I I ~number of fre open for ~as open for fi>ort, which I r afternoons ~when she ~to one of 1tin of sou,p. ~ion, should MouNTAIN WRoNGHOLDISM b glistening ly characters !Was nothing I sometimes thought that the worst thing that Marx and tl the middle Engels had written was that the destruction of capitalism I and the triumph of the working class was inevitable. If it was insington, or inevitable, this spread the subconscious message that really id 'Carnival'. Communists didn't have to do anything much because the Kl costumed world they wished for was going to come along anyway. They rn our street didn't have to adapt themselves in any way to how society was 10 I stayed in changing, so their ideas, the graphic style of their newspapers, the language they spoke remained locked in the nineteenth century, while they just sort of hung around waiting for capi­ talism to collapse. On the other hand if you didn't look too closely it was easy to imagine that the triumph of Communism was nearly upon us. The theory of Marxism-Leninism straddled the earth and appeared day by day to be growing. The two largest and most populous nations on the planet, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, were ruled by competing Marxist philosophies. All of Eastern Europe formed part of the Soviet Empire. Communist North Vietnam was about to defeat the

6I world's

world Korea, the Miami, Other its ism rilla of kidnappings

and

Lenin Communist thought, There of its

reasons draw ary',

Road,

Revolutionary 'Leninist', Leninist League Maoist Front

Party

the

Left-wing

the

own

core

and

Middle

groups

pure

'front',

populace.

of exerted

Tufnell their and

Communist

was

countries

and

were biggest

back

Party.

for cell

Cuba

of

libertarianism

Britain the

Group,

interpretation

Stalin,

a

so

that

the

that

such

the

names East,

and

patio.

few notion

solidly Party,

organisations

'party',

In

each huge bravely

Park,

and

Party,

Workers'

resided

But

early

Liverpool

Communist

in

(Marxist-Leninist), robberies

hundred

was

as

later

the

Communist best

Party group

influence.

whose

South

London

of

from,

at

the

Marxist.

the

'Marxist',

on

challenged

still

being home Balkans

a

at

equipped

it

society

Front

Sendero

called

of

of

the

Revolutionary

having

was

I

had Asia,

with activists,

ideas

including

had

Britain

had

NW5,

the

at

in

Bellman

62

In

Ninety

Workers'

Socialist

a

the

itself

the

and

folded

led

the

Parties

originally 'Communist',

only

Cambodia,

permutation

were South

teachings

the

difficulty

military

Luminoso

forefront

UK

by

(Marxist-Leninist).

support

the

and

most

the

hegemony

becoming

about

'workers', miles a

based

Bookshop,

in

America into

despite

Revolutionary

national

democratic-centralist

Merseyside

one

Group

Front,

India,

complex,

been

other

breaking

of

of

of

Laos

the

off

twelve

daily

firmly

of

of

a

Marx,

ideas

contemporary

'socialist'

a

of

the large

Maoist Italy,

headquarters

its

the

the

parts

member

these

Communist Front

'revolution­

r

and

conducted

the

55

Liverpool

the

words in

principal of Marxist­

out

coast

Socialist

portion

France,

Engels,

League

Fortess

US

social­

of

North

terms.

a

USA.

guer­

Party

from

true

and

of

the

on

of

to

a

r

I

who

was

with

would were socially Party's a customers branch. a Marxism ishing know a

Soon instead

Surely, interest in, Party laughter and case. be tion groups If

young

number

member

In

there It

on

to

that

diligently

always

were

the

then

In

drawn

the

this?' they

had

act

hostility

headquarters,

the be

I

to

seriously,

np, angry inept,

fact

in

were

apprentice

When

world

a

and thought,

but

met

of few join

favoured

like they

lot

at

Marxism-Leninism

that central of

would

'Who

struck

the

to

intelligent

still

any

the

the

not

of

with

and the

the hours work

would I

radical

and

only

inquisitive

members

moved

with

told who police

Bellman

central

flee

draw

Liberal

me

committee.

if

rest or were

with

querulous

aggression.

people

and the

their

there

a

when

you

as

a

have

from

politics

medical

bought

of

but

few looking

suspicion

spies

to

the Bellman

odd,

resentful

London

Party.

them,

way

to

of

were

Bookshop

strangers

London

sincere

learnt

who

doubts,

it

the

role

63

ask that?'

the

in

this

replies:

because

Which

extinguished bothered

student

into

into

The

to

infiltrators

dark

our

truly

to

of

Party,

Bookshop.

beforehand obsession

branch

get

to

individuals,

questions,

manning

dress

which

a

I

our

problem

group

might

themselves,

and

were

automatically their

took 'Why

position

turned 'Are

came

they

particularly

fantasies

to

badly

which

dusty

they

you

own

us

then

met

in

had be as

open,

do members

in,

the

their with

little

out

how

our

they

the

a

of

expressed

police

you

interested and

back.

