From Alpha To Omega

This week Grant from Swampside Chats and his friend David Rylance to the show to discuss Gary Teeples really brilliant book: “Marx’s Critique of Politics’. This is the first of a three parter, the last installment of which will be a patreon episode. Teeple’s book is really a Marxist tour de force in my opinion, and all good Marxists looking at the tawdry state of left politics today would do well to read it. We go off on a Brexit/UK Election tangent in this episode, but don’t worry, we return with great unfettered force to the main seam in the following parts.

This week my friend James returns to the show to talk about his experience of being a Labour member, Momentum canvasser, and radical marxist during the election. We also discuss our opinions on the fallout from the election, what were the strategic and tactical failings, and a return to Marx’s critique of politics.

The articles mentioned are:

The Ipsos Data:
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-12/general-election-2019-poll-aggregate-v8.pdf

The Ashcroft Data:
https://lordashcroftpolls.com/2019/12/how-britain-voted-and-why-my-2019-general-election-post-vote-poll/

The Datapraxis Data:
https://www.dataprax.is/tory-landslide-progressives-split

LSE Media Analysis:
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/bbc-election-night-and-systemic-media-bias/

Loughborough University Centre for Research in Communication & Culture Reports:
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/general-election/

These two journal articles, both published before the election, are helpful in terms of analysing the longer term sociological and class factors at play and contextualising what happened in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ seats:

Brexit and the working class on Teesside: Moving beyond reductionism - Luke Telford, Jonathan Wistow:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0309816819873310

The class politics of prejudice: Brexit and the land of no‐hope and glory - Mckenzie:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-4446.12329

Edmund Griffiths in three parts - very good stuff:
http://www.edmundgriffiths.com/greatleap.html
http://www.edmundgriffiths.com/brexitwqwa.html
http://www.edmundgriffiths.com/notmentioningwar.html

Boffy in three parts - as ever - some keen insights:
https://boffyblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/why-labour-lost.html
https://boffyblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/healing-no-hope-part-1-of-2.html
https://boffyblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/healing-no-hope-part-2-of-2.html

The Lewis Baston piece that nuances the narrativised ‘Red Wall’:
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-myth-of-the-red-wall/

Interesting analysis from Callum Cant:
https://notesfrombelow.org/article/understanding-our-defeat

Adam Ramsey in Open Democracy with a good overview:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/dont-blame-corbyn-or-brexit-labour-failed-to-fight-our-broken-politics/

Useful Graund piece from Aditya Chakrabortty:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/14/labour-meltdown-decades-govern-votes

Chakrabortty also discussed many of the issues he highlights in his Graund piece at length just prior to the election with the comrades at Desolation Radio:
https://soundcloud.com/desolationradio/assessing-corbynism-with-aditya-chakrabortty-chakrabortty

Useful reflections from the Doorsteps of Bridgend, a seat that fell:
https://medium.com/@DrDanEvans/reflections-from-the-doorstep-e4337513d909

Tietze on his anti-pol beat, as usual - some very perceptive stuff:
https://left-flank.org/2019/12/13/anti-politics-the-last-gasp-of-british-labourism/

One of the clearest, most concise, and persuasive pieces articulating this position from Paul O’Connell:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/why-we-lost-how-we-win

Phil BC on the working class politics of Brexit:
http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-working-class-politics-of-brexit.html

Andy Beckett trying to positive spin it in the long view:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/19/left-labour-michael-foot-tony-blair

This week we continue our reading of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’ and get into the party form and how it applies to the Labour Party and first past the post electoral systems.

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

Join us as the Emancipation network crew join me to analyse the UK election post-fight shit-show. The MacNair stuff never seemed so relevant....

Panelists:

Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Shane - General Intellect Unit

This week more of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’. We argue about the concept of communist universal military training, self government of the localities, and the world of cybernetics.

Panelists:
C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

Today we continue with Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’, and talk about the ills of bureaucratic centralism.

Panelists:

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats

Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

This week we welcome Lawrence Parker to the show to discuss the Monty Johnstone 1967 pamphlet ‘Marx and Engels and the Concept of the Party’. We delve deep into the history of the Communist League, the 1st and 2nd Internationals, and Engels thoughts on a british labour party and the US scene.

You can find the pamphlet here:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/johnstone/1967/xx/me-party.htm

Today we finally start the boss level final chapter that is Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’, and descend into a long discussion on the merits of bourgeois liberties.

Panelists:
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Lord of the Serfs
Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

We have some more terrible abuse of the Trot-sect mania today as we eventually finish Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’. Hail to the death of the chapter which never ends.

Panelists:

Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Lord of the Serfs
Sophie - Section 31 Commander

We battle through the Trot-smorgasbord that is the end of Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’. Sophie puts Lexi on the leash....

Panelists:

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats

Pouya - Machine nose expert

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

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