LETTERS We want to know what you think about Socialist Resistance. Post online, or email to Contact@ socialistresistance.org or write to PO Box 62732, SW2 9GQ. Contributions are edited for concision
White collar work is also 'Lean' The road of collaboration (SR 58) is a good piece. It also reflects what happened at Rover as far as I am aware. Ursula Huws put this process in the context of capitalism's redesigning of the labour process (http://bit.ly/ bFtLjA) under the imperatives of capitalism. It is not just blue collar work that is affected by rationalisation, standardisation of work and the demand for emotional commitment through practices like quality circles. This is also the common practice in white collar work. These practices allow work to be offshored through defined standard work. Resistance amongst white collar workers tends to be much weaker however. Performance management systems are part of the same process Mike Tucker Bensaïd valued around the It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Daniel Bensaid (Daniel Bensaid: a militant, an intellectual, a friend, SR 58). From him and his comrades we were able to learn so much. His contributions, both political and theoretical, have been very valuable, not just in France and Europe, but across the globe. We were hoping, as one of the great political generation of 1968 rebellion Trotskyists, he would be able to continue offering innovative, creative, non-sectarian, nondogmatic and contemporary interpretations of revolutionary Marxism, inoculated against both social-liberalism and Stalinism, for the revolts around the world of the 21st century, marked as never before by the alternatives of anti-capitalist transformation
or environmental catastrophe
and barbarism. His works will be read and continue to give leadership and inspiration to comrades around the world. His untimely death reminds us to redouble the struggle against HIV and for health for all. Ken Davis, for Australian supporters of FI Birmingham needs participatory budgets I work for the Participatory Budgeting Unit. It is a national charity project committed to promoting and supporting participatory budgeting in the UK. Most of our work is with local public sector agencies but we are keen to work more with community groups at the grassroots as we know it shouldn't really be a top down' process. If you're interested in trying to get participatory budgeting going in your area, we'd be interested in supporting you to do that. Check out our website at http:// www.participatorybudgeting. org.uk-our contact details are on there. Ruth Jackson Lessons for the Crisis in the SWP Paul Kellogg has an article in Links which discusses the actual practice of the Bolsheviks vs. the democratic centralism as practiced by much of the Western left (both Stalinist and Trotskyist). It's at http://links. org.au/node/1407. I think that, in the usually tiny groups ("groupuscules") of the far left in Anglo countries, it is foolish to think that such a tiny group can utilise grand theories and methods of organising a revolutionary party (which none
33 of them qualify as). I try to unpack some of the errors that flow from this on my blog at http://bit.ly/bRE4Ue. Ben Courtice Views on the Tobin Tax Not quite a clash of Titans (SR 58) calls for a "Tobin tax, a tax on financial transactions in the City of London. Even levied at the laughably low level of 0.5%, it could generate a staggering £45 billion a year " What is laughable is the belief that the tax will generate positive revenue when the negative consequences will reduce revenue in other areas. Not that the banks would care whether they "pay" the tax or not, they won't. The cost of the transactions will be passed onto the people. ½% is a staggering amount just to move money from one location to another. Nyet What negative consequences would reduce revenue by similar levels? Let's take the simple example: Annual foreign currency trades alone are $4 trillion a year globally. 15% are in Sterling. A 0.5% tax on that would raise $30 billion. How would the state revenue generated by currency trades and currency traders decline by Indeed, the costs of taxes on goods are generally passed onto the price of the good. However, speculative trades in currencies are not done by ordinary people: they are only done by professionals. They are not 'moving money from one location to another': generally it swirls around in the traders' PC until they cash in their gambles and go home. Duncan Chapel
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34 These are just some of the titles we have published to date, and more are in the pipeline. They can be bought from Socialist Resistance, at the address below; or ordered online through Amazon.co.uk Socialist Resistance PO Box 62732 London SW2 9GQ 1 Mexico's Zapatista rebels and the
Seattle demonstrators were the tip
of an iceberg of social and political
revolt against the injustices of
corporate-led globalisation. In
2002 John Holloway, working in
Puebla, Mexico, published Change
the World without Taking Power.
This book debates the implications
of that slogan.
£6 €7 $10 2 Documents of the differences
which developed last year in how
Respect should be organised and
built, and which led to the split
promoted by the SWP following
criticism of its leadership role by
almost everyone else, including
Socialist Resistance.
£3.50 €4 $6 3 Since World War Il the Middle East
has suffered a seemingly unending
period of war, foreign domination,
environmental devastation and
mass resistance to the region's
ruling classes. In this book, that
resistance speaks in its own
words, in a collection of some of
the most powerful articles written
in the last sixty years by socialist,
ecologist and anti-Zionist activists
across the region.
£10 €11 $17 4 A collection of important
contributions to the debate on the
ecology and global warming, and
the limits of capitalism's ability to
control the resulting destruction
of the environment. This reprinted
second edition is essential reading
for anyone getting to grips with
ecosocialism.
£6 €7 $10 5 Written just prior to the start of the rectification period in 1986 John Lister's book explains the impact of Stalinism on the Castroist leadership. "One very useful and detailed account of the development of the Cuban revolution" - Marxism Bulletin €4.95 €6 $8 6 Celia Hart came from a family of veteran Cuban revolutionaries who fought with Fidel against the Batista dictatorship. Celia was an outspoken defender of the political and revolutionary heritage of Leon Trotsky. Her recent articles on this subject provoked an intense debate on the question of Trotsky internationally. £6 €7 $10 7 Ron Ridenour's follow-up to his Cuba at the Crossroads, written while he was livng and politically active in Cuba. £10 €11 $17 8 lan Angus, who wrote several of the articles in this book and selected the others from a wide range of authors and movements, is one of the world's best-known ecosocialist activists. He is editor of the online journal Climate and Capitalism, which has been described as "the most reliable single source of information and strategic insights for climate justice." lan is also Associate Editor of Socialist Voice, an Advisory Editor of Socialist Resistance, and a founding member of the Ecosocialist International Network. He lives in Ontario, Canada. £10 €11 $17 New books from