Upcoming Events

Cork | History and Heritage

no events match your query!

New Events

Cork

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link ?Great Replacement? Philosopher to Fight UK Ban With Help of the Free Speech Union Sat Apr 19, 2025 11:00 | Toby Young
The Free Speech Union is helping Renaud Camus, the French philosopher banned from Britain for his controversial ideas, to appeal the Home Office's travel ban.
The post ?Great Replacement? Philosopher to Fight UK Ban With Help of the Free Speech Union appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Why Have No Fellows of the Royal Society Resigned Over Anthony Fauci? Sat Apr 19, 2025 09:00 | James Alexander
Two members of the Royal Society resigned and thousands of Fellows protested over Elon Musk's membership. But not a whisper was heard when Covid-cover-up king Anthony Fauci was made a Fellow, says James Alexander.
The post Why Have No Fellows of the Royal Society Resigned Over Anthony Fauci? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link BP?s Lord Browne is Still Aiming to Go ?Beyond Petroleum? Sat Apr 19, 2025 07:00 | Tilak Doshi
Since BP's misguided green shift to go 'beyond petroleum' its share price has flatlined while those of its oil-loving competitors have rocketed. Yet its former CEO Lord Browne still won't change his tune, says Tilak Doshi.
The post BP’s Lord Browne is Still Aiming to Go ‘Beyond Petroleum’ appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Sat Apr 19, 2025 02:30 | Toby Young
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Mumsnet Founder Reveals she was Blacklisted by Barclays and Ocado and Branded a ?Bigot? for Standing... Fri Apr 18, 2025 17:00 | Will Jones
The founder of?Mumsnet?has revealed she was blacklisted by Barclays and Ocado and branded a "bigot" for standing up for women's rights to access single-sex spaces, as she welcomes the Supreme Court's trans ruling.
The post Mumsnet Founder Reveals she was Blacklisted by Barclays and Ocado and Branded a “Bigot” for Standing up for Women’s Rights to Access Single-Sex Spaces appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Audio: Early Irish communist - William Thompson

category cork | history and heritage | opinion/analysis author Thursday March 29, 2007 19:25author by Joe Report this post to the editors

From 2007 Dublin Anarchist Bookfair

William Thompson was one of the of the first people to critically engage with political economy and attempt to turn it around to defend the improvement of the condition of the working class and rural poor. He was from a Anglo- Irish landowning family from West Cork and was to become a leading figure in the early Co-operative movement. In this talk from the anarchist bookfair Paul Bowman talks about the importance of Thompson and the relevance of his ideas today

Download is 9.1 mb MP3 file, just over 41 minutes in length.

Its also the last audio I recorded at the bookfair so I'm interested in feedback from anyone who has listened to them as to whether it was worth recording them.



Paul Bowman on William Thompson
audio Paul Bowman on William Thompson 9.52 Mb

author by Andrewpublication date Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:16author address author phone Report this post to the editors

There is quite a comprehensive wikipedia entry on Thompson at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thompson_%28Cork%29

On the WSM site there is a page on him at http://www.wsm.ie/thompson which includes links to three of his key writings

Inquiry: Preliminary Observations
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2142
The "Preliminary Observations" is the introduction to his first, and possibly most important book, the lengthily entitled "An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth most conducive to human happiness; applied to The Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth" of 1824. It is this work of which the anarchist historian Max Nettlau remarks: "[this] book, however, discloses his own evolution; having started with a demand for the full product of labour as well as the regulation of distribution, he ended up with his own conversion to communism, that is, unlimited distribution".

Inquiry: Chapter 5
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2047
This is the crucial fifth chapter of the Inquiry. This is the turning point of the book where Thompson accepts that his original project of creating a liberatory economics on the basis of classical liberalism, albeit taken far further than any previous exponent had dared, had been overtaken by an acceptance of the limits of even the most perfected system of "free" exchange.

Practical Directions: Explanation of Leading Terms
http://www.wsm.ie/story/2143
From the opening of Thompson's last book before his untimely death, "Practical Directions for the Speedy and Economical Establishment of Communities, on the Principles of Mutual Co-operation, United Possessions and Equality" of 1830. In the main was a practical "build your own community" manual

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy