Kmflett's Blog

The Frankfurt School & Cultural Marxism. Walter Benjamin, history ‘flashing up at a moment of danger’

The critical theorist and philosopher Walter Benjamin committed suicide on 26th  September 1940. He had been detained at the French/Spanish border and feared being handed over to the Nazis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin#Exile_and_death

Benjamin’s writings were wide ranging and complex although he was associated with the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, sometimes referred to as cultural Marxists, and influenced by Adorno and Brecht amongst others.

Many of his writings still speak to our times perhaps particularly.

His brief piece on the Concept of History (1940) for example grapples with how historical memory is understood in the present day and is an important example:

To articulate what is past does not mean to recognize “how it really was.” It means to take control of a memory, as it flashes in a moment of danger

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/benjamin/1940/history.htm

Like numbers of important left-wing thinkers from the past Benjamin was much discussed in the period after 1968. While his writings continue to be collected- particularly the Arcades Project- one fears he has become less well-known again now.

In the age of Suella Braverman, not beyond hints at what she thinks cultural Marxism is, seizing hold of the memory of what Benjamin stood for and why he died is in itself a small act of resistance.

Despite repeated forecasts that headline inflation would be heading towards the Treasury target of 2% in fact the latest figures show that it has reduced just marginally from 10.4% to 10.1%.

Despite the Bank of England’s obsession that wage rises cause inflation in reality no pay offer to a significant group of workers is anywhere near 10%. Meanwhile food price inflation with basic things like milk,bread and cheese, continues to soar. Food price inflation was 17.2% in March up from 16.5% in February. Far from supermarkets doing all they can to cap prices they are hiking what were their lower priced ‘value’ ranges. Their profits remain excellent.

In reality a key cause of inflation is Greedflation, the making of unchecked excess profits.

You may see some discussion of this in the media but what you won’t see alongside is coverage of why workers wage demands are therefore fully justified. Greedflation goes hand in hand with real term wage cuts.

*As the historian E P Thompson once noted in another context, we’re not hearing the whole conversation here

Orange paint powder at the Crucible was part of a long tradition of protest

A Just Stop Oil protesters threw orange paint powder over one of the tables at the Championship snooker in Sheffield on Monday. No great harm was done and publicity followed. The Championship  organiser Barry Hearn demanded jail sentences but in reality the protest was part of a tradition.

The Stop the Seventies cricket tour comes to mind, which successfully stopped an England tour by the apartheid South African cricket team.

Some have criticised the protest on the basis that snooker has no connection to fossil fuels. Protest doesn’t always work like that  as the George Davis is Innocent Ok protest that stopped the 1975 Headingly Test Match underlined

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-13519771

In Victorian times objects in protests were a good deal more robust than paint powder though

Recent assaults with milk shakes, eggs and vegetables are (at least from a candidate’s point of view) presumably preferable to the early custom of using dead animals as election projectiles. Dead cats seem to have symbolised hatred towards an individual. When the unpopular John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, died in Dublin in 1802, dead cats were flung on his coffin. Even earlier, public executions at Tyburn were characterised by the crowd flinging “the dead carcasses of dogs or cats.” Young boys were reported as throwing dead cats during the Gordon Riots in 1780. When such carcasses became an election weapon is unclear, though jokes about “poll-cats” were apparently abroad by 1812. In 1818 in Bristol candidates were reported as being pelted with “stinking fish, dead dogs, cats [and] rats.” Two years later Edward Jeremiah Curteis was commended for not faltering “at the thought of the rotten eggs and dead cats of Chichester” which he would have to face on the Sussex hustings. Thirty years further on, in 1852, the Ulster newspaper, the Northern Whig, reported that “there is seldom a contested election without broken heads… Honourable Members seldom escape the salutes of rotten eggs and dead cats.” There may have been a connection with his vote in favour of the Night Poaching Bill when M.T.Bass was pelted with dead dogs, cats and rabbits, at Derby in 1865. As this was an indoor meeting, the dead animals had clearly been brought  in by the audience with deliberate intent.

King Charles Coronation Anointment. Archbishop of Canterbury still backs Divine Right of Kings

The anointment of King Charles with Royal Chrism oil is one part of the Coronation that the Palace has banned the BBC from showing.

Charles will wear a white shirt for the occasion while he is anointed away from the public gaze by the Archbishop of Canterbury

A special screen was erected so TV viewers could not see the anointing. It is a genuine tradition-a French one- dating back to William in 1066.Elizabeth 1st reportedly found the oil ‘foul smelling’ while Charles 1st liked it.The oil was destroyed in World WarTwo and Elizabeth had a new batch made. King Charles again had a new batch too-this time vegan(Sunday Times 7th May)

At the Coronation the Royal Spoon was used for anointing although its far from clear this is what its original purpose was..

The Times (18^th April) reports that according to Justin Welby the anointment is a symbol that the King’s role is one for which ‘God’s help is needed’. Welby claims that it is a ‘private moment between the King and the King of Kings’. The anointment is where the King is presented to God as a servant.

We can take it that Welby was not paying attention in history lessons at school.

