quote="malatesta32, post: 10374818"]Ayatollah, Demu, Cogg, Melly, etc. any opinions on dave rentons stuff? shall be looking at it for 'Malatesta' book.[/quote]
"Dave Renton" to me is just another word for "hack". Sorry to be so dismissive - but "When we touched the Sky" was just such a hackwork on the ANL. Don't get me wrong I still think ANL Mk1 was a quite brilliant Popular Front initiative , which really had a major effect on British politics and culture (Rock against Racism particularly), but Renton's misrepresentation of "Squadism" and his hilarious claim that the ANL wasn't controlled by the SWP seriously damages his credentials as a "scholar".
I was on the North West Steering Committee of the ANL in 77 -79, and I think this was the only time I really felt part of a genuinely mass movement with national impact - and that even includes my time with AFA in its early formative years .
I think there is a better book to be written than Renton's on the ANL Mk1, because in one sense Renton is right in his poor book , It was , in my opinion, too the single time in the post war period that the (avowed anyway) revolutionary Left really connected with , and was a major force in, a real mass movement. Yes it was a limited single issue campaign, and the motives of the Labour politicians and celebrities who came on board in a big way were often self interested, but it really did head off a growth trend by the NF, and a dangerous growth of racism, and Nazi imagery usage in mass youth culture. (Fancy naming a band "Joy Division" or "Spandau Ballet" - so deeply distasteful as to make anyone aware of what these terms meant in the concentration camps, boke !)
Just an aside , but to demonstrate the problems with Popular Front work, I remember going round Asian owned businesses in manchester prior to the Manchester Alexandra Park ANL Carnival in 1978. We were collecting money widely - including from Jewish and Asian businesses, and I remember one Muslim businessman handing me a wodge of cash to fund the concert, with words to the effect that "of course he knew it was the Jews behind the NF !"... I politely said I really didn't think that was the case ... but he remained convinced. I took the cash anyway ! The Manchester Carnival was attended by 35,000 people - and both overnight beforehand and during the event was partly stewarded by the Manchester "Squad" of course)
"Dave Renton" to me is just another word for "hack". Sorry to be so dismissive - but "When we touched the Sky" was just such a hackwork on the ANL. Don't get me wrong I still think ANL Mk1 was a quite brilliant Popular Front initiative , which really had a major effect on British politics and culture (Rock against Racism particularly), but Renton's misrepresentation of "Squadism" and his hilarious claim that the ANL wasn't controlled by the SWP seriously damages his credentials as a "scholar".
I was on the North West Steering Committee of the ANL in 77 -79, and I think this was the only time I really felt part of a genuinely mass movement with national impact - and that even includes my time with AFA in its early formative years .
I think there is a better book to be written than Renton's on the ANL Mk1, because in one sense Renton is right in his poor book , It was , in my opinion, too the single time in the post war period that the (avowed anyway) revolutionary Left really connected with , and was a major force in, a real mass movement. Yes it was a limited single issue campaign, and the motives of the Labour politicians and celebrities who came on board in a big way were often self interested, but it really did head off a growth trend by the NF, and a dangerous growth of racism, and Nazi imagery usage in mass youth culture. (Fancy naming a band "Joy Division" or "Spandau Ballet" - so deeply distasteful as to make anyone aware of what these terms meant in the concentration camps, boke !)
Just an aside , but to demonstrate the problems with Popular Front work, I remember going round Asian owned businesses in manchester prior to the Manchester Alexandra Park ANL Carnival in 1978. We were collecting money widely - including from Jewish and Asian businesses, and I remember one Muslim businessman handing me a wodge of cash to fund the concert, with words to the effect that "of course he knew it was the Jews behind the NF !"... I politely said I really didn't think that was the case ... but he remained convinced. I took the cash anyway ! The Manchester Carnival was attended by 35,000 people - and both overnight beforehand and during the event was partly stewarded by the Manchester "Squad" of course)
