unity between men and women, and which places the struggle against all social hierarchies, rather than the oppression of women as women, at its centre.

Education and the Right Offensive

The following could each form points of policy: (i) cease state subsidies to independent schools now running at some £60 to £80 millions a year, in the form of school fees paid to diplomats, military personnel, and etc, and instead provide boarding places within the maintained sector (many are already available); (ii) remove charitable status to endowed schools (as most independent schools are, especially the most prestigious such as eton and harrow), by which such schools are not subject to taxation; (iii) connected with this, remove the de-rating measures on independent schools, ensuring that they pay full rates; (iv) by act of parliament remove the power from local authorities to set up trust funds to finance pupils at independent schools. As greater proportions of the secondary school population in maintained schools were reorganised into comprehensive schools (30 per cent at the end of labour's 60s governments, 60 per cent at the end of thatcher's four years at the department of education and science to 1974, and now 82 per cent), and as initial enthusiasm and public support began to wane, no new perspectives for more radical educational change linked to social change were, or, within this ideology, could be advanced.