Arthur Scargill, SLP Leader

[robg71]

Workers of the World Awake Rise In All Your Splendid Might Take the Wealth That You Are Making It Belongs To You By RIGHT !

[kehlwhlrh]

In x mining communities today Scargill is about as popular as dysentry and margaret thatcher.

[SocailistRae]

i gotta say im a trot an we recgonise that we have to withdraw from the EU. proper trot now not some airy fairy mid class liberal in disguis. As for athur whatever differences we mite ave about that. He is with out a doubt the best Trde Union leader and probly one of if not the best politcal leaders the british working class as ever ad. As me grandad said of his time in the strike "I'd have followed im to ell an back."

[vivascargill]

as nelson mandela said arthur scargill is a hero of the working class!!

[MINERSSTRIKE]

This is an open invitation to Mr. Scargill to come to our Question Time debate to discuss the national legacy of The Miners' Strike 1984-1985 on Wed March 3rd. Why is there no interest from Scargill or The NUM? Do they have no case?

[spailpin1902]

Have you tried writing to Arthur and/or the NUM?

Your last two questions are plain silly.

[flute4hire]

its the middle class that asre the problem

[victoria1907]

Ok - I like what Scargill has to say to some extent and certainly here in Canada we have the same problem as every other Western liberal democracy - one system with different faces (parties).- we have no real choice and no real leadership for change. But why all these little left parties like the SLP and Communists who can't even get there act together to from a common front? Us socialists without a home are waiting for some common sense...

[Daisy12630]

OK. But what do you mean by "common sense"? When the SLP was set up in 1996 it was open to all of a socialist view. The problem arose for some when they insisted on maintaining their own party allegiance as well as joining the SLP. That would have meant having a factional based party and that sort of organisation is inherently unstable and ultimately will fail.

The SLP constitutional approach is correct. I don't think there is an alternative model for a political PARTY.

What's your view?

[vivascargill]

victoria if there were one leftist left he or she would split in half--but I'd follow Arthur anywhere

[majorMcpharter]

Workers of all lands unite.Abolish the wages system comrades.

[kennethsheard]

ya like enock powel??? good bloke . arturr when will this goverment listen to blokes like you?? ya the best love you scargill>>

[SouthDownIPLO]

scargill is hero

[dragonlee90]

To lobotomised morons. This crisis isn't a crisis of capitalism. It is the result of governments and central banks keeping interest rates far too low. Thatcher and Reagan pursued a policy called monetarism. Debt only exploded in America and Britain after 2001. Capitalism has brought hundreds of millions out of poverty. Thankfully, socialism is a dead ideology because it leads to totalitarianism.

[rayyyyyy1]

Socialism real Socialism not Stalinism or Scargillism is about increasing not limiting democracy. Poverty in Africa has doubled in the last 20 years dragon lee. Look at India in Capitalist terms it may be the next big success story but there are over 800 million people living on less than $2 a day. Capitalism is great for 2% of people but is miserable for billions.

[alewisuk]

It is a recession. They happen all the time under capitalism. You can dress it up all you like but it is a crisis of capitalism. Capitalism hasn't ever brought a single person out of poverty. Trade unions did that, ie working class pressure for a minimum wage, univeral healthcare, pensions, unemployment benefit and so forth.

[03currand03]

Irish Trotskyites campaigned against the Lisbon treaty

[03currand03]

not all trotskyites are pro europe, the SWP aren't

[rayyyyyy1]

One of the most striking thins about leading lefties like Scargill,Livingstone,Benn and Galloway is how they all get on together.

Truth is its not mutual admiration but mutul hatred and jealousy. All of them are egotistical and have as little respect for each other as they do for the rest of us.

[rayyyyyy1]

Arthur Scargills politics are nonsense. Socialism can not be imposed on people from above. Socialism has to be democratic from the start. No block votes, no party slates..Democratic from the start.

[weemagicstane]

Socialism imposed from above? Where does he say that? Block votes, like in company law where the size of the vote is determined by how wealthy you are? You don't believe in representative democracy then? You've just spouted a whole lot of baloney.

