George Walford |

George Walford: Government Supports Pushers

September 9, 2012

In 1983 the Spanish government (socialist) decriminalised the possession of drugs for personal use while retaining penalties for dealing. An article in the Sunday Times (13 October 1991) now reports the authorities admitting the presence of over 100,000 addicted to hard drugs in Madrid, a demonstration of 20,000 “from five poor suburbs” demanding stronger action… read more »

George Walford: Steam Engine Time (54)

August 11, 2014

Thinking people have mostly discarded the hero theory of history. They agree that Alexander, Julius Caesar, Napoleon and the others appearing as makers and shakers of the world owe their prominence less to personal qualities than to coincidence between their abilities – admittedly exceptional – and the conditions of place and time. But when a… read more »

George Walford: Small is Unsuccessful

September 9, 2012

Some twenty-five years ago Fritz Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful, launched his Interediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), intended and expected to produce a revolution in ways of living, especially in the less developed countries, by the introduction of small-scale technology. Unlike The World Wildlife Fund and Amnesty, both founded around the same time, ITDG… read more »

George Walford and Adrian Williams: Class War

September 9, 2012

A letter from Adrian Williams Sir, IC 53 carries an advert for Angles on Anarchism which includes the statement “… the anarchist movement has settled down among the other members of the political cast; accepted almost respectable but of mainly theoretical importance.” I enclose with this letter a copy of Class War issue 49, which… read more »

George Walford: Doing the Splits (54)

September 9, 2012

Contrasting the anarchistic or libertarian socialists at the tip of the range with the Leninists and social democrats, Frank Girard (an anarchistic socialist) comments: But if they are splintered, our ‘force’ is atomized consisting of small groups and grouplets each with its own publication and small circle of members and sympathizers. Except for the Socialist… read more »

George Walford: What Will Do It?

September 9, 2012

An article in the Observer (15 September) opens with a ringing declaration that under the series of Conservative governments which began in 1979 crime figures have more than doubled, from an annual 2.2 million offences to a “staggering” 5 million projected for 1991. (Why we should be staggered by 5 million and not by 2.2… read more »

George Walford: GAIA

September 9, 2012

Several years ago a valued friend telephoned, full of enthusiasm, to pass on the news of James Lovelock’s “Gaia hypothesis.” She met a dismissive response; the idea of the earth as alive was just too close to “Oh, the wonder of it all!” to be taken seriously. On belatedly reading the book that reply turns… read more »

George Walford: We’ve Had the Revolution

September 9, 2012

The Marxists have overlooked one of the biggest events in recent history: their revolution is over and the workers have taken control. When Marx spoke in the Communist Manifesto of the capitalists exercising “exclusive political sway” [1] and in Capital of “the tribute annually exacted from the working class by the capitalist class” [2] he… read more »

George Walford: Ideology in the Reviews (54)

September 9, 2012

S.I. goes against a common view in holding that liberalism shows not only greater mental independence than conservatism but also a stronger inclination to use the powers of the state in the management of economic affairs. Alexis de Tocqueville stands high among liberals. Reviewing a clutch of books about him Larry Siedentop notes that he… read more »

George Walford: Editorial Notes (54)

September 9, 2012

DEFINITION: Editor (n) A person responsible for the contents of a journal, whose job it is to separate the wheat from the chaff and see the chaff gets printed. (Adapted from Elbert Hubbard). OUR headline prize for this issue goes to the anarchist journal Black Flag for ”RED TSARS IN THE SUNSET.” CAPITALISM a killer?… read more »