Gerry Healy

[Pickman's model]

going grey

 

[Hocus Eye.]

S'il te plaît. It's the circonflexe over the 'i'.

What an unusual way to spell circumflex. Keeping the pedantry flying.

 

[Sue]

What an unusual way to spell circumflex. Keeping the pedantry flying.

French innit.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

French innit.

I suspected it might be. You are right of course.

 

[Pickman's model]

I suspected it might be. You are right of course.

it is indeed french

c'est certainement francais

 

[nino_savatte]

What an unusual way to spell circumflex. Keeping the pedantry flying.

C'est français, monsieur.

 

[charlie mowbray]

Sorry, I meant Jim Allen the scriptwriter. But true about Keith Allen. From Torygraph interview:"A former member of the Workers Revolutionary Party, he’s previously claimed to "quite like" David Cameron. Now he muses: "It’s amazing what’s happening with [Jeremy] Corbyn, the best thing that’s ever happened to Labour. They’re saying, ‘But we’ll end up with a one-party state.’ Well, for the past 20 years it’s been no different. Get used to it.""

 

[belboid]

This would seem the most appropriate thread.....

I gather Cliff Slaughter, the man with the best name but worst politics, has died. To be fair, he didn't have the worst politics in the WRP (or their splinters), but they were still pretty crap.

 

[The39thStep]

This would seem the most appropriate thread.....

I gather Cliff Slaughter, the man with the best name but worst politics, has died. To be fair, he didn't have the worst politics in the WRP (or their splinters), but they were still pretty crap.

I read somewhere that Slaughter and Alasdair MacIntyre debated the nature of British Trotskyism both in a series of articles in the BBC’s magazine The Listener and on what was the Third Programme.

 

[belboid]

I read somewhere that Slaughter and Alasdair MacIntyre debated the nature of British Trotskyism both in a series of articles in the BBC’s magazine The Listener and on what was the Third Programme.

January 7 1960. I cant find a copy online

 

[The39thStep]

Unbelievable really

 

[butchersapron]

It seems the Listener articles were transcripts of - mostly- book reviews he did for BBC radio. Usually 'The Third Programme' yes. The Trotskyism debate also included contribution from E.P Thompson and others of that interfering ilk - even Peter bloody Cadogan. The article that sparked it was A Review of Neal Wood's Communism and British Intellectuals and it, and most of the Listener pieces can be found in The Historical Materialism book series publication Alasdair Macintyres Engagement With Marxism: Selected Writings-1953-1974.

 

[Idris2002]

January 7 1960. I cant find a copy online

I have found a copy but it doesn't mention Slaughter, though the SLL are referred to.

 

[JimW]

Third Programme, Fifth Column more like

 

[charlie mowbray]

This would seem the most appropriate thread.....

I gather Cliff Slaughter, the man with the best name but worst politics, has died. To be fair, he didn't have the worst politics in the WRP (or their splinters), but they were still pretty crap.

No, no, no! Slaughter was complicit with Healy’s thuggery and bullying for many years, often participating in kangaroo courts with him of SLL/WRP members paranoiacally seen as dissident, ever ready to dip his pen in vitriol to excoriate Healy’s perceived enemies. He said that he called for Healy’s expulsion as soon as he learned of his serial abuse of young women, but in fact, this is not true, he took part in a cover-up and an attempt to let Healy retire with honour. I think the guilt of all that must have finally weighed heavily on him and he died a sad old man.

 

[charlie mowbray]

And Slaughter himself wasn't slow to engage in physical violence against dissidents/those who had split with the WRP as witness:

A Political Provocation: WRP Leader Cliff Slaughter Attacks ICP Members

Workers Revolutionary Party political secretary Cliff Slaughter violently assaulted two members of the International Communist Party.

www.wsws.org

 

[The39thStep]

It seems the Listener articles were transcripts of - mostly- book reviews he did for BBC radio. Usually 'The Third Programme' yes. The Trotskyism debate also included contribution from E.P Thompson and others of that interfering ilk - even Peter bloody Cadogan. The article that sparked it was A Review of Neal Wood's Communism and British Intellectuals and it, and most of the Listener pieces can be found in The Historical Materialism book series publication Alasdair Macintyres Engagement With Marxism: Selected Writings-1953-1974.

"E.P Thompson and others of that interfering ilk " The Black Hand will be writing to Points of View

 

[The39thStep]

And Slaughter himself wasn't slow to engage in physical violence against dissidents/those who had split with the WRP as witness:

A Political Provocation: WRP Leader Cliff Slaughter Attacks ICP Members

Workers Revolutionary Party political secretary Cliff Slaughter violently assaulted two members of the International Communist Party.

www.wsws.org

Though a quarrel in the streets is a thing to be hated, the energies displayed in it are fine;

 

[belboid]

No, no, no! Slaughter was complicit with Healy’s thuggery and bullying for many years, often participating in kangaroo courts with him of SLL/WRP members paranoiacally seen as dissident, ever ready to dip his pen in vitriol to excoriate Healy’s perceived enemies. He said that he called for Healy’s expulsion as soon as he learned of his serial abuse of young women, but in fact, this is not true, he took part in a cover-up and an attempt to let Healy retire with honour. I think the guilt of all that must have finally weighed heavily on him and he died a sad old man.

Not having the worst politics in the wrp doesn’t mean you have good politics, or even are a reasonable human being.

