Dave Holmes: Arguments for Socialism

I've intended to do a left blog roundup for sometime but blogging on the Australian far left is a cottage industry engaged in by very few. Why this should be the case isn't very clear -- but the fact is that blogging isn't a standard communication medium this far to the  left.

Nonetheless, one of the newest blogs on the block  is a project begun by Dave Holmes -- who was, until its very recent merger with the Socialist Alliance, a long time leader of the DSP.(Right, Dave in the early seventies).

However,  the new trend in my neck of the political woods is to use the blogging platform to archive talks and newspaper articles (more on this in a  later post)that are delivered at forums and conferences  or published in Green Left Weekly (especially in their unabridged form before the GLW editor started cutting.)

Fortunately, this is what Dave Holmes is now doing.

His blog, Arguments for Socialism, is a selection of such items going back 19 years, and  comprise a running commentary on many topics that Dave, with his usual skill, addresses from a considered Marxist POV.

Besides contributions to history and political strategy & theory, the archive includes the introductory Arguments for Socialism series which has been published in Green Left Weekly.

This stuff is all great value so bookmarking the site is sure to enhance  your   reference resources on a range of key topics. Since Dave is always a very accessible writer and speaker, surfing his clearly presented archive and reading any items that take your fancy  is sure to be  time well spent

A sample listing from Arguments for Socialism

• (Book intro) An Introduction to James P Cannon
• (Book intro) Marxism socialism and religion
• (Book intro) The DSP in the 1980s
• (Talk) Are livable cities just a dream?
• (Talk) Communism in Australia
• (Talk) Nationalisation: a key demand in the socialist program
• (Talk) Not a normal recession but a fundamental slump
• (Talk) Terrorism: A Marxist perspective
• (Talk) The Great Depression
• (Talk) The socialist press
• (Talk) The socialist revolution
• (Talk) The workers militia and the struggle for socialism
• (Talk) Their morals and ours
• Arguments for socialism: Capitalism and the ecological crisis
• Arguments for socialism: Charity or justice?
• Arguments for socialism: Crime and punishment I
• Arguments for socialism: In the spotlight
• Arguments for socialism: Is 'human nature' up to it?
• Arguments for socialism: Jobs at a price
• Arguments for socialism: Utopian fantasy or realistic option?
• Arguments for socialism: Would socialism work?
• Asylum seekers: No room at the inn
• At the tramstop....