I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

Coming Out Fighting

It seems likely that the two strongest boxing squads in the 2008 Olympics will come from Great Britain, and as usual, from Cuba. This seems a good time to review John Duncan's excellent book on Cuban boxing, which I reviewed in issue 80 of Class War, back in 2000.

In The Red Corner: A Journey Into Cuban Boxing by John Duncan (Yellow Jersey Press, £12)

Duncan took a year off from his work as a Guardian sports journalist, initially to work for the boxing promoter Frank Warren. His aim was to arrange a series of fights between Western and Cuban fighters under both amateur and professional rules. As all professional sport has been banned in Cuba since 1961, all Duncan came away with was a good book, one which serves as a fascinating insight into Cuban boxing (past and present), but more significantly into Cuba itself.

Duncan shows us how the lives of ordinary Cubans can be damaged by the bureaucratic nightmare of the Castro regime (and before any spotty student tries to tell you otherwise it is without question a regime). Saddest of all are the apartheid style rules that keep ordinary Cubans well away from the most expensive tourist resorts. Cuba is once again the play thing of the rich, but this time only the Cuban government is allowed to make any money out of it. Quite why Cuba has traditionally succeeded in boxing is clear. The manager of Cuban boxing, Alcides Sagarra, is on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 1997 his goal was to plan for the Olympics. The Olympics in mind being those of...2008!

Secondly Cuba has a clear ethos of sport for all - for love not money. This is particularly refreshing to us in the UK surrounded by greedy footballers with their bimbo girlfriends and their grasping agents. Duncan describes the Cuban ethos skilfully, particularly when discussing the Heavyweight Felix Savon who turned down 10 million dollars from Don King to turn professional. Savon comes across as being happier more often in a week than Tyson will be in the whole of the rest of his life.

However, the Cubans may well find time has left them behind. "Amateur" sport has died a death around the world, and the Cubans discovered at the 1999 World Championships that amateur boxing can be just as bent as its professional cousin. Mr Sagarra, rather like Mr Castro, has had his day.

"He Kills Coppers" - The Book Review

Digging about on-line recently, I came across the book review I wrote in Class War issue 82, way back in 2001.

"He Kills Coppers" by Jake Arnott, (Sceptre, £10)

Arnott's second novel takes its title from the ever popular song about your friend and mine, Harry Roberts. Roberts, re-named Billy Porter is one of three core characters - the others a policeman struggling to avoid the corruption of the Met, and a particularly odious tabloid journalist - whose lives are followed from the 1960s to the 1980s.

By taking historical characters and re-naming them for fictional stories (Arnott's previous novel "The Long Firm" was clearly based on the Kray Twins) one of the essential requirements for a novelist - the need to create believable characters - is removed. Equally Arnott seems incapable of writing about women, who are absent from the book virtually throughout. You do not have to be that well read to discover that Arnott has digested books like "The Fall Of Scotland Yard" by Cox, Shirley and Short, "Anarchist" by Ian Bone or that he watched the BBC series "Our Friends In The North" on video a few times before putting pen to paper.

That said the book does take you into and give you a feel for 1960s London. Moving on from the 60s, it stands (and falls) on its twist surrounding one of the three central characters. Its observations of the 1980s Anarchist scene (and Class War) are somewhat predictable and lazy - all the more disappointing in that no Anarchist group has tried harder to avoid a 'crustie' image than Class War, and that Arnott himself was allegedly involved in the movement during the 1980s.

There is a great book to be written about Harry Roberts, both as an individual and how he impacted on the lives of others. This is not it.

Whether as an author Arnott is more than a one trick pony it is too soon to tell, although the planned televising of "The Long Firm" will no doubt guarantee best seller status for this and subsequent books.

The Kick Inside - Worth A Punt

I have just finished reading "The Kick Inside - Revolutionary Opposition In The CPGB, 1960 -1991" by Lawrence Parker.

