Peephole In My Brain: The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1971 Reviewed

This is the follow up to a previous release from Cherry red Records on their Grapefruit label featuring music from the early seventies the last CD New Moons In The Sky covered the year 1970. Peephole In My Brain takes up the progressive scene in the following year 1971. An important year to me personally as this was when I had persuaded my parents to get me a record player and I started buying records.

This collection contains a couple of my early purchases (though not my first which was In My Own Time by Family) including this little number from Curved Air featuring my first crush ( I was 13) on a rock star the very pretty Sonja Christina!

This is a 3 CD collection containing no less than 71 songs which makes it not just a good historical record of the period but good value for money. There are lots of bands and artists I recall though in a lot of cases not the actual record. These include The Move, Status Quo, the Edgar Broughton Band, Colin Blunstone, Magna Carta, Medicine Head and John Kongos amongst others.

There are of course a lot of artists and bands featured with whom I am not familiar which is not surprising given access to music was extremely limited on both Radio and TV though The Old Grey Whistle Test  with "whispering" Bob Harris was a joy to watch especially as it featured bands I never would have otherwise come across. There was also Kid Jensen on the long departed and missed radio Luxembourg who used to do a show featuring Prog Rock/Metal late at night. I'm from the generation that has a transistor radio (nicknamed a tranny a term so out of use now) under the bed sheets!

Some of these tracks are more interesting/enjoyable than others but how that is judged will differ from person to person depending on individual taste. Personally I'd say the previous volume in this series was better in terms of content but this is still worth a buy if this period of music interests you.

For me the early seventies and the period of Prog Rock and early Heavy Metal influenced my musical tastes for life.

Here's a short track to end this quick review from one of my all-time favourites Emerson Lake and Palmer which is included on CD 2 in this collection

Available from: www.cherryred.co.uk

Labour's entryist groups: Labour Party Marxists (Communist Party of Great Britain*)

 

Another small group the Labour Party Marxists are a group of members and sympathisers of the Communist Party Of Great Britain. *This is not the official Communist Party but a splinter from the original CPGB that began life as an opposition faction inside the party around a journal called The Leninist.

The leader of the group John Chamberlain (Jack Conrad) himself a former member of a previous breakaway from the CPGB, the New Communist Party and his supporters managed to hijack the formal name of the old party when it collapsed following the fall of Stalinism in the Soviet Union. 

Unlike the other entryist groups this organisation is not ideologically "Trotskyist" but nevertheless has entered the Labour Party under the label of the LPM after a long string of failed interventions in other left-wing projects in which they were notorious for not just their special brand of sectarianism but troublesome interventions.

The CPGB publish a newspaper called the Weekly Worker which though not as widely read as it was in previous years is treated by most on the left as a gossip sheet since the group notoriously publish in depth information on the splits and squabbles of other left wing organisations and factions. A process that continues to this day though their targets are the other entryist groups and internal hard left factions including Momentum.

The Labour Party Marxists as a group have been highly unsuccessful in building their grouping and other than dishing out bulletins at Labour Conference have proved ineffectual  except for one thing.

The CPGB were instrumental and remain a driving force of the Labour Against the Witch Hunt organisation that has managed to attract the support of many Corbyn/hard left supporters as it's project has been to defend those accused of antisemitism. 

LAW and the CPGB have provided platforms for the worst elements the left has to offer allying themselves with the worst the far/hard left has to offer in the likes of Tony Greenstein, Jackie Walker and Chris Williamson all of whom are now thankfully no longer Labour Party members.

The LPM's most prominent spokesman Stan Keeble has been expelled from the Labour Party but remains heavily involved with the group as do many of the others expelled via the LAW organisation. The LPM/CPGB have built a whole political industry around the denial of antisemitism insisting in typical extremist conspiratorial theories that it's all a "Zionist " plot,that the Israeli state is involved an that the "right-wing" (including even leftists like Jon Lansman) are weaponising antisemitism to "smear" the left.

The recent disingenuously written and leaked NEC report showed the continuing denial of racism inside the party. Since this is the subject of on-going legal action due to the releasing of confidential personal information and breaches of the data protection act are involved that particular episode still remains largely to be resolved.

