Different Criticisms
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-08-19Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 17 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 17
At the Socialist Organiser AGM this April, supporters criticised the paper for too many long articles and complicated arguments 1 appreciated the article on publishing the Socialist Organiser that appeared in the 1 July 1982 issue. I would differ with some of the criticisms you were said to have received:
Learning Trotskyism is easier when SO is around: compared to journalism here, you are quite vivid and literate, that your articles are long and "written in the language of theoretical jour nals" makes them especially valuable to a foreign reader and beginning socialist.
Moreover, there's no use PHOTO: JOHN HARRIS pretending that understanding current politics doesn't require Marxist theory and historical data. Any length you devote to pertinent discussion of the latter is justifiable. I assume you aren't going to be moved by any critic who says you're writing over the heads of your working class readership.
Perhaps you could pacify those not wanting to read 14 columns of fine print on major issues by accompanying some long articles with a non-"technical' abstract. Bold-facing might aid skimmers also.
Looking for more articles on African, Caribbean, and North American struggles -more foreign coverage generally might be beyond your means, but the farther you look the larger the international workers' movement will become.
Very impressed by design and production as well as by writing in SO. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, PAUL GRAMS Ann Arbor, USA