I include below the contents of my most important document, that I
wrote recently - a rewrite of an old Good Intentions Manifesto I
wrote
last year, as an alternative socialist analysis to Marxism. It
explains my analysis of the struggle between good and bad forces in
the world, conspiracies for control of the planet and the importance
of free will. You can download the manifesto as a six-page document
in
Rich Text Format (from http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk/good-intentions-manifesto.rtf)
or Micro$oft Word format (from http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk/good-intentions-manifesto.doc),
suitable for printing out/distributing.

The New Good Intentions Manifesto
Written by Steve Wallis (www.socialiststeve.me.uk), 26th May 2009


Purpose of the New Good Intentions Manifesto

This manifesto contains an overview of my analysis of society,
particularly highlighting the roles played by those who have
predominantly good intentions (and are caring towards others) and
those who have predominantly bad intentions (and are selfish). It
presents an alternative worldview to Marxism with the aim of
influencing political activists and politicians, and others yet to
become politically active or influencing society in a different way,
in our struggle for a better world. I regard genuine Marxists as
allies in the struggle for socialism (most of the time anyway) even
though their analysis is flawed as I will demonstrate. Let me start by
explaining what sort of world I am fighting for.

I have argued for some time for a form of socialism with a government
elected by proportional representation (PR), and set up the Foundation
for PR-based Socialism (www.PRsocialism.org). I would support some
degree of workers' control, plus representatives of local communities,
in addition to PR - this is sometimes called "participatory democracy"
- preferable to nationalised industries completely controlled by
government appointees, or indeed bosses dating back from when they
were private entities as with the newly nationalised banks in the UK.
To guard against politicians selling out (failing to honour manifesto
commitments or defecting to other parties), I would also advocate
annual elections and the ability for some proportion of the electorate
to force a new general election via a petition.

More important to me than the issue of whether we have socialism or
capitalism, or indeed anarchy or communism, is the ability to choose
between different forms of society via elections. Undemocratic forces
such as fascists should also be allowed to stand and put out their
propaganda, although I would strongly oppose them coming to power. I
would strongly advocate PR irrespective of the form of society.

Many Marxists, particularly Trotskyists, argue that world socialism is
vital for it to work, because capitalist countries that remain in the
world would otherwise invade socialist countries or perhaps drop
nuclear bombs on them. It is my contention that such nightmare
scenarios could be avoided if most people in power have (mainly) good
intentions.

Whereas I believe it is vital for some Western countries to become
socialist in order to ease world poverty, and I think the UK could
well be first in that regard, I would prefer a more varied interesting
world to a communist utopia as envisaged by Marxists in which there is
nothing left to struggle for. I am highly dubious about the
possibility of eliminating all prejudices and crime (as Marx and
Engels envisaged after years of socialism with the state "withering
away") due to tensions over religion, love and homosexuality, plus
environmental shortages. But I am prepared to be surprised, and if the
world gets too boring, some could set up a different form of society
elsewhere in the galaxy!


Problems with a class analysis

The role a particular person plays in political struggles within
society is affected by many different factors, including his or her
genes, upbringing, education and occupation, the other people he or
she has known and interacted with and the organisations (including
political parties, single issue campaigns, trade unions and
conspiratorial organisations like MI5 and the CIA) he or she is a
member of.

Marxists believe that the main determining factor about a person's
role in such struggles is his or her class and that the most important
struggles to win are those for the domination of one class over
others. They believe that the current ruling class is big business
(the bourgeoisie) and want to overthrow it so that the working class
(proletariat) is in control of society via hierarchies of committees
based on workplaces (sometimes called "the dictatorship of the
proletariat" although they rarely use this term nowadays for obvious
reasons). Marxists also argue for "a workers' militia" which
presumably would be used against those including middle class people
who don't want a society just controlled by the working class, or by a
party purporting to represent the working class (as with the
Bolsheviks in Russia). Some Marxists keep quiet about these parts of
their programme, but the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) mentions their
desire for such "councils of workers' delegates" and a militia in the
"What the SWP stands for" column in every issue of Socialist Worker.

Part of the problem of winning people to the ideas of socialism with a
class-based analysis is one of perception, with fewer people regarding
themselves as working class than in the past. This is a particularly
big problem in the USA, undoubtedly deliberately fostered by the big
business-controlled media, resulting in politicians concentrating
their rhetoric on what they will do for the middle class. Marxists are
not particularly consistent in their interpretation of the middle
class; they often call it "the petty bourgeoisie" which literally
means owners of small businesses, but the term was also used in the
Socialist Party (SP), when I was a member in the 1990s, for middle
management, poor peasants and large landowners (in Russia in 1917 for
example), and more privileged students. The above-mentioned Socialist
Worker column bizarrely claims "The working class create all the
wealth under capitalism", implying that even self-employed people and
owners of small businesses are working class! My own class is a bit of
an enigma, with both my parents having gone to Cambridge University
and obtained PhDs, and with me having lived in quite middle class
areas and attended good comprehensive schools (state schools for
children of all abilities), having made a fair amount of money from
royalties through writing computer games, but with my parents being
poor enough for me to get a full university grant. Working as a
university researcher was not the most working class job in the world,
but I regarded myself as identifying with the working class when I was
in the SP.

