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Jun 22, 2022 20 tweets 7 min read Read on X
#THREAD

The foreign/non-dom billionaire-owned UK "news" media exists to protect & prioritise the interests of a handful of greedy, cruel, & grotesquely wealthy elites against #SocialDemocracy. But don't take my word for it, listen to Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse & Albert Einstein: ImageImage
But what is 'social democracy'?

If you listened to representatives of the UK Govt, the right-wing UK media, or any of the usual 'outrage porn' culture war extremists, you'd think it was some kind of Marxist plot against humanity, because that's what voters are told to believe. Image
In reality, social democracy is the most successful, fair, & sensible political ideology to have come to prominence in the twentieth century, resulting in a sensible 'mixed economy', improvements in quality of life, & the reduction of wealth & opportunity #inequalities. Image
Social democracy is characterised as a political ideology that originally advocated a peaceful evolutionary transition of society from capitalism to socialism using established political processes, although this formulation has been significantly modified over the last century.
In the second half of the 20th century, following the the Wall St crash, the Nazi regime & WWII, there emerged a moderate version of the doctrine, generally espousing state regulation, rather than state ownership of the means of production, & extensive social welfare programs. Image
Based on 19th-century socialism & the tenets of Marx & Engels, while social democracy does share common ideological roots with communism, it opposes & fiercely eschews its militancy, authoritarianism, & totalitarianism - characterising social democracy as communism is absurd.
Social democracy was originally known as revisionism because it represented a change in basic Marxist doctrine, primarily in the former’s repudiation of the use of revolution to establish a socialist society. Image
The social democratic movement grew out of the efforts of August Bebel & Wilhelm Liebknecht who cofounded the Social Democratic Workers’ Party in 1869, which merged with the General German Workers’ Union in 1875 to form what became known as the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Bebel imbued social democracy with the belief that socialism must be installed through lawful means rather than by force.

After the election of two Social Democrats in 1871, the party grew in political strength until in 1912 it became the largest single party in voting strength.
The success of the Social Democratic Party in Germany encouraged the spread of social democracy to other countries in Europe, including Britain.

The growth of German social democracy owed much to the influence of the German political theorist Eduard Bernstein. Image
Bernstein challenged the Marxist orthodoxy that capitalism was doomed, pointing out that capitalism was overcoming many of its weaknesses, such as unemployment, overproduction, & to some extent, the inequitable distribution of wealth.
Furthermore, ownership of industry was becoming more widely diffused, rather than more concentrated in the hands of the few.

Whereas Marx had declared that the subjugation of the working class would inevitably culminate in socialist revolution, Bernstein disagreed.
Bernstein argued that success for socialism depended not on the continued & intensifying misery of the working class, but rather on eliminating that misery, noting that social conditions were improving, & that with universal suffrage the working class could establish socialism. Image
Despite fierce opposition from the press baron brothers Alfred & Harold Harmsworth, to both universal suffrage & the Liberal's plans to bring in a welfare state based on the German model, Britain's Liberal Party won a landslide victory in the 1906.

The violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 & its aftermath precipitated the final schism between the social democratic parties & the communist parties.

After WWII, social democratic parties came to power in many western European nations eg West Germany, Sweden, & Britain. Image
The western European social democratic parties - in Britain Clement Attlee's transformative @UKLabour Party - laid the foundations for a much fairer & much more equal society by introducing radical modern European social welfare programs, including in Britain, our amazing #NHS. Image
With its ascendancy, social democracy changed gradually, most notably in West Germany. These changes generally reflected a moderation of the 19th-century socialist doctrine of wholesale nationalisation of business & industry, leading to a functional & effective 'mixed economy'.
Although the principles of the various social democratic parties began to diverge somewhat, certain common fundamental principles emerged: in addition to abandoning violence & revolution as tools of social change, social democracy took a stand in opposition to totalitarianism.
The Marxist view of democracy as a “bourgeois” facade for class rule was abandoned, & democracy was proclaimed essential for socialist ideals. Social democracy adopted the goal of state regulation of business & industry as sufficient to further economic growth & equitable income. Image
Social democracy delivers fairer societies, & better-informed, happier citizens, & is still dominant across much of western Europe - as it was in the UK & USA until the 1980s, since when, power & wealth has again become concentrated in the hands of elites.