Parker has given a skilful analysis of the various groups inside the British Communist party who attempted to push it into (in their view) more revolutionary directions. Six chapters cover the different developments, with a brief concluding chapter where the author stresses his surprise that anything revolutionary was to emerge from the CPGB at all.

The Thoughts of Chairman Mao
Writings on British Maoism are few and far between, and whilst I was familiar with Reg Birch's move towards the Chinese side of the Sino-Soviet split, Michael McCreery was a new name to me.
In the early 1960s key Chinese texts began to emerge in the UK, and McCreery was eventually to establish the snappily titled Committee to Defeat Revisionism For Communist Unity, which gives us the utterly dyslexic acronym (CDRFCU). We can only assume that McCreery, an old Etonian, did not spend his evenings spraying CDRFCU on too many walls in Tufnell Park!

Calling All Leftist Trainspotters
Anyone interested in the political lineage of contemporary organisations such as the New Communist Party (NCP) and Weekly Worker/CPGB will find Parker's book essential, although I suspect even the author would recognise that this is very much a publication for the connoisseur rather than the activist new to socialist or communist ideas.
Whilst Parker does not hide his clear distaste for the Marxism Today, Nina Temple types that were to finally destroy the CPGB (think New Labour before New Labour was invited, and you will get an idea of how bad they were) this book succeeds because it keeps its eye on the ball - it is about the opposition within the CPGB, not what the CPGB was, could have been or perhaps even should have been.
Indeed Parker is clear that those looking to critique the "British Road To Socialism" need to remember not just that Stalin is believed to have helped Harry Pollit draw up the CPGB's core reformist programme, but that ultimately the idea of a revolutionary CPGB linked to a reformist Communist Party of the Soviet Union was a nonsense.

What No Spooks?
No history of Communist groups in the West during the Cold War should be without reference to the cold war machinations of the security services. Sadly this book is. We know from Francis Beckett's history of the CPGB that the UK security services knew all about the 'Moscow Gold' - it was seemingly kept in Reuben Falber's loft, and the authorities were quite happy for the arrangement to continue.
MI5 may well have had a whole raft of reasons for encouraging dissension within, and indeed splits around British Communism, whilst MI6 would surely have been interested in any attempts by the Chinese and Albanian governments to develop links with like-minded individuals in the UK.
Sadly Parker does not go down the road of examining such issues. It is not as if he did not have the opportunity - we are told in one footnote that Michael McCreery was the son of a leading General, and was himself a former military intelligence man, but nothing more.
One of Parker's key sources in Chapter 5 is NCP member Daphne Liddle, who has spent a generation working for 'anti-fascist' magazine Searchlight, a publication with declared links to the security services. Indeed its publisher, ex-CPGB member Gerry Gable, has at times taken paid remuneration from the Metropolitan Police training centre at Hendon, and boasts of his links with MI5. What a tale Ms Liddle could tell!
However, this is not to criticise Parker's sources per se, indeed the range of interviews and dusty old publications given in the footnotes is exhaustive.

What Else Is There?
If this little book has wetted your appetite for Communist history, Lawrence and Wishart have published what come closest to 'official' histories of the CPGB. One of these, John Callaghan's history of the CPGB from 1951-68, is used extensively by Parker. Having been taught by Callaghan myself I have no doubts as to the scale of his knowledge in this area, but note his ability to come a cropper outside of it - witness his ludicrous attempt to link Class War to the National Front a few years ago.
A visit to the Working Class Movement Library in Salford is also recommended - just make sure you spit on the sign for Hazel Blears MP as you go through the front door!

The Kick Inside can be ordered for £5.15 (postage included) from the author at vorzedia@yahoo.co.uk

Rebel Alliances - Contemporary British Anarchisms

I reviewed Ben Franks examination of contemporary British Anarchism in issue 91 of Class War (Winter 2006). I may as well put the review on here so it gets a further airing. Here you go!

Rebel Alliances – The Means and Ends of Contemporary British Anarchisms by Benjamin Franks (AK Press, £15 although currently a lot less that on Amazon!)

