The Unorthodox Website Blog

Apathy is perhaps the biggest obstacle to human progress, and I find in my older years I’m guilty of it myself. I write my political blogs, but what do I actually DO nowadays? In my younger days I was always on protest marches or demonstrations, getting myself arrested, or something.

Ever since 2 million people marched thru London to protest the imminent second Iraq War in 2003, just to be completely ignored by Tony Blair who took his orders straight from the White House not from public opinion, I’ve not seen the usefulness of public protest. I have been on a few anti-nuclear bomb demonstrations, but I know they’ll never have any effect.

Yet I shouldn’t feel like this. It was public demonstrations on a mass scale across Eastern and Central Europe which brought down the deformed Socialist regimes.

Further to my last two blogs, on Trotsky’s ideas for ‘permanent revolution’ and the ‘Lost World of Communism’ BBC 2 series, both these articles highlight the very real problems of resolving disputes and disagreements under the conditions of Socialism. This is especially true when it is a one-party State, or where one party (the Marxist-Leninist party naturally) dominates any coalition or united front. These problems are magnified if there is at the same time a civil war going on, as in Russia in the years after the Bolshevik revolution, or if Socialism is being undermined and attacked by foreign intelligence agencies and by their agents/collaborators inside the country.

Take the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, where there were uprisings and revolts, and a full-scale civil war, going on aided by foreign powers determined to crush the revolution. One of the biggest uprisings was the Kronstadt Rebellion, where a series of demands were put forward, and rejected.

Rally in Marx-Engels Platz, Berlin – Capital of the GDR, September 1968 

BBC 2 is broadcasting this series. The first was about the GDR (East Germany) and this week it was about the CSSR (Czechoslovakia), both countries which no longer exist. The GDR was absorbed into the FRG (West Germany) and Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Although both programs were negative towards Communism and Socialism, there were in each some supporters of the system who still missed things about it. But of the two programs so far broadcast, the one on Czechoslovakia was the most negative. Very depressing in fact.

An advocate of Trotskyism on the quiz progam ‘Mastermind’ predictably insisted that it was democratic, whereas what existed in the Soviet Union and other Socialist countries after Lenin died and Stalin took over wasn’t.

The problem with this statement, of course, is that both Trotskyism and so-called ‘Stalinism’ have their basis in the very same Marxist-Leninist theories. Since these theories are seriously flawed, the end result of any version of Marxism-Leninism is likely to be the same, i.e. an imperfect Socialism, corruption, a new bureaucratic ruling class and dictatorship by them over the masses.

Leon Trotsky differed from Joseph Stalin in two main areas: Trotsky advocated world revolution, whilst Stalin after Lenin’s death claimed it was possible to build Socialism in one country, and Trotsky also advocated ‘permanent revolution’ so no new bourgeoisie or ruling class could emerge.

I was a complete virgin till I was 22. This was 1967, and the only reason I lost my virginity then was because that was the year the 1967 Sexual Offences Act was passed supposedly making male homosexuality legal. It actually did nothing of the sort, as will be seen from the following article. All it did was allow certain gay clubs/pubs to obtain legal status, and allow established gay male couples to live together on their own, provided nobody else was on the premises.

Before the 1967 Act all the above were also illegal. Male homosexuals were outside the law completely, and therefore liable to arrest and easy targets for blackmailers. Gay bars and clubs were likely to be raided by the police, and everyone inside arrested. Gay men were frequently made homeless, since landlords would not tolerate gay tenants.

In this case, it’s TV adverts. Most of the old ones had jolly little jingles. I can remember so many of them:

You’ll wonder where the yellow went

When you brush your teeth with Pepsodent

There was even a children’s toothpaste which came in five different flavors and colors:

Five luvverly flavors in Punch & Judy toothpaste

A comedian builds part of his stage act round these old adverts, as he plays mainly to older audiences. He only has to say: Boom boom boom boom

And the audience shouts back: Esso Blue

Which was a paraffin of course, or kerosene as they call it in America. There were jingles for Murraymints the too good to hurry mint, for Hoover which beats as it sweeps as it cleans, and for new cleaning products like Windolene and Handy Andy (strong as a gentle man). For Germolene, Double Diamond, Cherry B, Mazda light bulbs, Omo detergent - its name meant ’same’ as in ’same as all the others’, most were made by Lever Brothers anyway.