Ironically the CPGB expelled an individual called Ian Donovan who propagates the theory that there is a distinct "international Jewish bourgeoisie" which asserts Jews control banking the media and so in a typical antisemitic fashion. Donovan went and peddled his wares in Socialist Fight and readers may recall the groups guru Gerry Downing defending this absurd position in a car crash of an interview with Andrew Neil.

Downing was not only kicked out of the Labour Party but ended up being expelled from Labour Against the Witch Hunt. Recently fell out with Donovan and now freely admits the position he took was antisemitic. Socialist Fight (a micro sect) split over the issue.

Despite their correct assessment of Donovan's theories which were nothing more than The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (a Tsarist forgery) the LPM/CPGB has weaponised defence of antisemitism under the guise of so-called anti-Zionism to more or less take the same path. This organisation has been at the very centre of the problems Labour have faced along with the quisling Jewish Voice for Labour which contains the likes of Walker in their ranks.

The Labour Party Marxist organises "joint" meetings and events with the Communist Party of Great Britain not that their politics or personnel are indistinguishable from each other. This group are in clear breach of party rules and should be proscribed with its members expelled.

Unison: Vote Christina McAnea for General Secretary

 

I am standing to be UNISON's next General Secretary because I have the experience, proven track record and vision to lead our union in partnership with our members and activists.

I am UNISON’s Assistant General Secretary for Bargaining, Negotiations and Equalities, and I have been fighting for the trade union movement nearly all my adult working life. I am committed and passionate about delivering fairness and justice for all our members.

As a national negotiator for over 25 years, across every sector in UNISON, and now one of the most senior women trade union negotiators in the country, I have stood up to Governments and led national disputes to fight for our members pay, pensions and conditions.

I led UNISON’s response to covid-19, demanding PPE, support and action for groups disproportionately affected including, black, disabled and low-paid workers. At every turn, I have worked with branches and regions to support members.

We need a modern, organising union fit for the future

• UNISON’s strength is in our branches and the fight ahead will be led by our UNISON reps. I will take bold decisions to direct resources and funding to branches to support and represent every member. I will put Local Organisers where they are needed. Regions will be funded to respond to the challenges from devolved governments in English regions as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I will kick-start the immediate development of a modern and coherent organising strategy, fit for a digital era, with priorities agreed across our democracy in UNISON.
• In a world where workers are becoming more isolated, I will ensure no member is left alone. UNISON will be there for you. To secure our members’ futures, I will establish a new National UNISON College offering education and training.
• I launched UNISON’s Care After Covid campaign and I am calling for a National Social Care Service that provides cradle to grave care and gives care workers professional recognition and respect, pay, sick pay, training and career opportunities. Organising this workforce will be a top priority.
• Together with our self-organised groups we will lead the fight to dismantle the injustice of all racism and discrimination. We will push for legislation to close all discriminatory pay gaps.
• I will use the collective strength of our 1 million women to be the voice for women’s rights across this country and around the world. We will demand recognition for the value of work that women do.

You can trust in my experience and ability, to lead in partnership with you, to deliver for all our members and fight for our future in UNISON.

Labour's entryist groups: Red Flag (Workers Power)

 

One the much smaller Trotskyist groupings that entered the Labour Party during the Corbyn era (and still remain) are the Workers Power organisation which has rebranded itself as "Red Flag". Of ll such groups it is probably the least well known as being so small it's activities are limited to one or two constituencies. 

I have come across comments about how difficult these individuals are in meetings in one of the Leeds CLPs if I recall correctly during a previous discussion on this group. The reason for highlighting this organisation is two-fold. Firstly they are a classic example of an entryist group and secondly Red Flag is in clear breach of Party rules.

Workers Power is yet another group that originated as a split/expulsion from the International Socialists (SWP) back in the seventies who went on to merge with Workers Fight (now AWL) for a brief period as the International Communist League. However as we saw in a previous post this did not last long and the group became an independent entity.