Marxist arguments can weaken the struggle for socialism by
perpetuating the selfish "I'm alright, Jack" attitude put forward by
right-wing politicians. They argue for workers uniting together, going
on strike, generating solidarity for each other, and striving for
power via a socialist society on the basis that such acts are in their
interests - that acting collectively benefits a working class person
more than acting individualistically. This is true in some cases but
in many it is not, and socialists should help the efforts of
idealistic people who really care about others. It is no wonder that
many former Marxists sell out, and act in their own selfish interests
rather than those of other working class people or society as a whole,
when they get into positions of power and/or acquire wealth.

A further problem with a class analysis is that fascists as well as
socialists consist of both working and middle class people, yet they
are bigger enemies than big business (in situations where they stand a
chance of coming to power at least).


The Good Intentions Hypothesis

I argue in this manifesto that whether somebody genuinely cares about
other people and wants to help make the world a better place is a more
important determining factor in what that person does than his or her
class - which I call "The Good Intentions Hypothesis". Such people
(with good intentions) tend to be better allies in the struggle for a
better world than those (with bad intentions) who are predominantly
selfish and want to make the world a worse place or deliberately
hamper attempts to improve it.

There are, of course, a lot of grey areas between good and bad
intentions. Some people only care about a subset of the world's
population, such as their friends and family or people of the same
race, nationality, religion, gender or sexuality - I would tend to
regard such people as having bad intentions; even if they are allies
for a while, the use of divide-and-rule by the powers that be would
tend to make them enemies or at best unreliable allies, and people of
various bigotries tend to align themselves with each other or pretend
to hate each other while really being allies. Even if they really do
hate each other, it suits their purposes to use other bad people as
"bogeymen" (supposed opponents) in their struggle against well-
intentioned people who are the real threat to their control of the
world.

We have the free will to choose to be caring or selfish, and our
brains can be wired to prioritise one or the other of these
possibilities. Our mind can also change from being predominantly
selfish to caring (having bad intentions to good ones) or vice versa,
either by a variable that may take one of two values in the mind
changing or by the mind reconfiguring itself. I think that such
changes take place for most people as a result of significant events
in their lives, although for some people they may take place
frequently. Minds can be configured in an infinite number of different
ways and many people have a mixture of good and bad intentions.
Although I think there are some entirely selfish people, who pretend
to care about others (particularly friends and family) as a means to
an end, I don't think that anybody is entirely well-intentioned,
because it is necessary to care about yourself to a certain extent in
order to play a good role. I tried to be as good as possible (but
couldn't always succeed, sometimes exasperating me) until early in
2008 when I adopted the philosophy that it is good to be a bit bad,
welcoming a varied interesting world and the dominance of free will.

Amongst people with both good and bad intentions, there are those who
think entirely individualistically (having no concept of a future
state of the world they are aiming for) and those who think entirely
collectively (having a single-minded approach to achieving a certain
kind of society). For the latter group of people, the effect on
individuals is merely part of the means to a desired end; they may
think they care about people but deep down in their minds they are
driven solely by a desire to influence society in a particular way
(and getting others to care about them may make that task easier).
There are also people who think partly collectively and partly
individually; such people may have some sort of preferred society but
no clear idea of how to achieve it, but I am one such person who does
have a clear idea but chooses to sometimes put individuals first
(which I think is generally a female trait with women better at multi-
tasking).

A point frequently made about people who have entered a life of crime
is that they have "got in with the wrong crowd". Associating with
people with bad intentions tends to make you bad as well. Conversely,
associating with people with good intentions can make somebody who was
previously bad into a good person. However, a big group of people with
good intentions, particularly if they act together in a political way,
could pose a significant threat to the powers that be, and bad
conspirators deliberately infiltrate such groups to try to reduce
their threat. Similarly, a strong union of two well-intentioned people
who are having a relationship can be effective and bad people
sometimes attach themselves to good people for such cynical reasons.
Women can be particularly vulnerable to this because many regard being
bad (or perhaps a bit bad) as an attractive quality in a man. If
conspirators use evil people (who cannot be converted no matter what),
this strategy is particularly likely to be effective at undermining
well-intentioned people. The best defence against this is to recognise
bad behaviour and body language which suggests that someone is not
genuine and ostracise such people.

An important caveat is that loyalty to a party or organisation the
person is a member of often overrides the wishes of that individual,
particularly if he or she sees it as the main instrument to changing
the world. Those who are disloyal tend to be members of a faction or
infiltrators from a secret conspiratorial organisation rather than
acting alone. Some organisations, including mainstream political
parties, have a leader with considerable power to influence policy and
appoint members to important positions. Such leaders often affect its
policies and strategy, partly according to their intentions. In more
democratic organisations, other members, particularly on its central
committee, often do likewise.


Scientific basis of free will and good or bad intentions

Marxist and other atheist theories don't explain free will, and I
believe this is the main reason why physicists have still not devised
a "theory of everything" unifying quantum mechanics (describing the
very small) with general relativity (describing the very large). My
short document "Towards a Theory of Everything" (which you can read at
www.socialiststeve.me.uk/theory-of-everything.htm) suggests how this
dilemma can be resolved by incorporating free will of humans and
animals (somewhere between the very small and very large). The
document also suggests how the bizarre property of quantum mechanics
that measuring something can affect it makes more sense if everybody's
free will comprise a super-organism like in James Lovelock's Gaia
theory, or perhaps different super-organisms for good and bad
individuals competing with each other for control of the world.