 

[belboid]

And Slaughter himself wasn't slow to engage in physical violence against dissidents/those who had split with the WRP as witness:

A Political Provocation: WRP Leader Cliff Slaughter Attacks ICP Members

Workers Revolutionary Party political secretary Cliff Slaughter violently assaulted two members of the International Communist Party.

www.wsws.org

Brown on brown violence

 

[hitmouse]

And Slaughter himself wasn't slow to engage in physical violence against dissidents/those who had split with the WRP as witness:

A Political Provocation: WRP Leader Cliff Slaughter Attacks ICP Members

Workers Revolutionary Party political secretary Cliff Slaughter violently assaulted two members of the International Communist Party.

www.wsws.org

I wonder what the Barnsley miners made of it all.

 

[hitmouse]

Brown on brown violence

The acronym ICP always makes me think that it should be more brown on clown violence. Whoop whoop, etc.

 

[charlie mowbray]

See here for crap apology for Cliff Slaughter from Andrew Burgin and corrective reply from Phil Hearse:

Cliff Slaughter- a critical appraisal

Cliff Slaughter, for several decades the chief ideologist of the Healyite movement, the Socialist Labour League (SLL) and then the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) died at the beginning of May. An…

redmolerising.wordpress.com

 

[planetgeli]

and he died a sad old man.

I think he probably lived as a bit of a sad twat too.

Some of the way Andrew Burgin writes in that piece in the post above this one perfectly encapsulates my memories of living through the times of the WRP as a mental, conspiracy theory cult.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Out this month:

With the twin spectres of Aids and nuclear armageddon never far away, The Enemy Within is a gritty thriller built around a story of love in terrifying times. It captures the unique spirit of a dark and brooding age, with a supporting cast including Derek Jarman, corrupt Trotskyist leader Gerry Healy, a young Jeremy Corbyn and even Maggie Thatcher herself.

The Enemy Within by Adam Macqueen | Eye Books

Adam Macqueen's second thriller featuring his rent boy turned detective Tommy Wildeblood captures the dark, brooding spirit of 1984

www.eye-books.com

 

[imposs1904]

I believe this has just come out. Already denounced by SEP's head honcho, David North:

 

[PTK]

I believe this has just come out. Already denounced by SEP's head honcho, David North:

View attachment 443564

Oooh. Thanks for posting this. Thanks to your post, I have become aware of this thread, and read it all.

 

[RD2003]

No, no, no! Slaughter was complicit with Healy’s thuggery and bullying for many years, often participating in kangaroo courts with him of SLL/WRP members paranoiacally seen as dissident, ever ready to dip his pen in vitriol to excoriate Healy’s perceived enemies. He said that he called for Healy’s expulsion as soon as he learned of his serial abuse of young women, but in fact, this is not true, he took part in a cover-up and an attempt to let Healy retire with honour. I think the guilt of all that must have finally weighed heavily on him and he died a sad old man.

Talking of kangaroo courts, has anybody ever been able to find online the film 'Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition'? Starred a young John Thaw. Apparently based on the WRP or its predecessor, or so I vaguely remember reading.

I can only remember it very faintly, having turned the telly on late one Friday night after returning from the pub half-pissed. Hard to believe now what used to get aired on late-night '80s and '90s mainstream TV. But I do remember the Thaw character being put on trial by 'the party' for some perceived ideological heresy upon his return from Paris, after covering the 1968 events. I've sometimes searched Youtube when thinking of it, but the film seems to have disappeared without trace.

 

[Rimbaud]

I believe this has just come out. Already denounced by SEP's head honcho, David North:

View attachment 443564

The SEPs denunciation of this book is truly despicable.

Biography as demonology: Aidan Beatty’s <em>The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism</em>

Aidan Beatty's new book is not a biography, but rather a political diatribe against Gerry Healy and Trotskyism.

www.wsws.org

I read about half of it before realising it was unreasonably lengthy, but it was full of praise for his "exceptional qualities as a political leader" and not one reference to rape or sexual abuse. I did a search for relevant terms in case it mentioned them later but no.

If they believe that it was a smear that he was a serial rapist, at least come out and make that case, don't just ignore it. It gives the impression that they simply don't consider him being a rapist to be relevant or worth mentioning. Really makes me wonder about what skeletons David North has in his closet. I remember WSWS doing a very weirdly ardent defense of Roman Polanski too.

 

[imposs1904]

Talking of kangaroo courts, has anybody ever been able to find online the film 'Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition'? Starred a young John Thaw. Apparently based on the WRP or its predecessor, or so I vaguely remember reading.

I can only remember it very faintly, having turned the telly on late one Friday night after returning from the pub half-pissed. Hard to believe now what used to get aired on late-night '80s and '90s mainstream TV. But I do remember the Thaw character being put on trial by 'the party' for some perceived ideological heresy upon his return from Paris, after covering the 1968 events. I've sometimes searched Youtube when thinking of it, but the film seems to have disappeared without trace.

I've always wanted to see that film, even though a couple of people I know who did see it back in the day thought it was crap. It was shown on Channel 4 in the late 1980s, but it's never been repeated on TV.

Are you sure it was supposed to be based on the SLL/WRP? I've never heard that suggestion before. Sure you're not mixing it up with Trevor Griffiths' The Party? The character Jock Tagg from that work definitely had some sort of overlap with Healy.