Saturday 17 June 2017

Say You Wanna Revolution ...

Context for younger readers:  those of us who gew up in *ahem* the late 60's became accustomed to assorted Communists, Trots and even Maoists who were seriously and openly "plotting The Revolution", in the UK as much as in Vietnam.  This state of affairs persisted here until, well, essentially its last outing was the Miners Strike 1984-85.  As a university student in the '70s one would hear this stuff in SU debates, pubs, sit-ins and al fresco riots, to the point where one knows what it all means - at least, by the lights of the wannbe Revolutionaries.

And so to 2017, where we have a lot of indicators that have turned to Red:
  • deeply unpopular government of the Right (notionally)
  • a fractured Establishment with no effective leadership 
  • Unions fancying their moment has come 
  • public sector pretty hacked off
  • widespread economic discontent, all the way to outright misery
  • popular upswell of resentment across all sectors of society, even beyond the economically miserable
  • recent history of fuck'em-all-who-gives-a-toss political gestures (Brexit vote, late surge for Corbyn)
  • many student bodies in the grip of particularly unpleasant leftists, and the summer hols about to start
  • readiness to turn nasty at the drop of a hat: plenty of criminal-underclass street-warriors and rentamob leftie bedsit-youth available
  • plenty of other cannon-fodder too: jobless locals and migrants swirling around
  • hot weather

Yep, that ticks very many boxes on the classical Marxist-Leninist check-list.  Certainly febrile, and apparently fertile.  Stew into that mix the altogether new phenomenon of Social Meejah and mobile 'phones ... and we're hot to Trot.

So what's lined up on the other side?  One of the most interesting factors is that the Police is being near-idolised, even by many on the left, as an heroic component of the revered Public Services for their selfless responses to recent terrorist outrages.  (Obviously the other uniformed civilian services - fire-fighters, ambulance crews & hospital staff - get all this adulation and more.)   There may be strange things yet to come; but even with a degree of politicisation in ACPO etc, there's not an obviously mutinous situation brewing (we're not a country where the police are all owed 3 months wages etc).  And they are armed to the teeth these days: firepower that can't be matched in a hurry by, well, anyone (though watch out for Irish developments).

Likewise, the military is in relatively good odour, and has no history of being a political factor in the UK since the General Strike (and even then, not in any autonomous Praetorian, or mutinous, sense).

Finally, there's the Great British Public, which is extremely conservative and phlegmatic au fond, and saw off the first Labour government, the General Strike, the Nazis, the IRA ...

Who else is having such thoughts?  John McDonnell, that's who.  But you know what - even though this will all be coursing through his mind (and his veins, and his guts) - I'm willing to bet he hasn't done any serious planning for turning this into the Revolution.

Which is not to say he couldn't, and in quite short order (Drew's 4th Law of Politics), because the templates are all there to be dusted off - though he needs more than just political logisitics for a serious effort.   The Leninist / Bolshevik approach is of course to let chaos reign, then purposefully muscle to the front of the queue as the most prepared and disciplined force on the field.  Unceremoniously bump off any rivals on the left, and after a period of turmoil emerge as the only coherent political entity in the land.  Let the Right retreat to the countryside and pick it off at leisure. 

(By the way, the Iranian Revolution of 1979-80 took a very similar course: it's not remotely the case that Khomeini swept to power on Day 1.  Several other anti-Shah factions had a crack at it first: he came up on the inside many months into the piece.)

And still we wait for leadership to emerge on the Right.  As I said BTL yesterday, in an important sense the Conservative Party doesn't even exist right now - just a couple of baronial factions circling the wounded and dying in No10.  

Several scenarios come to mind, and many historical illustrations that may or may not be germane; but I can't even guess what will happen next.

ND

PS - enjoy the original

15 comments:

Steven_L said...

Buy at the sound of cannons?

Electro-Kevin said...

Since they've come back from Uni:

- the place in a mess, constantly
- cups and glasses disappearing up to rooms
- constant fridge/pantry raids
- sandwich paste opened, a tiny bit given to the dog and then put back in the cupboard (three thrown away this week)
- shit left down the side of the loo pan (what's the brush for ???)
- a dining chair taken out to the garage to reach height and stones brought back in on the wood floor (what are stools for ?)
- bags dragged along the interiour walls needing re-painting...

Bless 'em

Mine aren't too bad. At least there are no wild parties and they don't drop litter. The local park and beach is a mess though - other returnees picnic (don't even make their own sandwiches) and leave the wrappers to blow into bushes and into the sea, we're talking piles of the stuff.

We've already had to change the law because under 21s can't be trusted with a blade anything longer than 3" ruling out many potato peelers.

So Corbyn's army shouldn't even be given the vote until they reach 25 (or a job, whichever comes first) They should count themselves lucky they've got it and forfeit it if they riot.

dearieme said...

25? 35 more like - about the age when they might have paid as much into the pot as they drew out aged 0-21.


Anyway, will people come to regret the sale of Boris's water cannons?

Charlie said...

Things would be less febrile if the BBC and C4 news output displayed any semblance of balance or journalistic integrity. I'm watching BBC News right now, where they've just thrown across to Grenfell Tower, with the anchor asking "What's the mood?". Surprise surprise, the mood was "angry" and "people want answers". In fact the aftermath of the election and the use of the Grenfell Tower disaster as a tool to destabilise the government further is a perfect example of the danger posed by the extreme left, not that the BBC/C4 would ever label yesterday's "protesters" extreme.

Raedwald said...

The pendulum will swing back

- shadow cabinet minister's lost laptop found to be full of child porn
- LFB report leaked that Grenfell fire caused by Ramadan late night open charcoal grill by open window
- Lily Allan busted for Ketamine posession
- Polly Toynbee arrested for tax evasion
- Tom Watson caught having toilet sex with underage Afghan migrant

We still have a Deep State. It's just no longer run from inside MI5.

Electro-Kevin said...

R4 - Any Questions.

Well obviously there's one we are barred from asking but they got reasonably close: "We aren't building enough houses."

That's because we can't possibly build enough houses - no country could.

A clue was the R4 news bulletin before hand "17 men *rescued* from lorry - driver arrested for people smuggling" Kidnap surely ? If he'd forced the men into the lorry against their will - otherwise how can they be *rescued* ? *Captured* is the proper word but then BBC control the language of the news.

Anonymous said...

The report on the illegal immigrants on the BBC web site is not so bad. Bear in mind that a person is not guilty of a crime until they have been tried in a court, so explicitly labelling these people as illegals on a public web site is legally dangerous.

The BBC is already facing a big bill for damages from Cliff Richard for strongly implying that he is a paedophile.

I think for instance "six people who claimed to be children" does strongly imply that they were lying.

Don Cox
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-40313310

Thud said...

anon, are you taking the piss? tried in court? it takes 5 minutes to prove your right to be here ad after that you are illegal and should be treated as such.

Sebastian Weetabix said...

I'm feeling quite sanguine about the lefty twats. Things aren't as bad as the 70s and a few other factors make it unlikely things will really kick off. We have an ageing population and there's no lead in the paint or petrol, so fewer unbalanced violent hotheads than we used to have. Even Glasgow is going soft these days.

Sadly we have social media so the busy little bastards seem more numerous than they are.

Anonymous said...

the military is in relatively good odour

Good know that when there is a whiff of revolution in the wind.

Anonymous said...

"And still we wait for leadership to emerge on the Right"

Plenty of leadership has emerged on the Right over the last 40 years, and the Tories have forced them out of the party or deselected them if internal, and attacked them as racists if external.

ANY attempt to stop the degeneration of the UK from "the British nation" into "an economy" inhabited by poor people from nowhere and everywhere, ruled by rich people from nowhere and everywhere, and devoted to Invading The World/Inviting The World, will come under attack, and the Conservative Party will be among the attackers.

Anonymous said...

Corbyn/McDonnell and their union paymasters are not "planning for revolution" -- they don't need to. They are aiming to create such chaos in London that the Tory Wets -- egged on by George Osborne and the Evening Standard" -- panic and turn against May, thus bringing down the government.

The Queen sends for Corbyn to form a minority government, which he does, and then calls another GE in six months, winning with a small working majority. It would be the 1970's all over again, only not so pleasant.

If the Tories and the DUP don't stick together now, both parties are finished. And anyone can work out what Corbyn/McDonnell would try and do to Protestant Ulster.

That's when the real bloodshed would start.

Anonymous said...

Speaking in London, the Mayor described the attack as "just part and parcel of living in a big city", and urged white van drivers in the capital to report any incidents of hate crime to the Met, as well as the monitoring website tellgary.com. He said the peaceful white van community were vital to London's economy and infrastructure, and suggested car washes should give white vans a free wash in solidarity with them.

Anonymous said...

The BBC were quick to call this one terrorism and name the race.

Light a few candles, set out a few teddy bears - you'll be alright in a few days.

The BBC are deliberately stoking a riot. There is a news report on a Muslim girl killed outside a US mosque... and what does that have to do with us ???

James Higham said...

Hot weather. LOL.