[G. Adams]

Agreed, I would put the mass media as the main barrier to reaching out with our ideas to the wider population. When you speak to most people they do have similar ideas, or at least reconcilable ones, and certainly object to most of the current trends. But how do we get control of an influential mass medium? It's either websites, or newspapers. Newspapers are expensive, and websites are common as muck.

In the UK our media is pretty good, both televised and print. However, most people don't read the broadsheets, but instead the tabloids, which rant about immigrants and celeb's, so it's hard to speak to the masses.

The split amongst the left I think is the worst development. I can see why, most of us who take it seriously are very well informed, so we're bound to argue, rather than do as were told. But I wish for once we could put the differences aside to fight a common enemy. Do they not realise they will never succeed in anything if were too busy arguing with each other? We'll still be here debating what Trotsky ate for dinner while we have ultra-nationalist/fascist movements on the rise. It certainly looks that way in GB right now, but at least the election of RESPECT candidate George Galloway was a good move.

As far as it looks from this side of the pond, the Democrat Party is even worse off than the Labour Party. I'm not sure whether the DP is doomed though. If all the leftists in the US joined up there could be an internal movement to push it leftwards, and away from the ass kissing it has been doing since Reagan got in.

Internationally, I think the best developments have been the International Socialist Forums, at least there we can meet up and discuss how to move forward. The problem seems however, is that it is only ever discussion, nothing is accomplished. It's also a little at risk from softening up to types like Lula, who seem a little too eager to jump into bed with big bussiness.

I think what we should be doing is aiming to unify the parties together within our countries. Get over the old divisions between Trotskyites and Stalinists, that was the past. Once we are single parties, rather than so broadly spread, we should be able to make concerted efforts at the ground level to draw in memberships and spread our materials. And as single national parties, we can work much more closely with our continental and international partners.