Kmflett's Blog

John Cleese & Donald Trump are on the wrong side of history about London

John Cleese’s claim that London is not an ‘English City’ shows his ignorance of London’s history. Donald Trump’s criticism of the London Mayor Sadiq Khan is just ignorant full stop and also very likely to be Islamophobic I intent

The words below were printed in the Morning Star last Saturday and tweeted by the paper. They attracted several comments to the end that historians should not take sides. One was from a Brexit Party supporter who I blocked, another from an antiquarian, fair enough from their perspective I suppose.

Even so I think historians should take sides. Right-wing ones always have done- take Jacob Rees Mogg’s execrable new volume on The Victorians for example which celebrates imperialism.

Of course historical research must be solidly based and in particular awkward and inconvenient truths discovered in the archives must be addressed. That said, taking sides with the evidence found is important. History is not just about finding out about the past but indicating how we might have a better future by not repeating some of the worse aspects of it

John Cleese who was funny once is at it again, doing what Rupa Huq MP on Twitter called his best Morrissey impression. According to Cleese London is not really an English City anymore.

Quite aside from exhibiting an unacceptable racist attitude, Cleese is also showing his ignorance of history.

The late socialist historian Raphael Samuel wrote a long essay, Comers and Goers (in The Victorian City, 1973), about London in the later Victorian period. It begins thus:

‘The migrating classes’ as they were called by the promoters of the Leicester Square soup kitchen in the 1850s have left remarkably few traces of their existence, even in the places which once served them as town lairs. No railway hotels mark the terminal point of their journeyings. No imposing clubs stand as memorials to the seasons they spent in town’.

Samuel had partly in mind what Mayhew called the ‘wandering tribes’ seasonal workers who came to London in the winter for warmth and shelter and travelled to the countryside for work in the spring, summer and autumn.

But within that there were large numbers of gypsies, Irish workers, who were driven to London for work, given the poor state of their own labour market, and of course sailors as London was an important port.

Samuel writes of numbers of Americans, Chinamen, Lascars, Greeks and Italians, while numbers of stonemasons also migrated from London to America in search of seasonal work.

As trade union organisation began to get a grip in London, for example in the docks, towards the end of the nineteenth century, conditions of work became more regular, and while seasonal work remained- the hop harvest in September in Kent for example- ‘comers ad goers’ decreased.

However with the rise in the possibility of travel, either by rail or sea (air came much later)so London saw waves of migrants come into to live and work in the City. From the late nineteenth century many came from Eastern Europe, including a significant Jewish population.

From the late 1940s as the earlier groups prospered and in many cases moved on, so many started to come from the Commonwealth, at first Afro-Carribbeans and later from the Asian sub-continent and Africa.

Like the comers and goers of the nineteenth century they did the work that kept London going, often with low pay and poor conditions, but they were Londoners as much as anyone else.

Along with this, and Cleese’s remarks are an echo if it, came racism. Firstly against the Irish in the nineteenth century, then the Jewish population and more recently those from the West Indies, Asia and Africa. Theresa May’s hostile environment is but the latest outcrop of this.

Again Londoners had an impressive record of countering this and standing up for all Londoners. Whether it was the Battle of Cable St in 1936 where the labour movement was central to stopping Mosley’s British Union of Fascists with their anti-Jewish politics to the fight against the National Front in the 1970s where again fascists were stopped in places like Wood Green and Lewisham by successful anti-racist and anti-fascist mobilisations which led to the foundation of the Anti-Nazi League.

The work has continued since, opposing the BNP in Welling and the EDL in Tower Hamlets and Walthamstow.

London has remained a place of comers and goers, a world city, where all are welcomed. Cleese’s ‘English City’ is an unpleasant piece of historical fiction that needs to be called out for what it is

The late Ralph Miliband who died 25 years ago in May (the father of Ed and David in case you werent sure) opened his 1961 analysis of the history of the Labour Party, Parliamentary Socialism, by noting that of all the social democratic parties in Europe, Labour was the most obsessed not about socialism but about Parliament.

Since then 1968 has taken place and demonstrations of millions have taken place in the streets about issues ranging from the Iraq War to the EU Referendum result.

You might think that even the most die hard Parliamentarian would grasp that politics in 2019 is about a lot more than the House of Commons. Unfortunately Nigel Farage,who has never been an MP, has certainly worked that out.

I note that according to reports (which to be fair may not be particularly accurate) some Labour MPs are complaining that Jeremy Corbyn will address the anti-Trump protest in London on Tuesday.

Since even YouGov, not particularly noted for the left-wing bias of its polls, has found that Trump has an approval rating of 21% you might think that this is a pretty safe thing for any politician to do.

You might also think that these Labour MPs, whoever they are, might have noticed that Mr Corbyn spoke at a huge anti-Trump rally in London last time he came to London which was as long ago as, er, 13th July 2018. Still that was a Friday afternoon and well, the MPs might have been otherwise engaged as it were.