The field of quantum mechanics was actually devised after the time of
Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels, the latter of whom
was responsible for the theory of "dialectical materialism" (where
"materialism" means everything is a result of material conditions), so
Marxists' confidence that their theories are sound is misplaced.
Indeed, Rosa Lichtenstein, who has perhaps studied it most, has used
the term "alien-class" on her anti-dialectics website (with a hyphen
to be less ambiguous than other Marxists who have used the same term
including Engels himself) strongly implying that there is a class of
aliens who do not adhere to materialism!

Marxists argue that class society, and the consequent struggle between
classes, originated when there was a surplus due to the cultivation of
crops and domestication of animals to struggle over. They suggest that
life was harmonious before this surplus arose, and therefore use the
term "primitive communism" to describe the earliest human societies
(for which the term "hunter-gatherer" is often used). Those who have
visited or studied primitive tribes that still exist today recognise
that some are peaceful and some are violent towards members of other
tribes. Animals exhibit such properties too. It is my contention,
therefore, that the struggle between those with good and bad
intentions originated before the class struggle. [I will leave it to
readers of this manifesto to come to their own conclusions whether
such a struggle was devised by God, and perhaps the Devil (if there is
one) who may always have existed or was created by God to make life
interesting, or by evolutionary processes responsible for life.]


Recognising good and bad intentions

I find someone's demeanour a useful guide as to whether he or she has
good or bad intentions. Somebody who comes across as pleasant is more
likely to actually be good than somebody who comes across as
unpleasant and unfriendly. This is self-reinforcing - if you come
across as a pleasant person, you will be more likely to attract
friends who are also pleasant and form genuine relationships in which
both people really care about each other, which encourages you to be
good. On the other hand, it is harder to genuinely care about people
who come across as unpleasant and bad people tend to form false
relationships where they have an ulterior selfish motive.

People sometimes comment that there are two types of men: "rough-and-
ready" and "sensitive". Rough-and-ready men tend to look tough and
actually be bad whereas sensitive men tend to look considerate and be
good. Your choice of hairstyle can massively influence which of these
two types you come across as - men with shaven heads or short cropped
hair tend to look tougher than those with longer hair (unless they
appear to be gay). A man with particularly long hair may look like a
hippie and appear to be good. The impression you give off is
influenced by the society in which you live - shaven heads are
particularly common among black men, and in some countries (including
Russia and the UK still to some extent), having one is associated with
fascism. Certain kinds of moustaches may make you appear like a
dictator (Stalin, Hitler or Saddam Hussein) and I found when I had a
big beard that I gave off a different impression to different people
(I was compared with Jesus, Karl Marx and Osama bin Laden!)

Some women can come across as tough too, particularly those with short
hair, but in Western society nowadays, women most frequently affect
their appearance by dying their hair, putting on make-up or wearing
particular kinds of clothes. All these factors can give off a certain
impression that may make them appear genuine or false, depending on
the person who sees them and the context. Wearing fancy clothes and
make-up may be appropriate on a night out, but may have a negative
effect at a political meeting. There is quite a big correlation
between women who dye their hair and them thinking individualistically
(and sometimes but not always having bad intentions) - being more
concerned about others finding them attractive than whether they come
across as false. If they are false as far as their hair colour is
concerned, people may suspect that they are false in other ways too.
Some women have very bad dyed hair that looks terrible; this may be a
temporary situation while letting the hair return to its natural
colour, but not taking care of your appearance in this or other ways
may indicate bad intentions.

Showing your real emotions (rather than making a conscious effort to
act in a particular way which people may see through and may be
difficult to keep up) is a good way of appearing genuine. In many
situations, smiling can give off a good impression, and somebody who
never smiles (or appears to be faking a smile when he or she attempts
it) is very likely to be bad. However, in some contexts such as at
funerals, or when being forced to testify at court against somebody
who is supposed to be an ally, smiling can be a very bad idea. Also,
smiling at someone tends to give off the impression that you get on
with him or her, to that person and others, so it may be better to
refrain from smiling if you think he or she is bad.


Strategic implications

In earlier versions of the Good Intentions Manifesto, I tried to build
a Good Intentions Network with a list of eight principles to guide
other well-intentioned people in helping me change the world. You can
find those principles at www.goodintentionsnetwork.org/principles.html,
and follow a link from that page to read an old version of the
manifesto in which they are justified. I now think it is better for
different strategies to be adopted by different people (and perhaps by
the same people at different times as I have done); this makes us less
predictable and therefore harder to outwit by bad individuals and
organisations. Someone once commented to me that the Network could
start off with good intentions but we would end up like all the
others, which I now recognise to be the key reason why setting up a
network to link well-intentioned people together would be a very bad
idea. Additionally, setting up a network on the internet where we
can't see what our collaborators look and sound like makes it very
difficult to detect whether they really have good intentions. I
compromised by setting up a board on a different forum, but nobody
expressed any interest in building a network on it and it has now been
overrun by spam.

There are many different strategies good people can use to try to make
the world a better place, one of which is loving our enemies, as
encouraged by Jesus and followed by many religious people today. At
times, I have adopted that approach, recognising that the views of an
individual are a result of his or her experiences, as well as their
free will decisions. At other times, I have been more choosy about who
I am friendly towards, which tends to polarise the situation more - it
may be worth alienating some people to help others recognise who is on
their side. I generally find now that it is better to give people the
benefit of the doubt until they do something to warrant exposing them.
Most people can be won over to become good given a bit of
encouragement, even if they are initially bad, and few people have
good enough models of the world to know what to do to act effectively
against me even if they want to.