with

they

interior, police spy?' a

met

shop,

to

influence. of

to

grievance

enquiries organisa­

sort

potential left-wing

the

to

the

resolved

want

became

distrust

quietly

seizing

be

would

If,

aston­

at

of

blend

spies.

shop

were

ones

who

say,

the

the

the

via

all

in to power in the name of the proletariat, were the various arms The leader and founder of our party was Reg Birch, who of state security such as MI 5, Ml6 and the Metropolitan was also general secretary of the Engineers' Union. Reg was a Police Special Branch. little man, an angry, self-taught intellectual whose pronounce­ It transpired that not only was every one of the revolution­ ments were often gibberish, but which many in the Party ary parties riddled with undercover Special Branch, agents and the broader trade union movement treated as contain­ from the intelligence services and part-time police informers ing profound wisdom. So well was he thought of in left-wing (all of them unknown to each other), so were all the central circles that Reg became the first and last Maoist member of committees of the left-wing trade unions. These men and a the then immensely powerful general council of the Trades few women, in order to maintain their radical credentials, Union Congress- the TUC. to seem more revolutionary than their non-spy colleagues, In the 1950s, Reg had found Khrushchev's post-Stalin needed to pursue highly confrontational policies (though Soviet Union too easy-going and tolerant, so instead he often the people they were trying to impress were other police expressed strong pro-Chinese sympathies, and for these he spies). Therefore a lot of the militant trade union tactics was expelled from the Communist Party of Great Britain. and revolutionary nonsense, thought of as typical of the He sorted out that problem by founding his own party follow­ era - confrontational strikes, pointless occupations, massive ing the Maoist line. From then on, Reg was often either in and impractical wage demands, petulant walk-outs - were the Irish pub - the Boston - over the road from the Bellman in fact the work of the security services and Her Majesty's Bookshop, drinking with navvies, or in Tirana, the capital Constabulary. Maybe the Arts Council, the Royal Institute of of Albania, drinking with the President Enver Hoxha. Of all British Architects and the National Theatre were also riddled the many little Maoist parties in the UK that competed for with police agents, which would go a long way to explaining Communist China's favour and sponsorship we were definitely their avant-garde and seemingly incomprehensible output. their preferred choice. The journalist Terry Pattinson was on And the senior London members of the CPB (M-L) weren't a visit to Shanghai in I 979 when a Chinese building worker much nicer to actual members of the Party, especially if they asked him, 'Do you know Reg Birch of the Engineers' Union came from Liverpool. The people at the top were always in England? We are told he will be Prime Minister, after your suspicious of comrades from Merseyside. We were thought revolution.' to have too independent a spirit, to be unwilling to uncondi­ Reg was a typical revolutionary in that all he really cared tionally accept whatever message was handed down from the about was the revolution, which, he said with relish, would be central committee. The Mao-inspired term they used when 'ugly, protracted and bloody'. Like many in radical politics it referring to members of the Merseyside branch was 'mountain was chaos that he really wished for: unhappy with happiness, strongholdism'. he wished for havoc instead. He had only a vague idea of what

64 6s the subsequent workers' paradise would look like and indeed Indian Workers' Association, a Maoist group we were hoping I had the sneaking suspicion there was a good chance that if would merge with our party. somebody like Reg ever gained power in Britain then turmoil It was a weird experience for me, visiting an English suburb would be permanent. which was identical to every other- 1930s semis interspersed Not all the members were such misfits. The co-founder of with parades of local shops - apart from the fact that all the the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), Bill Ash, inhabitants were from the subcontinent oflndia and the shops was a much more interesting and sympathetic character. He overflowed with mangoes and bright red peppers, sacks of rice was a man who embodied the nobility, decency and bravery and two-gallon drums of clarified butter. We were crammed, of those who were attracted to left-wing ideas and practice in the four of us from the CPB (M-L) and about ten Indian the 1930s. He was cool too, tall and handsome with a languid men, into a front room already overflowing with ornate furni­ Texan charm, and it was said he was one of the models for ture, brass ornaments and red Rags adorned with hammers and Steve McQueen's character in the film lhe Great Escape. At sickles. I wasn't paying much attention to what was being said, the beginning of the Second World War Bill had walked over being more focused on all the exotic snacks laid out before us. the bridge to Canada and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air I had never seen samosas, pakoras, mango chutney, raita and Force, something that cost him his US citizenship. Shot down bhajis before and was cramming as many of them as I could over the Channel in his Spitfire in I 942 and captured by the into my mouth when one of the Indian comrades, who resem­ Germans he was then imprisoned in Stalag Luft III from which bled an illustration of a 'wily Pathan' from one of the comics he constantly tried to escape. Bill was actually in 'the cooler', I used to read when I was a kid, asked Ranjana with a glint in being punished for a previous break-out, when his comrades his eye, 'Comrade Ranjana- you say that the Chinese govern­ made what came to be known as 'the Great Escape', and so he ment is the friend of the revolutionary working class.' avoided being shot on capture on the direct orders of Hider. 'That is correct, comrade,' said Ranjana. After the war Bill got an MBE, was awarded British citizen­ 'Well then can you please tell us in that case why the ship and read PPE at Oxford. He then joined the BBC. Fuck Chinese government is selling guns to the Indian government knows what he was doing in our party. He was brave, hand­ and the Indian government then uses these guns to kill the some and didn't seem mad at all. Naxalites [an Indian Maoist armed group]?' Bill's wife, an Indian woman called Ranjana, was much closer Of course the truth was that China had its own pragmatic to the model of a proper Marxist-Leninist: humourless and foreign policy objectives, which sometimes included support­ steely-eyed, she was our foreign affairs expert. One Saturday a ing troublesome guerrilla groups on the territory of their rivals group of four of us, including Ranjana, who was dressed in a and sometimes didn't, but Ranjana couldn't say anything so sari, went to Southall in west London for a meeting with the nuanced, since Communism only ever entertained a narrative

