Lewisham Council has finally unveiled its plan to re-develop a large empty plot of land at Besson Street, New Cross Gate, within what is sometimes known as the Kender Triangle. The plans are an interesting departure for the council, who instead of building new council housing, plans to build a Private Rented Sector (PRS) scheme of 250…
Author: preorg
Is the positive thinking industry built on wishful thinking?
Few people these days would believe in a medicine that could cure all diseases, yet many people, it seems, believe in the mental cure-all of positive thinking. Thinking positively will make you happy, healthy, successful, a good parent, a good daughter, a good citizen, a good employee, a good business person; all the rewards of…
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy – an unfair review
I spent some time reading Mouffe and Laclau’s Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, in part because of its claimed influence on the more insurgent left parties across Europe, including Podemos in Spain. It took time because it is not an easy book to read. By the end, I was not entirely sure it was time well…
For all those about to enter the Labour party to do battle…
While watching an enthusiastic group of young people (many in their twenties) discussing their plans to change the Labour Party last night, I felt my heart sink a little, even though I too am pleased by the change of leadership of the party. The problem, I realised, is that, being in my mid-thirties, I have…
Polanyi’s The Great Transformation – a rushed not-review
I feel hugely underqualified to review this economics classic, not just because I’m not an economist (ignorance seems to be regarded as a qualification among many of them) but because the book takes in a vast sweep of British/European history. I have doubts about some of the historical narratives he constructs but I’m not well-enough…
Paul Mason – half right about the end of capitalism?
When I read Paul Mason’s Guardian teaser for his new book Postcapitalism, I had been mentally drafting a blog post entitled No One Solution, or something like it. Since it turns out Paul and I are in accord on quite a few things, I’m turning that unwritten post into a review of Mason’s article. I…
Labour doesn’t have a plan, but nor does anybody else I know
This blog post is not a defence of the Labour Party. Months of spinelessness prior to the elections have been followed by weeks of unprincipled positioning by new leaders after it. I see nothing to defend. But it has to be said that their main problem – that they have no economic plan – is…
Re-making activism
This is a post from Cherry Red’s page on Facebook, which I am reposting to make sure it is available outside of the Zuckerrealm. It address two of my interests: (a) sustainable activism and (b) making sure your activism isn’t useless. A lot of it is about learning from the mistakes of others. It’s all…
Should the Marikana massacre have killed the positive thinking industry?
In August 2012 South African police shot dead 34 mine workers at Marikana in a massacre that horrified the world. As the post-mortems rolled in there was plenty of blame to go around for the mining company Lonmin, union leaders, and politicians. No blame however was attributed to the positive thinking industry. That is not…
Yugoslavia, ‘co-operatives’ and worker’s self-management
When I’ve talked about what a co-operative economy might look like I’ve had it said to me a few times that Yugoslavia, back when it was Yugoslavia, had an economy made up of co-operatives and that this experiment didn’t go very well. It turned out this wasn’t really true, but I discovered it can be…