[MarxBakuninMe]

Yeah I agree. It has to come from below. "The emancipation of the working class must be an act of the working class" - K. Marx. All this stuff about "revolutionary vanguards" and so on is nonsense.

And I must say, the thumbs down you are getting is pretty discouraging.

[weemagicstane]

Socialism is back on the agenda! Why even the Bush regime in the US is nationalising its' financial sector - to bail out the corporations at the peoples' expense of course but the precedence has been set.

Arthur's analysis here is excellent and this series of videos is well worth watching.

[dragonlee90]

Socialism is not back on the agenda. That bail out in America is bailing out not capitalism, but neoliberalism.. No President has spent more than Bush on health, education and public services, thus increasing the national debt. He has nationalised several banks over his reign, and has let the credit market go unchecked so that ''all shall have their prize,'' a very socialist idea. Only free market libertarian capitalism can help people in this crisis. Monetarism is the answer again.

[weemagicstane]

Bush has spent on healthcare??? Don't you mean on WMD and war after war?

You must be the last person on earth still supporting "libertarian capitalism"!

[dragonlee90]

Ever heard of the Medicare program? It was the largest ever committment to healthcare spending.

[Daisy12630]

Well Done once again Arthur for your intervention in the Kent Climate Camp.

Always principled and steadfast in your views.

[WindsorB]

Scargill is an enemy to freedom, liberty and democracy. All those applauding him should be ashamed.

[nbm34]

In these conditions real Socialism is not the end of history. As the young potential facist freind who loves Thatcher and Churchill, would hope it to be. Thatcher and Churchill are neo Facists which is the historic nature of their class. Also Maichvellian enough to portray this on their terms alone of Democratic and family needs. We see in the New world order of Capitalism based on the Blundersburg gROUP

of the worlds rich elite. With a economic

collapse worse than 1920's. SOCIALISM WILL BE.

[majorMcpharter]

World capitalism is long past its sell by date.Lets dump this dog eat dog rat race into the trash bin of history.Workers of all lands unite and abolish the wages system.

[westphalianprinz]

Lacking that, let's do what Scargill says. It's a good start.

[nbm34]

dRAGONLEE is a Tory and in this the enemy will always try to denigrate the socilaist movement.The Working Class in Britain are now trained to accept a hostile State towards unions.The reasonable growth of the economy since the second world war,and accepting the poor work contracts if none at all, as the tories and their Elite sects in Parliament,establish their political and economic stranglehold, have lived now beyond there means.This age of bread and circus is now coming to a close..continued

[Daisy12630]

Well Done Arthur. A man of great principle - he'll NEVER be Lord Scargill.

Socialism is the only alternative to the corrupt and morally bankrupt system that is capitalism. War, destruction and starvation is all it offers to the great mass of the worlds' population. More people dying of hunger, poverty and preventable disease today than there was 100 years ago. It's past its sell by date.

Forward to a socialist future.

[dragonlee90]

Scargill was the one who was living in his plush bungalow in Barnsley when the miners where living of soup and bread. He called for a strike without a ballot, and he encouraged violence against those who didn't want to strike. And yet people choose to idolise this man. He is morally corrupt, and evil. Luckily, socialism is a dead ideology, and will never resurface

[westphalianprinz]

Why do you get on here and write trollish statements? You're a capitalist. Shouldn't you be out trying to make more money instead of complaining about Scargill and all that nonsense about the previous attempts of socialism?

[dragonlee90]

And you make yourself out to be an intelligent historian... what a joke

[Retrieverman1]

I am. I've worked on two revisionist histories of the Soviet Union.

[dragonlee90]

Scargill has a completely false view of capitalism and socialism. Obviously, he dosen't know what happened when the lefties took charge in Russia, West Germany, North Korea etc. Mass poverty, 150,000,000 people murdered. Economies being ruined, poverty rising etc.

It has been capitalism that has alleviated these problems. When I emailed Scargill's party, I sent him a list of problems with socialism, and his secretary replied by insulting me, instead of answering the questions. Tut tut...

