The Politics of Dancing

The Modern Left and by this I mean since 1848, has been characterised by schism. The most fundamental of these is surely that between Marx and Bakunin. Following on the defeat of the Paris Commune in 1872 Marx engineered Bakunin’s expulsion from the 1st International. The Core of the dispute between them [1] concerned the role of the state. Put starkly Marx saw a key role for the state in establishing the new socialist order, in the shape of ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat.’ Bakunin on the other hand saw the state, in whatever form as fundamentally antithetic to the establishment of socialism. He saw in Marx’s prescriptions the seeds of authoritarianism and tyranny. Marx won the argument. The history of the twentieth century records the consequences. So I think it is long overdue to pay Bakunin his dues, so sadly over the lives of so many corpses, Bakunin got it right. [1] Though on Marx’s part the dispute was also partly personal, moreover he had a particular distrust of Russi

I seem to be attracting less and less comments. Two possibilities occur, either my erudition, acute insights, acerbic wit and the sheer force of my arguements have cowed my few readers into silence or nobody is any longer reading me. Now I would like to think it is the former however I rather suspect it is the latter. Let me know.

I’m reluctant to talk about Mr Galloway again, so much so that I have put off writing about him, but eventually you cannot ignore the smell in your nostrils. The last time I mentioned Mr Galloway’s name in what in fact was intended as an attack on the so called ‘Stop the War Coalition’ I got the usual response, along the lines of ‘that’s George for you a suitable case for satire!’ This of course is part of the image Mr Galloway likes to cultivate, Gorgeous George, the cheeky chappie , who likes appearing on Big Brother, jocular Georgie the Talksport shock Jock. There is however another George, this is the George who displays, in Christopher Hitchens words ‘ a different set of manners,’ when meeting Middle Eastern dictators such as the thuggish Mr Bashar al -Assad the President of Syria. Mr Galloway informs the Syrian people how fortunate they are to have such a ruler. Not fortunate enough however to vote for him in free and fair elections! Perhaps I should pass over the praise for

I see that Richard Dawkins has been on the receiving end of a humourless diatribe from Jeremy Hardy, a professional wit, in which he describes Dawkins, amonst other things, as "a fundementalist." Well Nick Cohen has already responded in his Observer column, / http://nickcohen.net/ , very effectively. Of course when the real fundemantalists come pushing their wieght around the likes of Mr Hardy, Mark Steele et al are either strangely silent or mouthing 'understanding' multi cultural platitudes.

In December Mr & Mrs Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang will face trial. In July they were arrested and charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and Section 31 (1) (c) and (5) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Their arrest and the criminal charges followed on from a discussion they had with a guest at the hotel which they ran, a Muslim woman. The discussion was about religion during which it is alleged that they argued that Mohamed was a war-lord and that traditional Muslim dress is oppressive to women. Following on from this argument the woman reported the Vogelenzang’s to the police. Now leaving aside the veracity of the arguments, a case could be made for both, [1] indeed I have made similar arguments my self, it is however surely grotesque that they should face prosecution for voicing these opinions, for in effect hurting someones feelings. I cannot help but feel that a prosecution in this case is not somehow connected to the fact that the Vogelenzang’s are Christians a

The First World War, formerly The Great War, was a seismic event that has haunted Europe ever since. It is difficult now to grasp the extent to which it both traumatised and shaped the peace that followed, a peace that turned into little more than a twenty year truce. Like all great historical events, particularly catastrophic ones, it has became shrouded in a predominant myth, in this case the myth of ‘senseless slaughter,’ the ‘Oh What a Lovely War/Blackadder’ view of the events of 1914-18. This prevailing myth has been all the more potent for having some powerful truths at its core. It is however curious that this is now such a widely embraced view, for during the actual course of the fighting it was a view held only by small coteries of Marxist and Anarchist revolutionaries. A Contemporary Cartoon The causes of the First World War have long been a source of historical controversy, subject to numerous revisions and feeding an almost insatiable appetite for historiographical d