On numerous occasions, I have tried to analyse politicians as to
whether they are predominantly good or bad. This has sometimes been a
useful strategy for analysing the world and deciding who to support
but ultimately all politicians reflect compromises within their party,
arising from their membership (and particularly their leadership). A
party entirely composed of (or led by) well-intentioned people could
ultimately be very powerful so hostile conspiratorial organisations
would be particularly keen to infiltrate it, or interact with some of
its key members in order to try to win them over (to their side of the
struggle whether or not they become members of an infiltrating
organisation). Similarly, parties entirely composed of poorly-
intentioned people could also be strong and a bit of deliberate
sabotage or spying could be very useful, but infiltrating some parties
(particularly fascist ones) could obviously be very dangerous.

I have supported one politician who is particularly important: Barack
Obama. Supporting his election to the US presidency was undoubtedly
worthwhile - ordinary people around the world are much happier about
political developments than would have been in the case if he had lost
(which could have led to a big upsurge in racism and terrorism). The
arguments some atheists use that God wouldn't let so many bad things
happen can be countered by arguing that Obama's victory shows things
are working out for mankind after all, perhaps as part of God's plan.
Sometimes Obama has let himself be influenced by ordinary people,
helping him be a better person than would otherwise be the case -
notably passing orders to close secret CIA prisons around the world
(in which torture allegedly takes place) as well as Guantánamo Bay,
straight after his inauguration which drew a massive crowd. He spoke
to a huge crowd in Berlin before the election and to large numbers of
people in France and Germany at the NATO anniversary too. However, he
has appointed advisors wholly from the banking sector of US capitalism
("finance capital" as Marxists would say although the SP argued that
finance capital already was in control of the world when previous
presidents had a more varied set of advisors) who are largely members
of three conspiratorial groups according to "The Obama Deception" -
the Bilderberg Group linking capitalist leaders around the world,
Trilateral Commission and Council on Foreign Relations. I'm not
particularly convinced about that video's claim they are plotting to
create a world government, but I encourage readers to view it on
YouTube and decide for yourselves. Irrespective of whether Obama is
playing a positive or negative role overall, and socialists in the USA
are more able to judge this than myself, he is committed to the
continuation of capitalism one way or another!

Some final advice: Think for yourselves and come to your own
conclusions about what to do to help make the world a better place. I
am very confident things will work out one way or another, but we can
all shape the interesting future for the human race with our free
will. I do still hold some conspiratorial views about organisations
like the CIA using supercomputers with artificial intelligence (AI)
software modelling human behaviour in order to effectively turn people
into robots. After all, I developed and was the main designer of an AI/
simulation language called SDML in which such modelling could have
been possible (but some scaling up problems and a complex bug in a
backtracking routine could have prevented this language from being too
powerful). I also think some organisations with better intentions than
the CIA have access to such software and computer models, but I
wouldn't trust any organisation using unethical methods like mind
control to hand over control of society to the masses if they do win
the struggle for the world. Some conspirators are worth cooperating
with from time to time, and I'm currently urging anti-capitalists to
unite in networks or parties, but let our own free will decisions
determine the future of the world!


--
Steve Wallis (Manchester, England)
Preferred email address: revolutionarysocialiststeve@yahoo.co.uk
Super-blog: http://www.twitter.com/socialiststeve
Other blogs: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/steve-wallis-socialist-blog,
http://blog.myspace.com/galaxiasteve
My socialist website: http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk
My pages at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1038291480,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/galaxiasteve and Bebo:
http://www.bebo.com/SteveW519
Founder, Ethical Capitalism Network: http://www.ethicalcapitalism.net
Founder, Foundation for Proportional Representation-based Socialism:
http://www.PRsocialism.org
Founder, Revolutionary Platform Network: http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net
My revolutionary socialist band, Galaxia:
http://www.galaxiamusic.net,http://www.myspace.com/galaxiamusic,
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Galaxia-a-revolutionary-socialist-band/84310120180,
http://www.bebo.com/galaxiamusic.
My socialist band, Red Day: http://www.red-day.net,
http://www.myspace.com/reddayband,http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Day/27468311341
Author, "Revolution Destroyed? Have I ensured that a world socialist
revolution will never happen?": http://www.revolutiondestroyed.net
For discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories, go to
http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?board=89