Good books on Anarchism are pretty rare. Books about the UK anarchist movement are even rarer. In “Rebel Alliances” Benjamin Franks has not only managed to avoid the car crash of earlier summaries (such as “Demanding The Impossible” by Peter Marshall, or “Anarchism” by George Woodcock) but has given a serious overview of what anarchists attempt to do, and why.

The first success is that the book largely covers the period from 1984-2002. Rather than addressing past texts by noted beards, Rebel Alliances concentrates on recent actions, the groups involved, and their motivations. This is not to say no lessons can be learned from the small amount of historical information included – it is worth noting that historically Jewish anarchists in Whitechapel defied the authority of the Rabbi’s – compare that to the behaviour of “socialists” in Tower Hamlets today towards the local mullah’s.

Franks sets out the process by which anarchists in the UK ceased tail-ending the Leninist left, and created their own agenda. Events like the 1992 Anti-Election Alliance march were pivotal to this process, as of course was the slow but steady decline of the old Marxist-Leninist left. Whilst the last century left waited around for the trades unions to “defeat” the Poll Tax – anarchists correctly identified just who had the tools to do the job – working class communities themselves. All too often politics really is a very simple process, made complicated by that bane on us all – politicians!

Methods of anarchist organisation are also set out – from uniting around “The Platform” through to the “Open Cells” of groups like the Angry Brigade or the Hit Squads in the Miners strike. The books greatest strength lies in the authors ability to spot when theory is undermined by reality. Whilst squatting is fine as a principle, it brings with it the danger of creating an “alternative” economy based around the sorts of goods and services that often appeal to squatters and their friends. Such alternative economies can and do assist in the gentrification of working class areas.

This is possibly not a book for someone brand new to reading about Anarchism. There are occasionally times when Rebel Alliances will have you groping for your dictionary – the author seems particularly attached to the word “prefigurative” – and the section on propaganda is far more fun than the heavier section on ethics. Franks can be a tad PC – is it really “old prejudice” to say that feminists of the Greenham Common variety were weakening class struggle? To many working class women the living conditions at the camp would have been eccentric at best, abhorrent at worst. Also - where are those feminists now?

Given its national emphasis, good local anarchist campaigns are, perhaps inevitably, overlooked. Some, like the successes of Anarchists in Sheffield in the 1980s, really need to be evaluated somewhere. It is also worth noting that anarchist campaigns do not exist in a vacuum, and those opposed to anarchism are not passive players. The Carnival Against Global Capitalism on June 18 1999 is discussed in detail, but since then the police have more than regained the upper hand, to the extent that for many activists it is now virtually impossible to even have a drink in the west end on the day of a big demonstration.

These are however minor gripes – Rebel Alliances is likely to become the standard work on our movement for some years. Given he is known to so many people involved in class struggle anarchism, no one is better placed to examine the contemporary British anarchist movement than Ben Franks. Steal this book at the first opportunity.

Get On With It!

"I know all about the materialist concept of history, and the class war, and the theory of surplus value. And for God's sake don't try to tell me about economic determinism..... what I want to know is when are you going to get on with the job."

The Gilt Kid, speaking to a Communist party member, in James Curtis' novel "The Gilt Kid".

Political Books That Never Were

Inspired by two anarchists who have pompously announced they are writing books, when nothing ever appears, I give you the following lists of books that were expected but never quite hit the shelves.

"Rum, Sodomy and the Fash" by Martin Webster.

"How To Win Friends and Influence People" - Libcom.org

"Reconcillation Works, Try It!" by Albert Meltzer and Vernon Richards.

"How To Be Feminine and A Socialist" by Lindsey German

"Islam Exposed" by Yvonne Ridley

"Internet Grooming: It's Not Just For Paedophiles" by the International Communist Current.

Combining Fact And Fiction?

London has lost so many good second hand bookshops in the last few years. Areas that used to have plenty, such as Holborn, now have none. High rents, and gentrification, make us all poorer.

Finding myself in south London on Saturday, I decided to head over to the Faction Bookshop in Catford. Billing itself as having "the fiction and the facts" it is tucked away in the indoor market, just before you get to W H Smiths and Tesco.

