Women and the Struggle for Socialism.

On Thursday 30th September at a nondescript bar in Hanley (due to the CWU HQ being closed) several comrades met to discuss this week's branch topic 'Women and the Struggle for Socialism'. The lead-off was led by comrade Claire from London who came up to give the same lead-off at a public meeting earlier at Staffs Uni.

First off, we heard how the capitalist media today portrays a 'post-feminist society'; that is to say that women have won the major battles of the sexes and now 'have it all' in today's world. However, the facts reveal that on average women earn 15 percent less than men, and are more likely to take casual, part-time or temporary posts, and largely in the domestic sector.

What's more it is possible that 1 in 4 women will at some point experience domestic violence, and 1 in 7 will be raped.

There is also an increase in the sex industry, and the further commodification of women in advertisements.

In Engels' Origin of the Family he states that the woman's role is linked to class. The agricultural industry in older societies led to a surplus of production, meaning that men were the members who worked the land. And institutions like family protected private property.

The Industrial Revolution actually led to economic independence for women, and even under capitalism gains were made (albeit slowly) for more accepatance of women within the workplace. The NHS allowed more women to work in various sectors, and more nursery places were available to allow women more freedom in career choices. And how fitting that these are the very areas under attack by a Con-Dem government. (We later discussed the closure of a local NHS nursery in Stoke). Of course the Tories have used family breakdowns as the root of all evil and continue to attack child benefits making it even harder for women to defend the gains made in the past.

This is why as socialists we continue to fight for women's rights by fighting for a change in attitude and how society is organised. As Engels says, "Throughout most of history women's oppression did not exist, and in the future will be no more again."

After the lead-off Andy continued this theme by saying instead of sacking huge numbers of workers, share out the work for all levels of society.

Claire also reiterated the class issue by saying that working-class men don't benefit from the oppression of women, rather it is the ruling class that do. Working-class men would arguably prefer that women had more equality in the workplace to alleviate the strain of their own toil.

Another point raised was that capitalism does not recognise socially useful roles such as nursery nursing, social work and other roles associated with women as being important, hence the ease in which bosses can eradicate such services.

The overall feeling was clear - if capitalism is removed then attitudes can change as we as a society have been constantly institutionalised in our attitude to women, feminism and equality by the media and capitalism.

"I only said "Rockerfeller."

I was watching the film version of Arnold Bennett's The Card again recently. How good is it? Granted, it represents the spirit of capitalism re-presented as some benign, benevolent force we should all aspire to, but there is a certain charm that the film lends, in a similar way to other films of the era such as Genevieve. We shouldn't celebrate the repressed imperialistic culture but damn it, we can't help it.


What is laughable* however, is the way the Potteries accent is portrayed. This is something no programme or film has ever got right. With the possible exception of those idiots who'd be on Blind Date. Here though the generic 'northern' accent comes out in a clear display of ignorance. Landlords, lawyers and mayors all conforming to late 19th-century fatties who say "ey-up" and "t'road"like they're from Lancashire. (which is about 50 miles up t'road incidentally)


Alec Guinness himself does not even need to do this himself though you know. His Received Pronunciation is good enough for us, with the occasional "t'ra" thrown in to remind us he's playing a working-class person.

*The other laughable thing of course being somewhere like Chell having a Countess.

Cheddleton Railway

Last week my family and I took my dad up to Cheddleton for his 65th birthday where he got to drive a steam engine. Suffice it to say he was a smug bugger. Not a bad price for 170 quid.

"Don't Forget Me" Part 2; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Socialism.

As I have previously argued, the costume of D-Fens can be said to reflect the 'everyman', but when we consider it is so bound up in the McCarthey-trial era Republican America, it could also represent right-wing middle-class suburbia. Yet a change occurs halfway throughout the film. Douglas's character, after killing the Nazi (standing up to fascism?) says he is "past the point of no return." As the audience we are led to assume that he has now become more sinister. This may very well be, but I believe a change in ideology has occurred.
If the shirt and tie of D-Fens is middle-class America, then this is now shed in favour of black overalls, surely a symbol of the working-classes; from a professional, nostalgic aesthetic to a more industrial, and almost Eastern European get-up.
It is from this point that the change in ideology occurs.
The first scene that occurs after this dress change is D-Fens walking towards a construction site. And already the local council's motives are questioned.
I don't think anything's wrong with the street. You' re trying to justify your budgets. -I know how it works. If you don't spend your budget,you won't get any money next year. I want you to admit there's nothing's wrong with the street!
In a world dominated by private companies doing the jobs that previously belonged to the public sector, this statement may make sense. No longer can we rely on our local officials to take responsibility for services rendered; rather like housing we are served by Aspire or Kier, and our hospital food by Serco. Under socialism, these services do not need to be run for profit, nor by external agencies.

