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SWP expulsions and squabbles

Just had a bit more back from the UTR meeting. Apparently some other lefty chipped in at one point and said something along the lines of "not sure you lot can talk about unity after what's been going on for the last 2-3 weeks". Some sour faces round the table after that.
 
One_Stop_Shop said:
Also the thought of Comrade Delta as a DJ on stage is classic. Can anyone mock up a picture of him behind a DJ set, with a foghorn and a whistle?
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Not that it matters much but he was in the past paid to work as a DJ no? Music was always his second passion after politics when I knew him. I get why people who hate his politics want to paint him as some seedy oddball trying too hard to be trendy but that's so not the bloke many of us know.
 
bolshiebhoy said:
Not that it matters much but he was in the past paid to work as a DJ no? Music was always his second passion after politics when I knew him. I get why people who hate his politics want to paint him as some seedy oddball trying too hard to be trendy but that's so not the bloke many of us know.
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Formally, I share his politics, in the sense that I think Russia was State Cap etc. and I would never be a member of the Labour Party, let alone Swindon Branch! But spiritually, you and he seem much closer and that is consistent with what you've been arguing on this thread. He is a 'bloke' isn't he, well put. And he is so bloke-ish that I find it hard to attribute to him a deep soulful connection to - say - John Coltrane. You knew him, I only saw him from afar, so I don't rush to judge. But nor could I be bothered to read his book to test this contention. Perhaps someone else here has read it? My guess is the book argues that Coltrane is great because he plays the music of the oppressed (and that Coltrane was practically a revolutionary and if he had heard of the SWP he would have joined them). In other words it will be linear, reductinist, and lightly-researched. For what it's worth, I visited the Church of John Coltrane in San Francisco in a slightly flippant state of mind, I have to admit. But I was very impressed by the reverence with which his followers treated him: that and the fact that we were all given instruments to join in with 'A Love Supreme'.
 
Incidentally, on left-ish books about jazz, Chris Searle's "Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon" disappoints on almost every level - his understanding of the music is poor, his understanding of the politics of jazz music and musicians is superficial and misses much, and his writing is repetitive and formulaic.

(He's the jazz correspondent for the Morning Star).
 
danny la rouge said:
Incidentally, on left-ish books about jazz, Chris Searle's "Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon" disappoints on almost every level - his understanding of the music is poor, his understanding of the politics of jazz music and musicians is superficial and misses much, and his writing is repetitive and formulaic.

(He's the jazz correspondent for the Morning Star).
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Is that expelled teacher Searle?

And why Does Communist Robert Wyatt work with Atzmon?
 
danny la rouge said:
Incidentally, on left-ish books about jazz, Chris Searle's "Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon" disappoints on almost every level - his understanding of the music is poor, his understanding of the politics of jazz music and musicians is superficial and misses much, and his writing is repetitive and formulaic.

(He's the jazz correspondent for the Morning Star).
Click to expand...

There is a series of short articles in a Hobsbawm book Uncommon People: resistance, rebellion and jazz on jazz which I really enjoyed
 
The39thStep said:
There is a series of short articles in a Hobsbawm book Uncommon People: resistance, rebellion and jazz on jazz which I really enjoyed
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Not by Francis Newton? That was the name he normally used when writing about jazz.

Me sister mentioned a case to me last night that you might remember as well. Very early nineties, the party recruited a 'leading' black nationalist, who was rapidly promoted, frequent SW contributor, speaker at Marxism, National Council (I think) - all set for the big time. And then he raped a comrade - again in circumstances with no witnesses or other evidential 'proof'. He was expelled after an internal hearing, and then the facts were reported to conference. There was no 'we cant tell you cos its all confidential' - the basic details of what had happened, without names, was relayed, and conference accepted what they were told (although there were a few unconvinced). Why they didn't do so in this case.....it wouldn't have stopped all the arguments, obviously, but it would at least be a little more transparent.
 
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