In the second week of February the United Nations convened a meeting in Bangkok that, despite its importance, failed to make newspaper headlines or feature anywhere in news broadcasts. The lack of apparent newsworthiness, however, belies the meeting’s significance, for in time the issue under discussion could well turn out to have profound consequences for the world’s food supply. At this meeting the Canadian government attempted to overturn the 1998 international moratorium on the commercialisation of ‘sterile gene technology.’ The Canadian delegation, acting on behalf of the multinational seed companies as well as the US government – not a...
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By Peter Campbell, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal & Kingston, pp.303, 1999. Peter Campbell discusses, and focuses on, the lives of four individuals—Ernest Winch, William Pritchard, Arthur Mould and Robert Russell, all of whom originally came from Britain and from religious backgrounds. The title and the phrase, “a Third Way”, is something of a misnomer, as the author himself admits, writing: “The description requires explanation, because these socialists might more accurately be called Marxists of the first way. Their guiding philosophy is to be found in the provisional rules of the International Workingmen’s Association, founded in London, England, September 1864...
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The wage-worker is, indeed, a patient creature. Throughout his life those who own the means by which he lives — the capitalists — heap insult and indignity upon him yet he continues to support the system of society which makes possible such a state of affairs. He is urged, even pressured, to work harder, to produce more, even though the more the intensity of his labor the nearer is the day of his deeper impoverishment. Producing as he must for a market economy, his increased production leads inevitably to glutted markets and greater unemployment. In the meantime, the employer...
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Working people live on wages, which are obtained in their places of employment. Some workers own government bonds or company shares and derive income from these and from other sources. But all sources other than wages form a very small part of the average worker’s income. Mainly the workers live on wages and any changes that occur in the amount of wages have a definite bearing on their conditions of life. The wages which they receive represent a portion of the wealth they produce. This portion takes the form of money and is given to them by the owners...
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The words Socialism and Communism have the same meaning. They indicate a condition of society in which the wealth of the community: the land and the means of production, distribution and transport are held in common, production being for use and not for profit. Socialism being an ideal towards which we are working, it is natural that there should be some differences of opinion in that future society. Since we are living under Capitalism it is natural that many people’s ideas of Socialism should be coloured by their experiences of life under the present system. We must not be...
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Western Clarion, November 16 1920 At the time of the 1917 Revolution in Russia we approved of the Bolshevik leaders. During the many vicissitudes of fortune that have taken place since, we have seen no reason to alter this position. We understood, as we still understand, that Bolshevism is not Socialism. Our knowledge of Russian conditions, though perhaps meager, was sufficient to acquaint us with the fact that this country was not yet ready for Socialism. Economic and social development had not reached the stage where social ownership of the means of production was possible. A resourceful Socialist minority...
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“Emancipation not Palliation” Socialism vs. Capitalism To understand socialism, one must necessarily understand the present social system; i.e., capitalism. Under capitalism, society is divided into hostile classes: an owning capitalist class, whose members have ownership of the various parts of the instruments of wealth production. This includes: The land, the factories, the railroads, the mines, and steamships, etc., upon which the whole of the people are dependent for their existence. A working class, whose members possess nothing but their labor power, which is useless to the worker unless he can have access to the raw material and the machinery...
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