That Aussie film where the lad figures out that his dad is Stalin is pretty funny. It can be done.
Workers Power have split
- Thread starter Red Storm
- Start date
That Aussie film where the lad figures out that his dad is Stalin is pretty funny. It can be done.
I've got 'em on mp3 there are various places you can get them online if you know where to look. Very funny.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
yeah, i agree. It would just be nice to see some more fictional portrayals of stuff is all.
audiotech
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Have you a lnk?
SpineyNorman
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A sitcom about the SWP or the SP could be very funny, whereas you wouldn't even need a good scriptwriter for one about the sparts or posadists - in fact a documentary about the sparts or posadists would be hilarious.Whereas a documentary about the SP or SWP might make you cringe but it wouldn't be all that funny.
Now that's a post I never thought I'd type out
Now that's a post I never thought I'd type out
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
It's a bit shit tbh. He sets up a student union.
Surprised nobody's mentioned citizen smith to be honest.
Edited cos I replied to the wrong post
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
You're bang on about the sparts vs the SP/Swappies thing. The sparts and the people on revleft are on another fucking level to the majority of people on here and also most people in left wing groups in real life. The way that these groups operate is completely different to anything likely to be seen on urban75 or even this planet. They never talk to real people and if you are wanting to talk about how left-wing groups' members live in a bubble then NOTHING not even the most diehard party hack of the SWP could compare to these people. Nothing. It is like they are not living on the same earth as anyone else.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
what about libcon?
It always reminded me of monks who'd go and live on some hebridean island in total solitude, convinced that their interpretation of the bible was the "true faith" and that all the other monks on the other islands are just heretics on a par with devil-worshippers.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
no idea, i sometimes read libcom for the articles in it because they sometimes have some interesting stuff but i've never got involved in any of the discussions. It doesn't look that different to here tbh - the bits I've read anyway.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
They do though! When they stood up and did that intervention it was like they were speaking about a religion, they were going on like "The International Communist League have upheld the TRUE FORM OF TROTSKYISM SINCE 1945"
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
it's like here only shit
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
and they think that's some sort of badge of honour?
SpineyNorman
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Apart from using the library on there, the only time I ever went on libcom was to look at a thread someone linked to that was started by a bloke who'd called "the revolution" on facebook. One of the funniest things I've ever seen on the internet.
audiotech
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Maybe it's me, but to be honest frogwoman, I once went to a Socialist Labour Party election meeting and I thought at the time that the speaker from the sparts was the most interesting of that nights contributions from the floor and from the top table of the SLP.
but to be honest frogwoman, I once went to a Socialist Labour Party election meeting and I thought at the time that the speaker from the sparts was the most interesting of that nights contributions from the floor and from the top table of the SLP.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
well i suppose it is. but THE TRUE FORM OF TROTSKYISM? they are like the fred phelps's of the trot world.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
the fucking arthur fowlers of the trot world
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
Maybe it's me,
I never said they weren't interesting! And to be fair I do sometimes read their website and they sometimes have some interesting stuff to say, especially about Russia and more technical/in detail international stuff. I also think they were involved in some initiatives to get black workers in the states involved in trade unions back in the 70s and some stuff around prison rights which seemed to be quite good.
SpineyNorman
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I've just tried to find it but I can't, it was a couple of years ago. The OP wasn't a regular poster I don't think and they were taking the piss something chronic so I don't think it really says anything about the forum to be fair.
So has anyone got any more funny stories from the world of obscure left-wing politics they could add to this thread? There must be loads of them.
I remember during a meeting in Salford during the time of Hazel Blears expenses scandal, attended by a lot of working class people outside the orbit of the left, people pissed off with the way Labour treats them, a well known local anarchist stood up and demanded a point of order and a debate on whether or not there is a parliamentary road to socialism. He would not sit down until we had acknowledged the request. I could see people rolling their eyes and people who knew him going saying "ffs not now barry" as he was saying it.
Maybe you had to be there.
I remember during a meeting in Salford during the time of Hazel Blears expenses scandal, attended by a lot of working class people outside the orbit of the left, people pissed off with the way Labour treats them, a well known local anarchist stood up and demanded a point of order and a debate on whether or not there is a parliamentary road to socialism. He would not sit down until we had acknowledged the request. I could see people rolling their eyes and people who knew him going saying "ffs not now barry" as he was saying it.
