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RCP/Spiked/IoI

One for the connoisseurs - you may remember Martin Durkin from his much-criticised Against Nature documentary (very much an LM house project):



Durkin (who never publicly acknowledged his LM involvement) appears to describe himself now as “Ex-Marxist. Libertarian.” and continues to make documentary films, the most recent of which have been:

  • Brexit: The Movie
  • Nigel Farage: Who Are You?
  • Margaret: Death of a Revolutionary
Martin Durkin - IMDb
Martin Durkin (@Martin_Durkin) on Twitter
Martin Durkin - Powerbase
 
was having a moderately shit day anyway, but somehow seeing Frank Furedi's selfie with annoying son at Spurs on Sunday, complete with predictable PC baiting ' at Spurs with the Yid Army' comment ( say it in posh voice for full nail on blackboard effect) has added a edge of cosmic despair to proceedings.

#AMF
 
The Pale King said:
Aye the son seems a chip off the old block right enough
Click to expand...

trying to imagine having 'founder of Revolutionary Communist Party' on your wiki entry, and your son proudly displaying his Public School credentials on his Linkedin ( I was being nosey) - is it is just part of Furedi Snr's 'fuck you' contrarian shctick, part of his ideological journey?
Or is he just a weak, venal cnut, a Rev Com when young + angry,then gets half a sniff of academic success , bit of money, and true colours come out ?
( might do a poll later)
 
I thought that read was interesting actually. I didn't know Furedi's childhood and earliest political engagement was Hungary. Also interested in the development of his libertarian politics. However, what the article doesn't explain is how those politics led him and his supporters into some extremely dark places post the RCP.
 
Smokeandsteam said:
I thought that read was interesting actually. I didn't know Furedi's childhood and earliest political engagement was Hungary. Also interested in the development of his libertarian politics. However, what the article doesn't explain is how those politics led him and his supporters into some extremely dark places post the RCP.
Click to expand...
post?? Methinks not
 
Smokeandsteam said:
I thought that read was interesting actually. I didn't know Furedi's childhood and earliest political engagement was Hungary. Also interested in the development of his libertarian politics. However, what the article doesn't explain is how those politics led him and his supporters into some extremely dark places post the RCP.
Click to expand...

"Going forward, he thinks we need to ‘fuse together the concepts of freedom and sovereignty, and of individual self-determination’, and to defend the nation state. ‘Our rulers have given up on the nation state’, he says, of leaders who feel more comfortable at international conferences than among their fellow citizens. ‘But it is probably the biggest context in which citizens can articulate their aspirations… It provides a commonality and a shared experience, which is actually lacking at the moment.'"

Having skimmed it, that seems to be the sum total of his / (and presumably,by implication,. Spiked''s ) ideological prescription for our futures, that's the core.

Risible.
 
So this nation state stands apart from the state that he sees as being antithetical to democracy? Masters of dog whistle, that lot.
 
cantsin said:
"Going forward, he thinks we need to ‘fuse together the concepts of freedom and sovereignty, and of individual self-determination’, and to defend the nation state. ‘Our rulers have given up on the nation state’, he says, of leaders who feel more comfortable at international conferences than among their fellow citizens. ‘But it is probably the biggest context in which citizens can articulate their aspirations… It provides a commonality and a shared experience, which is actually lacking at the moment.'"

Having skimmed it, that seems to be the sum total of his / (and presumably,by implication,. Spiked''s ) ideological prescription for our futures, that's the core.

Risible.
Click to expand...

Their prescription for our future is Spiked making ££££ and getting lots of attention.
 
Smokeandsteam said:
The RCP were odd, but they were spot on at times (WAR/Ireland). The trajectory since then - and the company they seek - is beyond the pail.
Click to expand...
Let's hope they finally kick the bucket.

Why is Furedi going back to the land of his birth, though? Can we expect him to join the 'George Soros worse than Hitler' train?
 
So Furedi goes from fervent anti communist to Trotskist then Leninist and now hes a libertarian and or a nationalist ? Spook all ends up
 
Smokeandsteam said:
The RCP were odd, but they were spot on at times (WAR/Ireland). The trajectory since then - and the company they seek - is beyond the pail.
Click to expand...
Naah, sectarian arseholes even when their analysis was broadly correct. Incapable of building a movement beyond themselves and a couple of other small groups.
 
belboid said:
Naah, sectarian arseholes even when their analysis was broadly correct. Incapable of building a movement beyond themselves and a couple of other small groups.
Click to expand...

Being sectarian arseholes is hardly a unique feature (although their chinos, roll neck sweaters, Mai bomber jackets and Lloyd Cole hair uniform was).

The point I'm making is that now you can't even find any thread or reference points back to Marxism unlike when Furedi etc were RCP.

How did that happen and why?
 
mather said:
Because in all probability they treated their politics as a game and a means for self advancement to climb the academic ladder. None of them are actually working class so it is not like their political somersaults actually had any negative impact on their lives and material well being.
Click to expand...

The class compositon of the RCP in the 1980's was interesting. It was mainly posh students (even posher than the SWP, WP, Soggys and other 'working class left' organisations of the period) but they did have some good people around as well. The anti fascist work was particularly good. See below from Kenan Malik (someone I have a lot of time for)

Workers Against Racism started as a locally based group called East London Workers Against Racism in 1979. It took direct action against racist violence. Kenan Malik was a member in the early 1980s and gives the following account:

ELWAR was a radical anti-racist movement, which had been set up by a small Trotskyist group called the Revolutionary Communist Party, but which had become something of an institution in east London because of its willingness to take direct action against racists. It set up street patrols, ensured the physical protection of families under attack, and organized local meetings, often in people's front rooms, to win support for those facing harassment or worse. In the case of the Saddiques, 'direct action' meant staying in the house, physically confronting the youths whenever they gathered, and canvassing the local area, house by house, shop by shop, both to win support for the family's plight and to find out more about their tormentors. All of which explains why I spent much of 1984 not at University but camped out in a house in London's East End.[2]
 
Smokeandsteam said:
The class compositon of the RCP in the 1980's was interesting. It was mainly posh students (even posher than the SWP, WP, Soggys and other 'working class left' organisations of the period) but they did have some good people around as well. The anti fascist work was particularly good. See below from Kenan Malik (someone I have a lot of time for)

Workers Against Racism started as a locally based group called East London Workers Against Racism in 1979. It took direct action against racist violence. Kenan Malik was a member in the early 1980s and gives the following account:

ELWAR was a radical anti-racist movement, which had been set up by a small Trotskyist group called the Revolutionary Communist Party, but which had become something of an institution in east London because of its willingness to take direct action against racists. It set up street patrols, ensured the physical protection of families under attack, and organized local meetings, often in people's front rooms, to win support for those facing harassment or worse. In the case of the Saddiques, 'direct action' meant staying in the house, physically confronting the youths whenever they gathered, and canvassing the local area, house by house, shop by shop, both to win support for the family's plight and to find out more about their tormentors. All of which explains why I spent much of 1984 not at University but camped out in a house in London's East End.[2]
Click to expand...
You dont actually take him at his word, do you?
 
My own brief experience of ELWAR in the early 1990s is that its cadres, in contrast to the rest of the Party and its other fronts (IFM, CAM, the anti-CJB one, SUN etc), were mostly Asian or Black, and based in East London. (Well, the ones I met, that is.)

++POINTLESS AND EVIDENTIALLY INCONSEQUENTIAL ANECDOTE ENDS++
 
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