Unlike it's parent organisation the International Socialists (who developed a "state capitalist" theory of the the Soviet Union) Workers Power reverted to the more traditional Trotskyist Degenerated Workers State position.

Over the tears the group has variously participated in the failed Socialist Alliance and Left Unity projects. They have a youth group "Revolution" and themselves had a"major split as a large group of members left and formed the (now defunct) Permanent Revolution Group.

Workers Power also gave up on the idea of the "Fourth International" and established a tiny Fifth International which consists of a number of similarly tiny groups in seven other countries.

The turn to the Labour Party was taken quietly as Corbyn came to the fore. The main Workers Power website and it's print paper of the same name ceased publication. Readers at the time were refered to Red Flag.

Workers Power simply reconstituted themselves around the name of another publication, this time Red Flag and are seeking to build their organisation from within the Labour Party. 

Their website clearly states:

Our goal is the creation of a genuine, mass revolutionary party capable of challenging social-democracy and Stalinism for leadership across the whole range of working class struggles. Our model is the Bolshevik party that led the Russian revolution to victory in – so far – the only successful socialist revolution in history.

Red Flag is the British section of the League for the Fifth International, which exists to agitate for the creation of a new world party of socialist revolution, whose emergence is the precondition for the working class conquest of power and the establishment of the world socialist order.

Red Flag issued a statement attacking Keir Starmer in which their intentions (and sectarianism) are clear including the lefts obsession with Palestine and a dismissal of concerns over antisemitism:

THE ELECTION of Keir Starmer as Labour leader, with 56.2% of the vote, represents a clear victory for the right in the party. Neither the fact that some on the left were seduced into voting for Starmer, nor that Rebecca Long-Bailey got 27.6% of the vote, can disguise this.....

...hey resorted to the utterly deceitful strategy of the false antisemitism accusations. In this they knew they could count on the support of the Establishment and the media. Perhaps more surprisingly, they also benefitted from the refusal of Momentum, under Jon Lansman’s leadership, and even sections of the far left, notably the AWL, to condemn it for what it was.

That the antisemitism accusations were so effective is related to the more general issue of foreign policy. This goes to the very heart of Labour’s longstanding support for British capitalism’s global strategy, in which support for Israel is a fundamental element in its alliance with the USA.

To have as the leader of a potential governing party a man with Corbyn’s record of principled opposition to imperialist wars and support for the rights of the Palestinians, among other oppressed peoples, was always completely out of the question for not just the right wing of Labour but even some on the Left.

The Progress and Labour First factions that supported Starmer will not cease their attacks on the left. No doubt with the backing of the Board of Deputies and the press, they will demand a wholesale purge of all who still advocate democratisation of the party, anti-capitalist solutions to the crisis or internationalist policies, for example, on Palestine.

Red Flag will certainly contribute to that debate and our immediate priorities will be defence of those policy gains that were made under Corbyn

This is how entryist organisations work. In breach of party rules Red Flag factionalise in order to build an party of their own which has clear membership, finances, policies and international affiliations.

Red Flag should be immediately proscribed and it's members expelled.

-------------------------------------------------

Previous articles in this continuing series:

Labour's entyrist groups: Alliance For Workers Liberty

Labour's entryist groups: Socialist Appeal

Doctor Who: The Lovecraft Invasion (Big Finish Audio)

The latest Doctor Who release from Big Finish productions brings an adventure featuring the Sixth Doctor played by Colin Baker and two non-TV companions Flip Ramon (Lisa Greenwood) and Mrs Constance Clark (Miranda Raison). The Doctor is chasing a weaponised mind parasite through time with a little help from bounty hunter Calypso Jones (Robyn Holdway).

The Somnifax has headed back through history to a small green planet (a favourite of the Doctors) to find a host that will enable it to find a host and use their nightmares to wreak destruction. What better place than the mind of HP Lovecraft.

Most people will have heard of the author and many will have read his books or seen the films made of his stories. Much modern horror is influenced by his ideas of the old gods and Cthulu in particular. Hellboy is riddled with HP Lovecraft imagery.

