What a murky business is the Masters degree of Oliver Kamm, drummed out ex-journalist (in marked contrast to, say, Neil Clark or John Laughland, each of whom flourishes like the bay tree). From where, in what, awarded when? Exact answers are strangely hard to come by. Does he really have one, one wonders? (I do, by the way.)
And if Kamm really is The Master, then is John Laughland The Doctor?
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Kamm's obsession with you over on Straight Left knows no end. Does he have NOTHING else to do? And that's assuming only the comments under his name are by him. I for one doubt that very much.
ReplyDeleteIf ever there were an argument for 100% tax on inheritance, then it is he. But then, what would he live on, since he's completely unemployable, even in Fleet Street these days?
Keep it up about his dodgy degree. I think it's one of those things everyone who's anyone has always known, but if it ever came out then the fellow would be ruined.
For that matter, keep it up about his fan site being Straight Left. Who knew that Straight Left even still existed? But they know now. As one of his over-keen, thick as mince acolytes, pretending to be you, put it, it certainly gives some context and perspective to his book that that is where his admirers are.
Brilliant blog. Brilliant.
What's Straight Left?
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete"Straight Left was the name of a political group in Britain, and of a left wing newspaper.
Straight Left was a political group consisting of members of the Communist Party of Great Britain who disagreed with the leadership's policies. It was also the name of a monthly newspaper produced by the group. Though the origins of this faction within the CPGB go back earlier it emerged under this name in 1977.
The leading ideological force in the faction was Fergus Nicholson, who had previously worked as the CPGB's student organiser. Unlike the leadership, they supported the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. They also thought the party should concentrate its work in Trade Unions, and not in social movements such as feminism and environmentalism.
Because the CPGB's rules banned the formation of factional groups, SL operated in secret. Members of the faction contributed funds to the organisation through significant monthly donations, which helped fund the groups educational gatherings, often referred to as campinq weekends.
Its meetings were not publicly announced, and writers in their newspaper Straight Left and their theoretical magazine Communist wrote under pseudonyms like Nicholson, whose pen-name was "Harry Steel". The Straight Left faction also produced anonymous bulletins to try and influence CPGB Congresses usually under the heading "Congress Truth".
The faction also produced a a dissident internal pamphlet entitled "The Crisis in Our Communist Party- Cause, Effect and Cure", which was distributed nationally but not under its name. This was authored,(in all likelihood in conjunction with others), by veteran miner and communist Charlie Woods, who was expelled from the CPGB for putting his name to the publication.
Charlie Woods, who had been the CPGB's Northern organiser in the late 1930's, was the factions oldest link to a period when the CPGB was operating in a manner that the Straight Left faction hoped the CPGB could eventually return. A significant number of Straight Left faction members had developed close personal friendships with members of fraternal communist parties, particularly the Iranian, Iraqi, South African and Greek parties, who were well organised on most British University campuses. Many Straight Left supporters felt that the style of organisation and the overall ethos of these organisations was significantly more impressive than the CPGB at that stage, and as a result sought to steer the CPGB away from its maverick stance within the world communist movement and back to positions similar to these highly effective and highly disciplined and considerably better supported fraternal parties.
They wished the CPGB to return to a pro-Soviet stance, with high levels of membership commitment, a focus on working class organisation, as well as a strong emphasis on Marxist-Leninist education in the branches. The faction recruited members from within the CPGB and required members to demonstrate a high level of commitment. The faction was widely regarded as being quite successful in recruiting a large number of bright and able younger members within the CPGB, especially in the 1980's when Thatcherism and a return to overt class politics from the right, led more CP members to question the alliance of euro-communists and centrists who were increasingly focusing not on traditional class politics but on the new social forces around the environment and feminism.
The faction's opposition to the leadership of the CPGB was visceral and extremely time-consuming for its members, and many members were expelled throughout this period.
Though it was a faction within the CPGB it had supporters within the Labour Party. In March 1979 the Straight Left newspaper was launched as a monthly which claimed to be a "non-party, non sectarian journal of the left, committed to working class unity and class consciousness". It was edited by Mike Toumazou and the Business Manager was Seumas Milne.
Frank Swift was responsible for fund-raising and the editorial advisory panel consisted of Ray Buckton, Bill Keys, James Lamond MP, Jim Layzell, Alf Lomas MEP, Joan Maynard MP, Alan Sapper, Gordon Schaffer and William Wilson MP.
Straight Left supporters chose to stay in the CPGB, when rival factions split off to form the New Communist Party (NCP) in 1977 and the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) in 1988. Some leading members such as Andrew Murray and [Nick Wright] formed a group called "Communist Liaison" after the dissolution of the CPGB in 1991 that published a newsletter called "Diamat" but it later dissolved and most of them, including Wright and Murray joined the CPB. Others, (notably Fergus Nicholson) decided not to join any party.
The Straight Left magazine is still published by Nicholson and his supporters and they have organised a number of annual Straight Left conferences over the years."
And:
"Harry's Place was originally started by a writer using the nom de plume Harry Hatchet (aka "Harry" - none of Harry's Place writers use their full name), who was originally the sole writer. Harry was active in British anti-fascist and Marxist politics in the mid-to-late 1980s, and in this period was also a member of the Straight Left faction of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It is claimed that he took the pseudonym "Harry Steele" as a tribute to Harry Pollitt, former General Secretary of the CPGB, and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (though Harry claims it was a "p***-take" and "not a homage to anyone"). Under this name he contributed to a number of far-left message boards and mailing lists, including "UK Left Network" and "The Politburo", a discussion board for British Communists, the latter of which he set up. In this period he became well-known among fellow contributors for his support for "orthodox" Soviet Communism and his attacks on Trotskyists, in particular the Socialist Workers Party."
"Anti-totalitarianism", indeed!