Saturday 13 November 2004

Benny Hill and the Marxist Connection

Over at Socialism in an age of waiting (Marxist.org.uk) there's an intriguing article about the tenuous connection between Benny Hill and the funding of Marxist organisations.

Less funny - and more pathetic - is the second part of the article, on the British Stalin Society :
Some might see Stalinism’s journey, in just half a century, from the ruling ideology of a world superpower to barely filling a grotty community centre in King’s Cross as a humbling one. Not the Stalin Society. Founded in the 1930s, it ain’t dead yet. One pale old man tells me he remains confident because “we still have Cuba and [North] Korea”.
Quite. Monsters are only objects of fun when they're safely dead. This one still needs a stake through the heart and head cut off (though I wouldn't put Castro in the same league as Kim Jong Il, he's more like Syria's Asad.)

Yet another interesting article on the site gave me a lead to Spinoza's arguments about Means and Ends, Lesser of Two Evils etc. Worth a read, and the site is worth a regular visit, even for a Right-Wing-Death-Beast like me. We disagree, um, Radically on the means, but the ends we're aiming for are pretty similar. Not all Marxists are created equal, dismiss people like these at your peril.

To see what I mean, here's a quote from Harry's Place, another hang-out for the true Leftist who hasn't abandoned his principles :
We have 'peace' campaigners who are in favour of terrorism.

We have 'anti-fascists' who support fascists.

We have 'feminists' supporting the oppressors of women.

We have 'socialists' against trade unions.

We have 'revolutionaries' in favour of the status quo and stability.

We have 'anti-racists' who support racists.

We have 'secularists' against secularism.

And now we have anti-censorship campaigners who respond to a political murder by saying the victim had 'abused his right to free speech'.

And they say we are the ones who have sold out?
See what I mean? Spare a thought for the people who are trying to reform the Left from within, and to make it become what it was always supposed to be, yet never quite was.






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