We Want The World *

I don't know what has spurred me to write the following (probably the visit to this blog from the Labour (ex?) councillor in Lewisham ) who I must link to, but, whatever, here goes. And, warning, it's probably dead boring.

When I moved to London (New Cross to be precise) in 1988, I was a revolutionary. That I was a member of the Labour Party at the time didn't make me think this was a contradiction in terms. You see, I came from a Labour Party tradition in my home town of people who wanted to change the world for the better, people who strived for a redistribution of wealth, for a democratic society and for a peaceful one. Anyway, I waste little time after moving in finding out about local Labour Party meetings. Memory doesn't serve me well here, but I think they were simply ward party meetings, so that would have been Telegraph Hill (conservation area, don't you know!). I go along to a few and think they are rather different affairs from those I attended in my home town and by far more middle-class than I was used to. I would always get a welcoming smile from the local MP, who lived in the ward, but, apart from that, no-one said hello, never mind asked if I was going down the pub after the meeting. Now, where I was from, any new face was practially ordered to join us for a pint, if nothing else, this was to ensure that the faction I was involved with would get an extra vote at the next meeting. The only person to say hello was, I quickly found out, in the Militant Tendency, not my favourite people, it has to be said. But, at least he said hello and asked if I was new to the area and all that pish. He's now a Socialist Party (the ones who stole the name from the party which was already called that) councillor in Lewisham after leaving the Labout Party many years ago (or did he get expelled, I can't remember). I mention him cos after about a year or so, I decided that the Labour Party in Telegraph Hill, Lewisham or anywhere else was not the party for me. I joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. A few months later, said Militant Tendency geezer turns up at my door to ask me if I'll support him for some position or other. I took pleasure in saying "no, I've joined the CP" even though he was the only person at those meetings to speak to me.

So, what's the point of this post? Probably only to say that everyone who was in the Telegraph Hill ward of the Labour Party from 1988-1990 was an unfriendly middle-class tosser, except for the Trot, who was maybe friendly, but was still a tosser (had to be, he was in the Millies). Of course, I didn't meet any unfriendly middle-class tossers in the CPGP. Except for the middle-class tosser who was the Deptford CPGB branch delegate to the last congress who voted to wind the party up and give all the money to Nina Temple, Mark Perryman, Martin Jacques et al!!!!