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LETTERS
Send letrers to MIR, 3 - 13 Hepscott Road, London E9 5HB. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the ideas of the Editorial Board. We reserve the right to shorten excessively long letters.
'Articles that
make us think
Dear Editor,
Congratulations on producing an excellent Militant International Review- they're getting better and better!
In particular, I would like to thank the Editorial Board for re-printing, in issue number 33, "Labour in Power- Lessons of the Second and Third Labour Governments' originally written by Ted Grant in October 1947. 1 thought it was an excellent article and eagerly await future ones under the same title.
It also seems a good topic for discussion-perhaps with younger readers who may not have fully experienced previous Labour governments. It shows the perspectives Marxists hold for the future are correct as demonstrated by events, even if an exact timetable cannot be
given.
Two other articles I was particularly impressed by in that edition were 'Strike at Vorkuta: An Eyewitness Account" and Science and Socialism: The Lysenko Controversy"
I think different articles like those mentioned above cause us to have to think things through more thoroughly (particularly when it comes to science) and the events during the '20s and '30s in the labour camps under a repressive Stalinist regime (a brilliant find) demonstrate more clearly the treacherous role of Stalin and other counterrevolutionaries.
Keep up the good
Yours fraternally
Ruth McNally
Coventry
No to nuclear fusion?
Dear Comrades,
Please find enclosed a subscription form for the MIR. A few comments on the MIR's coverage of Chernobyl.
Firstly, if there had been a large concrete wall round the reactor, the explosion would have blown it away, such was the power of the explosion.
Secondly, why no detailed coverage (or perhaps coverage would be a better word!) of the radioactive fall-out? As far as I have heard, the UK caught a lot more of the radiation than did Germany. At the moment the radiation is going up in Bavaria as the caesium works its way through from last year. Milk is undrinkable unless mixed, and so on.
In Berlin, the cases of deformed babies are beginning to surface, and they have a simple cause: Chernobyl.
Finally, the pushing of nuclear fusion is hair-raising! Why?:
* It's a technology pushed by the big firms in the hope that they can save some of the spuits from nuclear power.
* There are no signs that it's going to work and:
* It's not necessary.
There was recently a report that stated with existing technology the world's energy could be provided by converting the sun's energy to hydrogen using solar cells. The space for such cells would require 1 per cent of the world's surface area.
It would also require democratic plan of production otherwise it will remain a dream. Nevertheless, the point I want to make is that there is nothing standing in the way of provision of our energy needs other than the private ownership of the means of production. (Reduction of energy consumption, more decentralised production of energy and so on are also necessary, but it would require an article to develop the points...')
Yours fraternally
Dave Hollis
Nürnberg
West Germany
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Improving the MIR
Dear Comrades,
Congratulations for an excellent production of issue 34 of the Militant International Review.
Since I first became a reader in 1983 the MIR has consistently improved and is now undoubtedly the best theoretical journal in the labour movement.
However, I feel that one or two changes in presentation could add a new dimension and certainly improve sales.
Many comrades look back nostalgically to the days when Alan Hardman's designs and political cartoons were on the front. Each new MIR reawakens the argument on which was the best cover. Issue 25 seems to get most votes but 19, 24, 29, 30 all come in for praise of cover design. Alan Hardman is the best political cartoonist/designer in the labour movement and his contributions to the covers of the MIR are sorely missed.
Secondly, though the increase from 32 to 44 pages was heralded, the promise of 1985 to return to a card cover has not materialised. A card cover does increase the "shelf-life" of an MIR considerably.
Thirdly, you have gone a long way towards developing an individual identity for the MIR. The introduction of regular features such as Comment, Economic Notes, Science Reports, Letters page, Book reviews etc, has certain- .: added to this, as it has to the ''continuity" between MIRs, and I feel that "continuity"
will be crucial in developing a regular and growing readership: But I would point out that the MIR must not be seen as a replacement for books and pamphlets but as a 'bridge' between the Militant newspaper and the books and pamphlets which Marxists would recommend. I would therefore suggest that issue 34 has struck a very good balance in terms of variety and size of articles. Alongside the regular features, issue 34 contained six articles varying between 3-6 pages with one longer article on Nicaragua-which is absolutely brilliant! I would suggest that future MIRs contain no more than two articles of this length but instead incorporate more 2-part articles.
For instance, the article on Nicaragua could have been produced as two six page articles, one on history up to the 1970s (pre-revolution), the second could have dealt with immediately prior to the revolution (with some overlap) up to the present
One other argument for this is that two part articles create a regular demand. Would you walk out of a film halfway through? (this question excludes dire films). If space is set aside for two regular 'series slots' then it still leaves room for flexibility depending on events.
Hopefully, these suggestions can add positively to the discussion on developing the MIR.
Yours fraternally
Greg Moran
Huddersfield
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