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More from @docrussjackson

Nov 23
#THREAD

There was outrage when in 2020, the Tory Govt conceded a new bill to amend the UK's Brexit deal would "break international law" in a "specific & limited way".

But what is international law? What is the ICC?

And what were Margaret Thatcher's views on international law? Image
Image
First, what is 'international law'?

Broadly (it's complicated!) it refers to the body of legal rules, norms, and standards that apply between sovereign states and other entities that are legally recognized as international actors.
The term was coined by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). According to Bentham’s classic definition, international law is a collection of rules governing relations between states. This original definition omits individuals and international organizations.
Read 57 tweets
Nov 21
#THREAD

"Improving the quality of life for people of this country is perhaps the most important duty of Government."

John Prescott has died.

In September 2000, John - then Deputy Prime Minister - gave a speech at the @UKLabour Party Conference, introducing Nelson Mandela. Image
Nelson Mandela died in December 2013. Writing a tribute in the Daily Mirror, John reflected on his death, writing: “In my office at home I have a picture that is my most treasured possession. It’s of me shaking Nelson Mandela’s hand on stage at the @UKLabour conference in 2000." Image
At the Rivonia Trial, between 1963 & 1964, Mandela gave a dramatic speech from the dock.

John wrote in 2013 “When I read that, I knew that I wanted to enter politics. He was my ­inspiration. So when he walked free in 1990, we felt as if one of our own comrades had been freed.” Image
Read 28 tweets
Nov 16
🧵
Allison Pearson posted then deleted disinformation, falsely accused three people of being "Jew haters", lied about where the photo was taken & what they were doing, then lied about what the Police said to her - and then moaned about being a victim! FFS

bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
The Telegraph's divisive shit-stirrer Pearson falsely claimed she was told by the police who came to her home it was over a “non-crime hate incident”. Her lie was then dutifully amplified by every Reform UK MP & billionaire-owned right-wing "news" media, painting her as a victim.
Essex Police said “At no stage... was she informed that the report being investigated was being treated as a non-crime hate incident. To suggest otherwise is wholly inaccurate and misleading.”
Read 17 tweets
Nov 15
#THREAD

Pearson, Farage, Musk, Young, Habib, & many other shit-stirrers who shamelessly try to normalize hateful, divisive, provocative & inflammatory rhetoric, often refer to George Orwell's 1984, but Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is much closer to the dystopia we inhabit... Image
Harassment, malicious communications, incitement, & threatening violence are all crimes in the UK, & have been for a long time.

Print & broadcast media, & online social media are simply platforms on which we behave or misbehave: it's not about the medium, it's about the offence. Image
The UK is signed up to Article 10 of the #ECHR: everyone has the right to free speech, which may only be qualified in limited circumstances, including: national security; public safety; the protection of morals & of the reputation or rights of others.

herbertsmithfreehills.com/notes/publicla…Image
Read 30 tweets
Nov 15
#THREAD

"Enoch Powell was a hero of the young Nigel, but at this point he could do without any association with the politician who made the notorious Rivers of Blood speech... the accusation of racism follows Farage & his party around like a bad smell." - Allison Pearson Image
"Farage has tried for years to shrug off the charge that his parties are more than “the BNP in blazers”... although I don’t think Farage is a racist, it’s a problem that racists attach themselves to Reform." - Allison Pearson Image
“We’re investigating a report which was passed to us by another force. The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed. An investigation is now being carried out under section 17 of the Public Order Act.” - Essex police spokesman Image
Read 5 tweets
Nov 9
🧵

Every episode of #bbcqt Image
Image
Not a lot of people know that Oxbridge alumni Fiona Bruce, presenter of 'Fake or (paid a) Fortune?', and since January 2019, the @BBC's interrupting Chair of #bbcqt, was born in Singapore.

One of her first episodes as Chair was the one that made Laurence Fox a household name. Image
In my widely read & reported February 2023 Open Letter to the @BBC about @bbcquestiontime, one of my concerns was about Bruce’s chairing of #bbcqt which I said was "at best, unacceptably poor."

I haven't seen anything to change my mind since.

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/an-op…Image
Read 12 tweets

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