[westphalianprinz]

You deserve insulting. Capitalism's killing far, far more than those socialist countries. It's still killing right now.

[dragonlee90]

Capitalism is just an economic theory

[westphalianprinz]

Um, no. It's a whole existence. It is actually the most violent theory imaginable. You have to have a powerful state to keep private property and to prevent alternative modes of production. This state then must go and do the same to other countries as the need for the markets increases. It's not a mere economic theory. Read The Communist Manifesto and Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. Also, read Capital.

[dragonlee90]

Capitalism is an economic theory you clueless fuck. Capitalism requires a small state. Socialism requires a large state to take all the property and maintain it. Also, don't listen to Lenin, Imperialism and Capitalism are notihng alike. Social theories are bad because they need implementing on people. Go and research capitalism before making such stupid comments. I'll give you a small fact, before capitalism, society was divided into royalty and the poor.

[dragonlee90]

Capitalism created the working and middle classes, and enabled poor people to become rich. But you obviously don't have the brains to make up your own mind.

[westphalianprinz]

What created the middle classes was class struggle. The French Revolution led to the creation of the Middle Class. The Middle class was created to subvert revolutionary ideals. The same occurred after the Revolutions of 1848, and again after the Russian Revolution. Economic policies were created to allow for a larger middle class to subvert revolutionary ideals. Capitalism itself created none of this. I'm a trained to the doctoral level in history, unlike most idiot economists.

[dragonlee90]

If you are indeed a historian, you should know that historians are always in argument with each other. Capitalism came from Holland in the 16th century. It brought about the Industrial Revolution, which brought about factory owners and a new middle class, who were not part of the aristocracy. As a historian, you should know that socialism and communist have destroyed the countries they have been implemented in. I am a historian too, and an amateur economist.

[dragonlee90]

Russia was completely crippled before the Revolution because of autocratic government. Capitalism requires a small state to thrive. Lenin killed millions as did Stalin. People had to queue to get bread. It was only until the fall of the wall and Gorbachov's reforms that stimulated growth in Russia and created a better of working class and middle classes. Putin also will be remembered as a great President, and justly so. Go and read some Milton Friedman and Freidrich Hayek, and get educated

[Retrieverman1]

I'm pretty well educated. Stalin didn't kill millions of people, just 500,000 to million. The US client state in Indonesia killed more. Friedman and Hayek were piss poor historians. The vast majority of East Europeans and Soviet people are having buyer's remorse about having capitalism-- which is why Stalin is so popular in the Russian mind. 1/2 of all Russians believe his role was positive rather than negative. There are real historians, not Conquest, who have looked at the records.

[dragonlee90]

Freidman and Hayek were not historians, they were economists, and very sound economists too. Stalin's reforms e.g. collectivisation, contributed to the deaths of nearly 35,000,000 people, as they were forced to starve in labour camps, and those who protested were executed. Putin's Presidency presided over a 150% increase in the average wage, a 72% increase in GDP, and nearly a 50% reduction in poverty, because of his policies for a free market.

[MarxBakuninMe]

The introduction of the free market to Russia saw life expectancy for men drop an incredible 7 years.

[dragonlee90]

That's because they were allowed to do things they had never done before, such as go to fast food restaurants and get fat.

[MarxBakuninMe]

Was that supposed to be funny or were you actually being serious?

[dragonlee90]

I was being serious. It was a comedic statement that does highlight the nature of reality. In richer countries, people eat more. The obesity rates in China have risen significantly over the last 30 years, it's just human nature, we always want more.

[maestroshep]

i bet your a holocoust denier as well

[avomnia]

This is not the Scargill as I remember him. He seems to be less extreme and his presentation here is excellent. I think that it is important to have diversity within politics and I think he has a part to play.

[483c]

Arthur Scargill the greatest trade union leader of the past hundred years gives clear and precise anaylysis here.

[Daisy12630]

A really good contemporary political and economic analysis for today. Worth listening and paying attention to.

[westphalianprinz]

Excellent analysis.