On 1 June, 22:00, Steve Wallis
 wrote:
> I include below the contents of my most important document, that I
> wrote recently - a rewrite of an old Good Intentions Manifesto I
> wrote
> last year, as an alternative socialist analysis to Marxism. It
> explains my analysis of the struggle between good and bad forces in
> the world, conspiracies for control of the planet and the importance
> of free will. You can download the manifesto as a six-page document
> in
> Rich Text Format (fromhttp://www.socialiststeve.me.uk/good-intentions-manifesto.rtf)
> or Micro$oft Word format (fromhttp://www.socialiststeve.me.uk/good-intentions-manifesto.doc),
> suitable for printing out/distributing.
>
> The New Good Intentions Manifesto
> Written by Steve Wallis (www.socialiststeve.me.uk), 26th May 2009
>
> Purpose of the New Good Intentions Manifesto
>
> This manifesto contains an overview of my analysis of society,
> particularly highlighting the roles played by those who have
> predominantly good intentions (and are caring towards others) and
> those who have predominantly bad intentions (and are selfish). It
> presents an alternative worldview to Marxism with the aim of
> influencing political activists and politicians, and others yet to
> become politically active or influencing society in a different way,
> in our struggle for a better world. I regard genuine Marxists as
> allies in the struggle for socialism (most of the time anyway) even
> though their analysis is flawed as I will demonstrate. Let me start by
> explaining what sort of world I am fighting for.
>
> I have argued for some time for a form of socialism with a government
> elected by proportional representation (PR), and set up the Foundation
> for PR-based Socialism (www.PRsocialism.org). I would support some
> degree of workers' control, plus representatives of local communities,
> in addition to PR - this is sometimes called "participatory democracy"
> - preferable to nationalised industries completely controlled by
> government appointees, or indeed bosses dating back from when they
> were private entities as with the newly nationalised banks in the UK.
> To guard against politicians selling out (failing to honour manifesto
> commitments or defecting to other parties), I would also advocate
> annual elections and the ability for some proportion of the electorate
> to force a new general election via a petition.
>
> More important to me than the issue of whether we have socialism or
> capitalism, or indeed anarchy or communism, is the ability to choose
> between different forms of society via elections. Undemocratic forces
> such as fascists should also be allowed to stand and put out their
> propaganda, although I would strongly oppose them coming to power. I
> would strongly advocate PR irrespective of the form of society.
>
> Many Marxists, particularly Trotskyists, argue that world socialism is
> vital for it to work, because capitalist countries that remain in the
> world would otherwise invade socialist countries or perhaps drop
> nuclear bombs on them. It is my contention that such nightmare
> scenarios could be avoided if most people in power have (mainly) good
> intentions.
>
> Whereas I believe it is vital for some Western countries to become
> socialist in order to ease world poverty, and I think the UK could
> well be first in that regard, I would prefer a more varied interesting
> world to a communist utopia as envisaged by Marxists in which there is
> nothing left to struggle for. I am highly dubious about the
> possibility of eliminating all prejudices and crime (as Marx and
> Engels envisaged after years of socialism with the state "withering
> away") due to tensions over religion, love and homosexuality, plus
> environmental shortages. But I am prepared to be surprised, and if the
> world gets too boring, some could set up a different form of society
> elsewhere in the galaxy!
>
> Problems with a class analysis
>
> The role a particular person plays in political struggles within
> society is affected by many different factors, including his or her
> genes, upbringing, education and occupation, the other people he or
> she has known and interacted with and the organisations (including
> political parties, single issue campaigns, trade unions and
> conspiratorial organisations like MI5 and the CIA) he or she is a
> member of.
>
> Marxists believe that the main determining factor about a person's
> role in such struggles is his or her class and that the most important
> struggles to win are those for the domination of one class over
> others. They believe that the current ruling class is big business
> (the bourgeoisie) and want to overthrow it so that the working class
> (proletariat) is in control of society via hierarchies of committees
> based on workplaces (sometimes called "the dictatorship of the
> proletariat" although they rarely use this term nowadays for obvious
> reasons). Marxists also argue for "a workers' militia" which
> presumably would be used against those including middle class people
> who don't want a society just controlled by the working class, or by a
> party purporting to represent the working class (as with the
> Bolsheviks in Russia). Some Marxists keep quiet about these parts of
> their programme, but the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) mentions their
> desire for such "councils of workers' delegates" and a militia in the
> "What the SWP stands for" column in every issue of Socialist Worker.
>
> Part of the problem of winning people to the ideas of socialism with a
> class-based analysis is one of perception, with fewer people regarding
> themselves as working class than in the past. This is a particularly
> big problem in the USA, undoubtedly deliberately fostered by the big
> business-controlled media, resulting in politicians concentrating
> their rhetoric on what they will do for the middle class. Marxists are
> not particularly consistent in their interpretation of the middle
> class; they often call it "the petty bourgeoisie" which literally
> means owners of small businesses, but the term was also used in the
> Socialist Party (SP), when I was a member in the 1990s, for middle
> management, poor peasants and large landowners (in Russia in 1917 for
> example), and more privileged students. The above-mentioned Socialist
> Worker column bizarrely claims "The working class create all the
> wealth under capitalism", implying that even self-employed people and
> owners of small businesses are working class! My own class is a bit of
> an enigma, with both my parents having gone to Cambridge University
> and obtained PhDs, and with me having lived in quite middle class
> areas and attended good comprehensive schools (state schools for
> children of all abilities), having made a fair amount of money from
> royalties through writing computer games, but with my parents being
> poor enough for me to get a full university grant. Working as a
> university researcher was not the most working class job in the world,