66 67

rear rear

me me

weekly weekly

near near

Bookshop Bookshop

gratitude. gratitude.

and and

pick pick

every every

pass pass

handsome handsome

as as

here here

attention attention

these these

revere revere

your your

you you

would would

Reg's Reg's students students

Apart Apart

of of

Naxalites Naxalites

the the

tricky tricky

that that

Apart Apart

The The

if if

noticed, noticed,

on on

the the

deliver deliver

the the

Chinese Chinese

for for

up up

were were

in in

was was

he'd he'd

own own

Friday Friday

young young

tortured, tortured,

branch branch

the the

you. you.

one one

question question

from from

look look

Party Party

the the

the the

the the

door. door.

from from

simple simple

or or

to to

and and

been been

a a

outer outer

are are

party party

lead lead

sphere sphere

thing thing

them them

printing printing

In In

gnarly gnarly

tube tube

carried carried

somebody somebody professionals professionals

night night

enviously enviously

sell sell

and and

a a

members members

meetings meetings

able able

that that

would would

Unfortunately Unfortunately

the the

singer singer

few few

a a

and and

fringes fringes

was was

mangled mangled

for for

the the

that that

pretty pretty

I I

fashionable fashionable

to to

to to

to to

of of

normal normal

old old

I I

did did

a a

a a

heroic. heroic.

engineers engineers

guns guns

a a

tried tried

plates plates

the the

always always

a a

steal steal

radical radical

minute minute

of of

certain certain I I

really really

at at

lithograph lithograph

of of

bloke bloke

of of

as as

got got

were were

for for

twenty-five-year-olds twenty-five-year-olds

a a

bookshop. bookshop.

to to

the the

the the

pronouncements pronouncements

weird weird

the the

in in

pop pop

them!' them!'

to to

world world

for for

Instead Instead

as as the the

the the

position position

good good

68 68

politics politics

teaching teaching

CPB CPB

arrive arrive

young young

this this

then then who who

meeting meeting

nubile nubile

amount amount

Cockney Cockney

the the

group. group.

Reg Reg

the the

Party Party

Indian Indian

and and

there there

tactic, tactic,

way way

place place

son son

(M-L) (M-L)

finally finally

smelt smelt

Party's Party's

Ranjana Ranjana

as as

brought brought

They They

men men

creepy creepy

his his females females

myself myself

was was

I I

or or

of of

late late

to to

of of

government government

was was

would would

in in

photographer photographer

fans fans

designed designed

of of

the the

get get

she she

a a

held held

risk. risk.

and and

terrible terrible

never never

Walthamstow Walthamstow

use use

as as

railwayman railwayman

as as fags fags

thought thought

and and

no no

right right

young young

with with

listening listening

were were

said, said,

social social

possible possible

would would

at at

Reg Reg

suddenly suddenly

my my

women, women,

Seated Seated

way way

then then

think think

the the

showed showed

at at

newspaper newspaper

to to

'Comrades, 'Comrades,

as as

free free

him, him,

Birch, Birch,

so so

services. services.

people people

the the

about about

Bellman Bellman

in in

devoted devoted not not

pay pay

starting starting

that that

at at

rapt rapt

at at

or or

that that

which which

travel travel

to to

back back

either either

hear hear

a a

and and

any any

the the

get get

the the

any any

but but

the the

this this

go go

the the

lot lot

to to

to to

if if

I I

in in

aims aims

ing ing

was was

had had

was was

to to

trying trying

ing ing

having having

some some

8 8

meetings meetings

I'd I'd

become become

branch branch

returned returned

saying saying

my my

using using

on on

style, style,

Everybody Everybody ignoring ignoring

or or

Done? Done?

somebody somebody

the the

so so

for. for.