Maybe you had to be there.
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
The Trotsky. It is kind of shit.
Ive got a download of them, I'll work summat out to get them over to you/whover if you like
Red Storm
M14
Not as good as when Anarchist Barry pointed to a burly trade unionist and cried 'See comrades! Too many trade union dinners!'
To be honest they should just do a sitcom about him. That'd suit me fine.
audiotech
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Thanks belboid, it's sorted.
elbows
Well-Known Member
Sitcom doomed because there isn't a big enough potential audience that would understand the references. Just another indicator that they aren't relevant enough.
And now some potentially useless tips.
For a start you can throw away that age limit, theres plenty of people older than you who never got a chance to operate in an era where it was easy to suspend disbelief and imagine that the cause had momentum. Despite the various opportunities to struggle more overtly at times in for example the 1980's, marginalisation and internal bickering was hardly absent. Personally I was just a tad too young to join in with that stuff, and by the 1990s the ideological winds were blowing in an ugly direction much too constantly for me to think that was a time where I could be part of an epic struggle. I could have put some effort into struggling in a less epic manner, but the prior soiling of so many labels and ideas, and the human obsession with our differences rather than our similarities, took the wind out of my sails.
When it comes to organisational failings and mistakes, I have experienced this stuff in a different context, not connected with left-wing groups, but with some of the same underlying forces at work. In my opinion the keys to overcoming such problems stem not just from the organisational structure, the people involved, or the ideals involved, but many other factors that are more a matter of timing and external realities than anything else. The right people and structures matter, but such things can still tend towards the petty squabbling if the following ingredients are absent:
A window of opportunity due to much broader societal or economic issues of the day enabling your part of the political spectrum to be relevant.
The sense that the problem must be tackled with real sacrifice and a deep sense of immediacy.
Significant momentum as a result of the above.
At times where the above are in place, you stand a much more reasonable chance of overcoming the pettiness of people. The decade ahead is more promising in this respect than recent decades. Add the right ideas, structures and people to this situation and you might even get somewhere.
New ideas are indeed a good place to start. Even those who think that we have enough older ideas that are still appropriate should acknowledge that something new may be necessary on this front. So much has been discredited, so many labels have become killers of momentum rather than things that can be used to unlock the potential that the tumultuous times ahead offer. It is possible that the scale of problems will reenable the old ideas without them needing a facelift, but I suspect a new twist on old themes is a better bet.
Elbows the thing is those sorts of in-fighting and arguing are unavoidable in ANY group of people. Christ almight my uncle's a member of the budgerigar society and you wanna check out some of the power struggles and internal bickering that goes on there! There's never going to be a political party that's not riddled with factions and demagogues and chancers and opportunists, it's something that goes a lot deeper into human nature than we're admitting, it's not reducable down to "aren't trots stupid lol" coz i've met a lot of full-on trots and they're generally smart worthwhile people, who could've ended up doing very well if they'd have joined the Labour party when they were young and kissed enough arse.
The old quote, Socialism is an answer to man's material problems, but not a solution to his human ones, springs into my mind at this point.
The old quote, Socialism is an answer to man's material problems, but not a solution to his human ones, springs into my mind at this point.
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
Not on a par with some of the stuff on here but I've always found the RCG's position on the Labour party to be pretty bizarre. From what I can gather from speaking to them; the labour party is fascist and so are all it's members. You'd have though the fact that they where openly selling their paper on the streets while me had a Labour government may have given them pause for thought, but apparently not.
My first encounter with them goes all the way back to Blair's first war, the one in the Balkans, when I was a wee slip of a lad. We had a local anti-war meeting which was chaired by a Labour party member and one of the stood up and called all Labour party members, including the chair of the meeting, fascists.
My first encounter with them goes all the way back to Blair's first war, the one in the Balkans, when I was a wee slip of a lad. We had a local anti-war meeting which was chaired by a Labour party member and one of the stood up and called all Labour party members, including the chair of the meeting, fascists.
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