> but I regarded myself as identifying with the working class when I was
> in the SP.
>
> Marxist arguments can weaken the struggle for socialism by
> perpetuating the selfish "I'm alright, Jack" attitude put forward by
> right-wing politicians. They argue for workers uniting together, going
> on strike, generating solidarity for each other, and striving for
> power via a socialist society on the basis that such acts are in their
> interests - that acting collectively benefits a working class person
> more than acting individualistically. This is true in some cases but
> in many it is not, and socialists should help the efforts of
> idealistic people who really care about others. It is no wonder that
> many former Marxists sell out, and act in their own selfish interests
> rather than those of other working class people or society as a whole,
> when they get into positions of power and/or acquire wealth.
>
> A further problem with a class analysis is that fascists as well as
> socialists consist of both working and middle class people, yet they
> are bigger enemies than big business (in situations where they stand a
> chance of coming to power at least).
>
> The Good Intentions Hypothesis
>
> I argue in this manifesto that whether somebody genuinely cares about
> other people and wants to help make the world a better place is a more
> important determining factor in what that person does than his or her
> class - which I call "The Good Intentions Hypothesis". Such people
> (with good intentions) tend to be better allies in the struggle for a
> better world than those (with bad intentions) who are predominantly
> selfish and want to make the world a worse place or deliberately
> hamper attempts to improve it.
>
> There are, of course, a lot of grey areas between good and bad
> intentions. Some people only care about a subset of the world's
> population, such as their friends and family or people of the same
> race, nationality, religion, gender or sexuality - I would tend to
> regard such people as having bad intentions; even if they are allies
> for a while, the use of divide-and-rule by the powers that be would
> tend to make them enemies or at best unreliable allies, and people of
> various bigotries tend to align themselves with each other or pretend
> to hate each other while really being allies. Even if they really do
> hate each other, it suits their purposes to use other bad people as
> "bogeymen" (supposed opponents) in their struggle against well-
> intentioned people who are the real threat to their control of the
> world.
>
> We have the free will to choose to be caring or selfish, and our
> brains can be wired to prioritise one or the other of these
> possibilities. Our mind can also change from being predominantly
> selfish to caring (having bad intentions to good ones) or vice versa,
> either by a variable that may take one of two values in the mind
> changing or by the mind reconfiguring itself. I think that such
> changes take place for most people as a result of significant events
> in their lives, although for some people they may take place
> frequently. Minds can be configured in an infinite number of different
> ways and many people have a mixture of good and bad intentions.
> Although I think there are some entirely selfish people, who pretend
> to care about others (particularly friends and family) as a means to
> an end, I don't think that anybody is entirely well-intentioned,
> because it is necessary to care about yourself to a certain extent in
> order to play a good role. I tried to be as good as possible (but
> couldn't always succeed, sometimes exasperating me) until early in
> 2008 when I adopted the philosophy that it is good to be a bit bad,
> welcoming a varied interesting world and the dominance of free will.
>
> Amongst people with both good and bad intentions, there are those who
> think entirely individualistically (having no concept of a future
> state of the world they are aiming for) and those who think entirely
> collectively (having a single-minded approach to achieving a certain
> kind of society). For the latter group of people, the effect on
> individuals is merely part of the means to a desired end; they may
> think they care about people but deep down in their minds they are
> driven solely by a desire to influence society in a particular way
> (and getting others to care about them may make that task easier).
> There are also people who think partly collectively and partly
> individually; such people may have some sort of preferred society but
> no clear idea of how to achieve it, but I am one such person who does
> have a clear idea but chooses to sometimes put individuals first
> (which I think is generally a female trait with women better at multi-
> tasking).
>
> A point frequently made about people who have entered a life of crime
> is that they have "got in with the wrong crowd". Associating with
> people with bad intentions tends to make you bad as well. Conversely,
> associating with people with good intentions can make somebody who was
> previously bad into a good person. However, a big group of people with
> good intentions, particularly if they act together in a political way,
> could pose a significant threat to the powers that be, and bad
> conspirators deliberately infiltrate such groups to try to reduce
> their threat. Similarly, a strong union of two well-intentioned people
> who are having a relationship can be effective and bad people
> sometimes attach themselves to good people for such cynical reasons.
> Women can be particularly vulnerable to this because many regard being
> bad (or perhaps a bit bad) as an attractive quality in a man. If
> conspirators use evil people (who cannot be converted no matter what),
> this strategy is particularly likely to be effective at undermining
> well-intentioned people. The best defence against this is to recognise
> bad behaviour and body language which suggests that someone is not
> genuine and ostracise such people.
>
> An important caveat is that loyalty to a party or organisation the
> person is a member of often overrides the wishes of that individual,
> particularly if he or she sees it as the main instrument to changing
> the world. Those who are disloyal tend to be members of a faction or
> infiltrators from a secret conspiratorial organisation rather than
> acting alone. Some organisations, including mainstream political
> parties, have a leader with considerable power to influence policy and
> appoint members to important positions. Such leaders often affect its
> policies and strategy, partly according to their intentions. In more
> democratic organisations, other members, particularly on its central
> committee, often do likewise.
>
> Scientific basis of free will and good or bad intentions
>
> Marxist and other atheist theories don't explain free will, and I
> believe this is the main reason why physicists have still not devised
> a "theory of everything" unifying quantum mechanics (describing the