The Divine Right of Kings was abolished on 30^th January 1649 in Whitehall when the Parliamentary forces executed Charles 1^st. When Charles 11 resumed the throne in 1660 he did so as a Constitutional Monarch guided not by God but by Parliament.

Coronation chicken was developed for Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1953 and its still around.M&S are selling Coronation chicken sandwiches and crisps.

Charles and Camilla have now come up with a new signature dish- quiche. It is vegetarian although not vegan friendly as it contains lard and cheese. It also as the Guardian has pointed out contains two seasonal vegetables-spinach and broad beans. These may score on the Woke Scale but an absence of tofu is a significant concern

The Telegraph spotted straight away that quiche is a French dish. Is Charles making a culinary statement on Brexit?

Further Churchill (see the Churchill cookbook) ate flans not quiches and they contained meat. On the other hand he was a devotee of Gruyere cheese not cheddar….

Update

Charles & Camilla attended a reception at Westminster Hall on Tuesday 2nd May for Parliamentary types. Present was Jacob Rees Mogg who labelled the Coronation quiche as ‘disgusting’ and the broad beans it contains ‘loathsome’. The quiche was served at the reception although its not clear if Rees Mogg tried any

Culture War breaks out in the Brecon Beacons

The Brecon Beacons are not unfamiliar with war. The Army train in the area.

However a new Culture War has broken out over the decision to use the Welsh name for the Beacons in future-Bannau Brycheiniog.

A concern is that the Beacons name promotes fire lighting which in the age of climate change is not ideal.

Complaints have come from those who believe the Beacons are part of a national chain of hills where beacons should be lit to mark King Charles forthcoming Coronation. In fact while a fire was lit to mark Queen Victoria’s gold and diamond Jubilees (Times 17^th April) there is no evidence that it was used for Coronations.

A Telegraph columnist (18^th April) has claimed that the whole thing is somehow related to Marxism which according to him (and him only) promotes specious arguments to disrupt capitalism.

It would probably concern the Telegraph even more to learn that Engels spent some time in Bangor in 1860 and elsewhere in North Wales at Easter 1866 and could speak at least some Welsh.

Certainly both Marx and Engels were concerned about the impact of capitalism on the environment and would clearly have supported the Beacons name change.

Update

Rishi Sunak who is probably not a marxist has said, ahead of the Welsh Tory Conference, that he will continue to use Brecon Beacons rather than the Welsh name. However few people in Wales speak Tory.

Sunak. The spectre of ‘Old Corruption’ haunts the Tories

Rishi Sunak is being investigated by the Standards Commissioner over an alleged failure to report an interest in a Budget measure.

The measure made it more attractive for parents to hire a childminder via an agency. Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty has links with one, Koru Kids, and might potentially benefit from it.

Of course Sunak is the richest MP in the Commons and Murty’s wealth comes from her father not Koru Kids so any financial benefit would be to them, small change.

The issue is one of transparency and probity so clearly missing from the Governments of Johnson and Truss (and indeed as it turned out Cameron).

It harks back to the pre-1832 politics before the Great Reform Act when Government contracts and financial dealings were based not on merit and suitability but on who people were and who they knew. It was a politics of sinecures and favours.

Labour of course does not have the same issue except its continuing pursuit of the idea of public-private partnerships opens it up to the possibility of the same thing happening unless considerably enhanced scrutiny of such matters is put in place

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/17/parliament-watchdog-opens-investigation-into-rishi-sunak

The Chrism oil in question

One of many traditions, often invented or reinvented, that make up King Charles’s Coronation is his anointment with a special oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury. According to the Times (15th April) this is one of the most sacred parts of the Coronation ceremony. Clearly it is also one of the most mystical since the Times also reports that the Royals will not allow the BBC to cover it.

David Dimbleby has challenged Royal interference in BBC coverage of ceremonial occasions and Republic, the anti-monarchist group has written to the BBC underlining that Royal influence means coverage cannot be impartial and balanced as it should be.

It appears that the BBC was also banned from covering Queen Elizabeth’s anointment in 1953 so it might be argued its a Royal tradition of sorts…

In this case,and others too, the most important thing is to endure the boredom of the seaside for long enough; if you can you should stay there for the whole of April.

Engels writing to Marx who was staying in Margate for health reasons (2nd April 1865)

Engels preferred Eastbourne

Grand National Culture War. ‘Vegan mob’ focuses on horse cruelty

Over 100 people were arrested at the Grand National on Saturday. They were associated with Animal Rising a protest group which focuses on the impact of racing on horses.

The Grand National is big business and attracts mass audiences. Its also one of the least safe horse racing meetings. Some safety changes have been made to the Grand National course, but a horse still died on Saturday and two further horses died during the three day event. Such animal fatalities remain considerably above those of other well known events in the racing calendar such as Cheltenham.

Whether the specific tactics of Animal Rising were the most effective that could have been used can perhaps be debated but that is hardly the point here. Even the definitely not woke RSPCA has expressed concerns about Aintree underlining the importance of protest.

All this of course is too much for the Culture War right who don’t have an issue with the demise of animals in sport from foxes to horses. The Mail labelled the protesters a ‘vegan mob’ whereas I saw a crowd of legitimate protesters