Of Of

Chelsea, Chelsea,

But But

still still

and and

Molly Molly

after after his his

also also

ever ever

direction, direction,

in in

our our

of of door door

all all

of of

The The

two-hour-long two-hour-long

to to

me me

as as

many many

the the

been been

to to

This This

if if

mind, mind,

and and

undermining undermining

house house

a a

better better

been. been.

the the

eavesdrop eavesdrop

the the

at at

some some

our our

to to

the the

those those

crashing crashing

as as

travel travel

would would

Maoist Maoist

leader leader

organisation organisation

my my

knocking knocking

our our

would would

that that

weird weird

in in

a a would would

Liverpool Liverpool

members members

agenda, agenda,

leader's leader's

ways ways

pulpit. pulpit.

I I

leaning leaning

Not Not

in in

at at

Liverpool Liverpool

mother mother

house house

trade trade

had had

meetings meetings

to to

too too

lurk lurk

Anfield Anfield

of of

being being

and and

things things

open open

turn turn

on on

the the

in in

the the

be be

to to

the the

was was

spit spit

All All

over over

declamatory declamatory

that that

would would

union union

outside outside

in in

the the

joined joined

our our

on on

appear appear

Reg Reg

in in

south south crossed crossed

to to

oddest oddest

a a

but but

towards towards

Merseyside Merseyside

Valley Valley

behind behind

problematic problematic

we'd we'd

the the

was was

Molly Molly

member member

rained rained

the the

sense sense

people people the the

in in

a a

see see

secrets. secrets.

returning returning

rather rather

dusty dusty

69 69

while, while,

meeting meeting

then then

London London

to to the the

midway. midway.

the the

north north

to to

begun begun

back back

Linda Linda

the the

Road. Road.

though though

of of

our our

me, me, had had

gently gently

be be

the the

Party. Party. in in

door door

pile pile

Once Once

launch launch

speech speech in in

bringing bringing

of of

threshold. threshold.

fascinated fascinated

as as

of of

branch branch

that that

end end

leader's leader's

followed followed

noise noise

done done

holding holding

the the

I I

because because

a a I I

drunk drunk

or or

the the

of of

were were

Throughout Throughout

my my

would would

think think

with with

down down

it it

political political

In In

I I

day-to-day day-to-day

kind kind

of of

Lenin's Lenin's

back back

left left

into into about about

has has

members members

over over

chair chair

and and

the the

about about

was was

the the

difficult, difficult,

a a

flat flat

from from

this this

the the

Liverpool Liverpool

my my

on on

by by

tray tray

to to

of of

by by

attend attend

a a

last last

from from

our our

the the

city city

whatever whatever

a a

party party Fidel Fidel

in in

and and

group group

What What

CPB CPB

my my

was was

the the what what

be be

mother mother

guy guy

any any

of of

the the

year year

Liverpool Liverpool

years years

the the

chairman, chairman,

looked looked

conspir­

said said

resented resented

head. head.

sound sound

in in

Albania. Albania.

biscuits biscuits

because because

my my

when when

Castro­

than than

(M-L) (M-L)

of of

called called

Boston Boston

he he

Is Is

meet­

went went

when when

to to

effect effect

to to

this this

the the she she had had

was was

was was

old old

go go

in in Be Be

I I

of of I I Ian Williams, a tall redhead who had once been a Liverpool University student but had been expelled for political activity and now worked on the buses with Harry Jackson. Ian abso­ lutely hated my mother and was driven almost as crazy by her as I was. The feeling was mutual but Molly, being adept at manipulation, proved very good at making alliances with others in the branch who also didn't like Ian - those such as his very bitter ex-girlfriend who he'd left for the rich girl with the bourgeois-guilt issues. The leadership in London were also wary of Ian Williams because of his suspected mountain WETSHEDJ strongholdism and pretty soon Reg Birch was hearing my mother's name spoken of with approval though he still didn't When I was about twelv know who I was even though he'd been using me as a pulpit fading slowly but inexo for over a year. was known about Alzhc been that in fact Joe h: either way our GP coult be easy to date my mo1 decline but the truth ~ restraining influence on My mother was not l The anxiety all this genCJ rather than focusing on Jc ing about the state ofBri All through my teens cars versus foreign cars rootling behind machine machines to study the lit they had been manufactl a poorly qualified, badl) ance technician.

70