Was it worth the journey? Well yes it was - there is no shortage of stock, with a good politics section (a lot more books on Anarchism than I was expecting) and a lot of records and DVDs. Faction styles itself as concentrating on new age, conspiracy and earth mysteries, which I assume brings it a pretty varied clientele. I wanted to pick up some back issues of Nexus for my 9/11 research, and the owner was able to dig out quite a few, even if I was not offered a deduction for buying in bulk!

Getting chatting, I think it is fair to say we agreed to disagree on 9/11, although I was honoured to be shown the model he made following his UFO sighting in Lewisham several years ago. I did not have the heart to insist that the only UFO's to be found in that area are when Millwall's fans have got their gander up!

The Faction bookshop is at Area 43, Catford Mews, 32 Winslade Way, Catford, SE6 4JU.

Fun With Fascism? - Joe Owens New Book Reviewed

“Action! Race War To Door Wars - A Life Lived On The Edge” by Joe Owens (£9.99, Lulu, 2007)

The British far-right has not produced much in the way of significant memoirs or appraisals. Astonishingly Nick Griffin failed to follow up his court victory with either a book covering his trial, or an autobiography. Has a British politician ever had such a platform, then failed to build upon it? Anti-fascists everywhere should be grateful for Griffin’s idleness.

Looking at my own bookshelves, veteran fascist John Bean’s “Many Shades of Black” was rather flat, and suffered from the authors need to play down parts of his past, to be accepted as the loyal Griffinite he now is. Anyway, you can’t take a man seriously who wears a syrup!
Of the other memoirs I have read two particularly disappointed me. Knightsbridge Safe Deposit robber Valerio Viccei tells us nothing about his time as a fascist gunman in Italy during the ‘years of lead’, in his “Too Fast To Live” but much about his criminal career in England. As he was to be murdered by Italian police not long after he left the UK, he will never get the chance now.

Burnley man Andrew Porter tells us a lot about Burnley FC’s Suicide Squad in his memoirs, but little of detail about racial division and fascism in east Lancashire. Given he was jailed for 3 years after the 2001 riots, I had expected more. And of course Martin Webster’s “Rum, Sodomy and the Fash” is yet to appear (sorry I made that one up).

The North West's Best Bookshop?

Earlier this week I was in Morecambe, and came across what I think is one of the best second hand bookshops in Britain.

The Old Pier Bookshop is at 287 Marine Road, between the clock tower and the lifeboat station. A meandering rabbit warren of a place, the shop is crammed with piles of old and not so old books. Whilst there was not as many sports books as I may have liked, its political and military sections were superb, and there was a vast amount of regional titles.

I picked up an old Cienfuegos Press title from the 1970s, "A New World In Our Hearts - The Faces of Spanish Anarchism" edited by Albert Meltzer for just a quid. I know a few bookshops in London that would attempt to charge £10 or £15 for such a title.

Get yourself over to Morecambe is my advice!

The Decline Of Centreprise

I had a rather sorry experience visiting Centreprise in Dalston this week.

A community bookshop and cafe, I have been going there on and off for over a decade, occasionally buying books and more usually leftist periodicals. Much of the stock is now a mess, and there is clearly an attempt to phase out a lot of the political books, with many at reduced prices. These books were piled up in a slapdash fashion at various points in the store. The collection of socialist newspapers and magazines was now an untidy pile, with most of the titles obscured.

In a depressing sign of the times, much of the new material in there is religious, black nationalist or the sort of American "self-help" books that make authors rich whilst stating the bleeding obvious.

Worryingly, for a "community bookshop" the number of Nation of Islam books inside suggest that anti-semitism and racism is not something that concerns Centreprise. One NOI title, on the history of the relationship between Jews and Blacks, centring on the slave trade, seemed to me to be little more than an attempt to put an intellectual veneer on traditional anti-semitism.

All in all these changes are a step backwards for Centreprise, and a step backwards for Hackney.