> very small) with general relativity (describing the very large). My
> short document "Towards a Theory of Everything" (which you can read atwww.socialiststeve.me.uk/theory-of-everything.htm) suggests how this
> dilemma can be resolved by incorporating free will of humans and
> animals (somewhere between the very small and very large). The
> document also suggests how the bizarre property of quantum mechanics
> that measuring something can affect it makes more sense if everybody's
> free will comprise a super-organism like in James Lovelock's Gaia
> theory, or perhaps different super-organisms for good and bad
> individuals competing with each other for control of the world.
>
> The field of quantum mechanics was actually devised after the time of
> Karl Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels, the latter of whom
> was responsible for the theory of "dialectical materialism" (where
> "materialism" means everything is a result of material conditions), so
> Marxists' confidence that their theories are sound is misplaced.
> Indeed, Rosa Lichtenstein, who has perhaps studied it most, has used
> the term "alien-class" on her anti-dialectics website (with a hyphen
> to be less ambiguous than other Marxists who have used the same term
> including Engels himself) strongly implying that there is a class of
> aliens who do not adhere to materialism!
>
> Marxists argue that class society, and the consequent struggle between
> classes, originated when there was a surplus due to the cultivation of
> crops and domestication of animals to struggle over. They suggest that
> life was harmonious before this surplus arose, and therefore use the
> term "primitive communism" to describe the earliest human societies
> (for which the term "hunter-gatherer" is often used). Those who have
> visited or studied primitive tribes that still exist today recognise
> that some are peaceful and some are violent towards members of other
> tribes. Animals exhibit such properties too. It is my contention,
> therefore, that the struggle between those with good and bad
> intentions originated before the class struggle. [I will leave it to
> readers of this manifesto to come to their own conclusions whether
> such a struggle was devised by God, and perhaps the Devil (if there is
> one) who may always have existed or was created by God to make life
> interesting, or by evolutionary processes responsible for life.]
>
> Recognising good and bad intentions
>
> I find someone's demeanour a useful guide as to whether he or she has
> good or bad intentions. Somebody who comes across as pleasant is more
> likely to actually be good than somebody who comes across as
> unpleasant and unfriendly. This is self-reinforcing - if you come
> across as a pleasant person, you will be more likely to attract
> friends who are also pleasant and form genuine relationships in which
> both people really care about each other, which encourages you to be
> good. On the other hand, it is harder to genuinely care about people
> who come across as unpleasant and bad people tend to form false
> relationships where they have an ulterior selfish motive.
>
> People sometimes comment that there are two types of men: "rough-and-
> ready" and "sensitive". Rough-and-ready men tend to look tough and
> actually be bad whereas sensitive men tend to look considerate and be
> good. Your choice of hairstyle can massively influence which of these
> two types you come across as - men with shaven heads or short cropped
> hair tend to look tougher than those with longer hair (unless they
> appear to be gay). A man with particularly long hair may look like a
> hippie and appear to be good. The impression you give off is
> influenced by the society in which you live - shaven heads are
> particularly common among black men, and in some countries (including
> Russia and the UK still to some extent), having one is associated with
> fascism. Certain kinds of moustaches may make you appear like a
> dictator (Stalin, Hitler or Saddam Hussein) and I found when I had a
> big beard that I gave off a different impression to different people
> (I was compared with Jesus, Karl Marx and Osama bin Laden!)
>
> Some women can come across as tough too, particularly those with short
> hair, but in Western society nowadays, women most frequently affect
> their appearance by dying their hair, putting on make-up or wearing
> particular kinds of clothes. All these factors can give off a certain
> impression that may make them appear genuine or false, depending on
> the person who sees them and the context. Wearing fancy clothes and
> make-up may be appropriate on a night out, but may have a negative
> effect at a political meeting. There is quite a big correlation
> between women who dye their hair and them thinking individualistically
> (and sometimes but not always having bad intentions) - being more
> concerned about others finding them attractive than whether they come
> across as false. If they are false as far as their hair colour is
> concerned, people may suspect that they are false in other ways too.
> Some women have very bad dyed hair that looks terrible; this may be a
> temporary situation while letting the hair return to its natural
> colour, but not taking care of your appearance in this or other ways
> may indicate bad intentions.
>
> Showing your real emotions (rather than making a conscious effort to
> act in a particular way which people may see through and may be
> difficult to keep up) is a good way of appearing genuine. In many
> situations, smiling can give off a good impression, and somebody who
> never smiles (or appears to be faking a smile when he or she attempts
> it) is very likely to be bad. However, in some contexts such as at
> funerals, or when being forced to testify at court against somebody
> who is supposed to be an ally, smiling can be a very bad idea. Also,
> smiling at someone tends to give off the impression that you get on
> with him or her, to that person and others, so it may be better to
> refrain from smiling if you think he or she is bad.
>
> Strategic implications
>
> In earlier versions of the Good Intentions Manifesto, I tried to build
> a Good Intentions Network with a list of eight principles to guide
> other well-intentioned people in helping me change the world. You can
> find those principles atwww.goodintentionsnetwork.org/principles.html,
> and follow a link from that page to read an old version of the
> manifesto in which they are justified. I now think it is better for
> different strategies to be adopted by different people (and perhaps by
> the same people at different times as I have done); this makes us less
> predictable and therefore harder to outwit by bad individuals and
> organisations. Someone once commented to me that the Network could
> start off with good intentions but we would end up like all the
> others, which I now recognise to be the key reason why setting up a
> network to link well-intentioned people together would be a very bad