Most of us will not be familiar with the man himself and the Doctor in one sequence references Lovecraft as a racist so many times one feels like saying Ok we get the message. Lovecraft was born and lived in New England from 1890 until 1937 dying at the age of just 46. Like many of his time he held strong racial attitudes towards non-Anglo-Saxons though accepted Jewish and Hispanics who in his view "assimilated". His wife was Jewish.

His views on race were typical of the period seeing blacks as inferior and in today's world we would clearly see him as a racist. It is his work in horror fiction that he will be remembered for.

Most of the story takes place inside HP Lovecrafts mind which is not a pretty place as the Doctor and Flip pursue the Somnifax to prevent Cthulu and his minions destroying the world. Outside the less savoury side of Lovecraft is seen as he objects to being pushed around by women and inferiors. It turns out that our bounty hunter is not just mixed race but a "Trans non binary" mixed with some alien DNA. "wokeness" has entered the world of Big Finish something that did grate many viewers and fans on the main TV show.

There has always been a historical angle in a lot of Doctor Who adventures and sometimes it's necessary especially these days to see that people in history held very different outlooks to those found acceptable today but there are times I wish that Doctor Who script writers leave their political agendas at the door.

All that said this was an interesting adventure worth picking up.

Labour Against Antisemitism exposes Jewish Voice for Labour campaign

 

The rise of antisemitism inside the Labour Party led to the creation of the so-called "Jewish Voice for Labour"  consisting of pro-Corbyn ultra-leftists and activists some Jewish and others identifying as such just for the purpose of undermining the mainstream Jewish community and it's organisations.

This group which contains a number of expelled and suspended party members like the notorious Jackie Walker works to deny racism and antisemitism in the Labour Party.  They claim dealing with racists is a "witch-hunt" and defend these individuals. 

Many JVL activists have been seeking to expel the mainstream and Labour affiliated organisation the Jewish Labour Movement and have the audacity to claim persecution.

Walker is amongst those who claim that the JVL are treated as the "wrong type of Jews" when in fact the reality is that the far-left treat the majority of the Jewish community as the wrong type of Jews. 

The new leader Keir Starmer has moved promptly to deal with the problem of antisemitism inside Labour. He is in the process of not only repairing relations with the Jewish Community, has settled the whistleblowers court-case and has speeded up the discplinary process to deal with the racists inside the party.

According to Jewish News

A legal crowdfunding campaign backed by the pro- Jeremy Corbyn group Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) has raised more than £22,000 this month.....

The crowdfunding campaign’s description states it was launched by a group of unnamed “Labour Party members who have been caught up in the absurdities of Labour’s disciplinary processes who want to see them changed”....

Those behind the appeal had “been strongly advised by their lawyers that they may place themselves in further jeopardy if their names are made public before the papers are lodged with the court and this appeal is to pay for the work to do that,” according to the JVL statement.

It was unclear who was involved in the fundraising campaign and what, if any, disciplinary action they were involved in.

Labour Against Antisemitism issued the following statement:

“This fundraising activity by JVL looks a transparent attempt to pressure Keir Starmer into watering down his measures to tackle anti-Jewish racism in the party.

“A number of apparent JVL activists have themselves been reported for promoting antisemitic views and are currently facing expulsion. Among these is Colin O’Driscoll, an organiser of this campaign and co-chair of Labour International, the Labour Party’s largest CLP. He was first reported by LAAS for alleged antisemitism back in March 2017 and was finally suspended earlier this year.”

He added: “The Labour Party hierarchy needs to stand firm in the face of such bullying tactics, and ensure it presses on with its key commitments to an independent complaints process and a zero tolerance approach towards antisemitism.”

Dakka Skanks: Ain't a Skinhead

It's Saturday night and a Bank Holiday weekend so time to party and what better way than a little Ska music to liven up the evening..

Dakka Skanks are a Ska band from Brighton and this track Ain't a Skinhead is from their 2018 album Road To Brighton Pier. This 9 track CD is great fun and they are a small band that needs support. 

Go to: www.dakkaskanks.com for further info and to pick up their music.

Or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/dakkaofficial