Congratulations to Richard “Lenin” Seymour, the full time “political activist who blogs at Lenin’s tomb“, who is now a regular columnist on Comment is Free.
The political activism of which the Guardian byline speaks is, of course, Seymour’s membership of the Socialist Workers’ party: a tiny but vicious and extreme totalitarian organisation which does not stand for election under its own name, and which hopes to destroy parliamentary democracy and replace it with a dictatorship, led by the vanguard of SWP cadre. Such as Mr Seymour.
Today’s offering is a call for a General Strike:
If Unison did join national strike action in October, and Unite participated along with the smaller unions, it would constitute a sea change in the culture of industrial relations in this country. Such co-ordinated action would be as close to a general strike as we’ve seen in Britain since 1926. It would have a much bigger impact in the UK than in the continent, where general strikes are a more regular occurrence. It would shock the government to its core.
Why is Seymour writing a column in 2011 harking back to the events of 1926? Because the Socialist Workers Party is a quasi-religious cult, with its own mythologies and festivals. Calling for us all, personally, to participate in and experience a general strike is akin to Jews foregoing leaven for the next 8 days, or Christians walking the Via Dolorosa. It has deep spiritual importance to Seymour.
Why does the Guardian give a regular pulpit to this crank from a very marginal and fringe party?
Because the Guardian shares many of the values of the Socialist Workers Party.
UPDATE
… and 20 minutes later, the Guardian publishes another piece, this time defending Marx against Popper’s criticisms.