The next scene involving D-Fens (or Bill Foster) takes place at a golf club. Already the bourgeois golfers assum Foster is the groundsman, to which his partner replies "if he is he's out of uniform," and "he's not a member, look how he's dressed." Incidentally, note how the upper class are now being presented; weak, innefectual and arrogant old men. It is more telling however, and more in keeping with socialist ideology in the response Foster gives to these models of capitalism after almost getting hit with their golf ball. (Itself an attack on the working class?)
"It's not enough you got all this land for your little game? But you had to kill me with a golf ball? You should have children playing here. Family picnics. You should have a petting zoo. ...instead of electric carts for you old men with nothing better to do."
What a perfect example of the socialist manifesto in regaards to community services. The same can also apply to derelict land and not just affluent areas. If land is derelict it is because it is not profitable for that land to be used, or the capital to invest may be too high. Likewise as an exclusive club in which members quite happily 'pay their dues', it is not profitable for that land to be used in a socially beneficial way.
Bill Foster then climbs into a plastic surgeon'sback yard and assumes the family there own the house. Again, he is representing anger and hatred towards the ruling class. To emphasise this he soon softens when he discovers the father enjoying a barbeque is just the caretaker, and even more so when he (wrongly) assumes he has accidentally hurt his daughter. He now finds affinity with the working-class in a more personal way.
In the end, his attempt to ensure his death in order for his daughter to receive the insurance money can be seen as the only solution to provide for her, and this has had to come from inside the capitalist system itself. And as such, death must occur.
I realise that on face value, Douglas's character, essentially, becomes more of a sociopath as the film progresses, and that the character of Prendergast has more to do with the issues of masculinity, but I believe applying a Marxist approach is still a valid exercise, regardless of the morality of the narrative.

Old Review 2

Another old review I did, this time for Smallville in 2007.
Seriously, this is how I spent my time whilst in post-graduate study.


show: Smallville
episode: Noir
Oh dear...
Not impressed at all. It was an intriguing concept, but the problem was that this episode was neither one thing or the other. If the hook for the episode is a 40's flashback, at least make most of the episode that way. As it was the plot couldn't seem to decide where it was supposed to be. It reminded me of that episode of 'Lois and Clark' which was also set in a noir flashback, and like this episode also featured the protagonists. However, here the noir sequences were poor I thought. Stilted dialogue and cliched archetypes. However, I did like the way they used wipes and back-projection, just like those classics of the 40's they were trying so hard to emulate.But once again with Smallville, it seems to be one of those episodes of a season that just come out of nowhere and have no relevance to any continuing plotlines.But seeing Clark as a bumbling reporter was good if too brief. Seriously, I can't even remember the plot and I just watched it! Something about Lana meeting a reporter with information and Jimmy being a hero. Now can we get back to the series please?

You Clever Kant.

I've been skimming through some of Immanuel Kant's philosophical work recently as I've not read any since 95/96 during my A-Level Theology, and it struck me that I would class myself as trying to live a 'Kantian' life in the intervening years. Essentially, Kant says, that which we ought to do is obviously different to that which we might want to do. However, it is our duty to do that which is morally right, regardless of how difficult that might be. An action will be moral if the motivation is morality itself. It is ok to be instinctly moral, but Kant argued we have a duty to be moral even when our self-interest says otherwise. In the Metaphysics of Morals he says;
In accordance with the ethical law of perfection'love your neighbour as
yourself', the maxim of benevolence is a duty of all human beings toward
one another, whether or not one finds them worthy of love.

It makes you wonder if that kind of principle was applied how many relationships would last longer. Consider the scenario; wife wants husband to do something for her; man can't be bothered because the footy's on so why should he? OR wife wants husband to do something for her; man huffs and puffs but does it for her because he values her happiness above his own.

Or how about man and woman have argument; she would really love to hurl the perfect put-down at him that will upset him. But she knows that she will regret saying it should she do so and so makes a moral choice to refrain.

You know what I've always found annoying? When people give it all that "I am who I am, and if you don't like it you can f**** off," as if they have some divine right to absolve themselves of any kind of blame. "It's just the way I am."
I'm sorry but I don't buy into that. Every human being has the capacity to make a choice in every possible situation. Just because our instincts might be to say or do what we feel does not mean it is moral to do so.

For a more in-depth insight into Kant, the Enlightenment and how today we have abandoned reason I recommend How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen.

Wednesday · 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location
Hope Centre, Hanley

Come down to the start of the fight back against the CON DEM cuts! Not a day passes by without Cameron and Co announcing a fresh wave of cuts in our jobs, services and benefits, the harshest in living memory.The only way we are going to stand a chance against these cuts is to build a huge campaign involving trade unions and communities to resist these cuts....organised by North Staffs Trades Union Council

Speakers TBA

I should be filming this event too.