> idea. Additionally, setting up a network on the internet where we
> can't see what our collaborators look and sound like makes it very
> difficult to detect whether they really have good intentions. I
> compromised by setting up a board on a different forum, but nobody
> expressed any interest in building a network on it and it has now been
> overrun by spam.
>
> There are many different strategies good people can use to try to make
> the world a better place, one of which is loving our enemies, as
> encouraged by Jesus and followed by many religious people today. At
> times, I have adopted that approach, recognising that the views of an
> individual are a result of his or her experiences, as well as their
> free will decisions. At other times, I have been more choosy about who
> I am friendly towards, which tends to polarise the situation more - it
> may be worth alienating some people to help others recognise who is on
> their side. I generally find now that it is better to give people the
> benefit of the doubt until they do something to warrant exposing them.
> Most people can be won over to become good given a bit of
> encouragement, even if they are initially bad, and few people have
> good enough models of the world to know what to do to act effectively
> against me even if they want to.
>
> On numerous occasions, I have tried to analyse politicians as to
> whether they are predominantly good or bad. This has sometimes been a
> useful strategy for analysing the world and deciding who to support
> but ultimately all politicians reflect compromises within their party,
> arising from their membership (and particularly their leadership). A
> party entirely composed of (or led by) well-intentioned people could
> ultimately be very powerful so hostile conspiratorial organisations
> would be particularly keen to infiltrate it, or interact with some of
> its key members in order to try to win them over (to their side of the
> struggle whether or not they become members of an infiltrating
> organisation). Similarly, parties entirely composed of poorly-
> intentioned people could also be strong and a bit of deliberate
> sabotage or spying could be very useful, but infiltrating some parties
> (particularly fascist ones) could obviously be very dangerous.
>
> I have supported one politician who is particularly important: Barack
> Obama. Supporting his election to the US presidency was undoubtedly
> worthwhile - ordinary people around the world are much happier about
> political developments than would have been in the case if he had lost
> (which could have led to a big upsurge in racism and terrorism). The
> arguments some atheists use that God wouldn't let so many bad things
> happen can be countered by arguing that Obama's victory shows things
> are working out for mankind after all, perhaps as part of God's plan.
> Sometimes Obama has let himself be influenced by ordinary people,
> helping him be a better person than would otherwise be the case -
> notably passing orders to close secret CIA prisons around the world
> (in which torture allegedly takes place) as well as Guantánamo Bay,
> straight after his inauguration which drew a massive crowd. He spoke
> to a huge crowd in Berlin before the election and to large numbers of
> people in France and Germany at the NATO anniversary too. However, he
> has appointed advisors wholly from the banking sector of US capitalism
> ("finance capital" as Marxists would say although the SP argued that
> finance capital already was in control of the world when previous
> presidents had a more varied set of advisors) who are largely members
> of three conspiratorial groups according to "The Obama Deception" -
> the Bilderberg Group linking capitalist leaders around the world,
> Trilateral Commission and Council on Foreign Relations. I'm not
> particularly convinced about that video's claim they are plotting to
> create a world government, but I encourage readers to view it on
> YouTube and decide for yourselves. Irrespective of whether Obama is
> playing a positive or negative role overall, and socialists in the USA
> are more able to judge this than myself, he is committed to the
> continuation of capitalism one way or another!
>
> Some final advice: Think for yourselves and come to your own
> conclusions about what to do to help make the world a better place. I
> am very confident things will work out one way or another, but we can
> all shape the interesting future for the human race with our free
> will. I do still hold some conspiratorial views about organisations
> like the CIA using supercomputers with artificial intelligence (AI)
> software modelling human behaviour in order to effectively turn people
> into robots. After all, I developed and was the main designer of an AI/
> simulation language called SDML in which such modelling could have
> been possible (but some scaling up problems and a complex bug in a
> backtracking routine could have prevented this language from being too
> powerful). I also think some organisations with better intentions than
> the CIA have access to such software and computer models, but I
> wouldn't trust any organisation using unethical methods like mind
> control to hand over control of society to the masses if they do win
> the struggle for the world. Some conspirators are worth cooperating
> with from time to time, and I'm currently urging anti-capitalists to
> unite in networks or parties, but let our own free will decisions
> determine the future of the world!
>
> --
> Steve Wallis (Manchester, England)
> Preferred email address: revolutionarysocialistst...@yahoo.co.uk
> Super-blog:http://www.twitter.com/socialiststeve
> Other blogs:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/steve-wallis-socialist-blog,http://blog.myspace.com/galaxiasteve
> My socialist website:http://www.socialiststeve.me.uk
> My pages at Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1038291480,
> MySpace:http://www.myspace.com/galaxiasteveand Bebo:http://www.bebo.com/SteveW519
> Founder, Ethical Capitalism Network:http://www.ethicalcapitalism.net
> Founder, Foundation for Proportional Representation-based Socialism:http://www.PRsocialism.org
> Founder, Revolutionary Platform Network:http://www.revolutionaryplatform.net
> My revolutionary socialist band, Galaxia:http://www.galaxiamusic.net,http://www.myspace.com/galaxiamusic,http://www.facebook.com/pages/Galaxia-a-revolutionary-socialist-band/...,http://www.bebo.com/galaxiamusic.
> My socialist band, Red Day:http://www.red-day.net,http://www.myspace.com/reddayband,http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-D...
> Author, "Revolution Destroyed? Have I ensured that a world socialist
> revolution will never happen?":http://www.revolutiondestroyed.net
> For discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories, go tohttp://www.revolutionaryplatform.net/forum/index.php?board=89


some interesting ideas. please add me to your mailing list, le-mail
link  at www.positiveparty.blogspot.com