At root of course the complaint is that Corbyn is not sufficiently obsessed with Parliamentary politics (although obsessed enough to have been an MP since 1983). In that however he is almost certainly in tune with much of the electorate.

Guardian report of Corbyn’s speech at the last anti-Trump London rally

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2018/jul/13/were-united-in-hope-corbyn-speaks-at-trump-protest

London Socialist Historians

3rd June

Contact Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266

Socialist Historians back Trump protests: we demand a continuing supply of history

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research at London University, has said that it is backing Tuesday’s protest against the State visit of US President Donald Trump.

The historians say that Trump represents a continuing threat to world peace and with that a threat too to a continuing supply of history for historians to research and indeed people to make.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, we expect numbers of historians to take time to join Tuesday’s protests against Donald Trump. This is a which side are you on question and we are clear; we are on the side of history continuing

Protest details here:

Downing Street protest against Trump will go ahead

Tony Benn on President Reagan’s visit 7-8^th June 1982: ‘embarrassing’

Donald Trump, the US President and a former reality TV star is in Britain. Here is what Tony Benn wrote when another very right-wing US President, former actor Ronald Reagan visited the UK in 1982

Tuesday June 8^th 1982

The streets were packed with police for Reagan’s visit. He began the day riding around Windsor Great Park in a coach and four with Nancy and the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh followed by 350 TV cameras.

Later he flew into London by helicopter and addressed both Houses of Parliament, in the Royal Gallery- an event I did not attend- and made a violent attack on the Soviet Union. He had lunch with Mrs Thatcher and another exchange of speeches. Back to Windsor Castle in the evening for a banquet at Queen Victoria’s dining table, which seats 144. Michael Foot was there I think, and Reagan made a speech about the Falklands as did the Queen.

It was quite unlike the Pope’s visit* which was much more human. Reagan is just a movie star acting the part of a king and the Queen like a movie star in a film about Britain. Mrs Thatcher is an absolutely Victorian jingoist. I find it embarrassing to live in Britain at the moment

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II%27s_visit_to_the_United_Kingdom

Beard Liberation Front

3rd June

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Mohammed Hafeez joins Beard of the Cricket World Cup, the W G Grace Prize, poll

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – MAY 26: Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan poses during the portrait session at the Malmaison Hotel on May 26, 2017 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Barrington Coombs-IDI/IDI via Getty Images)

The Beard Liberation Front has said that the search for the Beard of the 2019 Cricket World Cup is underway.

The poll of well-known hirsute cricketers who are playing is now on-line

In the beginning was WG Grace but in the twentieth century cricket went to the barbers. So much so that by the early 1960s a major shaving company was sponsoring one day cricket and players deemed insufficiently clean shaven were sometimes sent from the field to sort it out.

In the twenty first century beards in cricket are back from Moeen to Hashim. Its now understood that a beard can have a psychological impact on opponents after Mike Brearley pioneered the point. Beards can also have an aero-dynamic impact on play itself.

Beards will play an important, perhaps vital, role in the World Cup. But who will have the winning whiskers?

Contenders could include Moeen Ali, Hashim Amla and Virat Kohli. Competition is expected to bristle as the competition goes on

However the Beard Liberation Front has said that to be eligible the beard must at least pass the Clint Eastwood post-stubble test & will ideally be more in the WG Grace beard zone

Pakistan’s Mohammed Hafeez has become the latest player to join the poll after a magnificent 84 against England at Trent Bridge

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, at the moment Moeen Ali is the player to beat but every game brings hairy moments for the contenders

Before Trump, how Chartist brewery workers dealt with a foreign tyrant in London in 1850

Justin Von Haynau was known as a brutal soldier and one of those responsible for violently repressing the European revolutions in 1848

His reputation for brutality spread throughout western Europe. In Brussels, Haynau narrowly escaped violence. In London in September 1850, he was attacked by some draymen from the Barclay & Perkins brewery on the South Bank of the Thames who threw mud and dung at him and chased him down the Borough High Street, shouting “Down with the Austrian butcher!”.

Donald Trump in London again this week is of course personally responsible for no violence, at least in his current role as President. But without doubt he has overseen, approved and encouraged violent activity.

Protests this week will be peaceful but below is a detail report of what happened to Haynau when he visited London. Robust protest against unwelcome foreign tyrants is a great British tradition

The Miscreant Haynau in London

Well and nobly have the high-spirited fellows employed at Barclay and Perkins’s brewery displayed their disgust and horror for a ruffian who has dared pollute our shores by his presence, and thrust his scoundrel person amongst us. The following description is given of his reception at the large brewery, where he was introduced as Rothschild’s friend:-

On Wednesday morning, shortly before twelve o’clock, three foreigners, one of whom was very old and wore long moustachios, presented themselves at the brewery of Messrs. Barclay and Company, for the purpose of inspecting the establishment. According to the regular practice of visitors, they were requested to sign their names in a book in the office, after which they crossed the yard with one of the clerks. On inspecting the visitors’ book the clerks discovered that one of the parties was no other than Marshal Haynau, the late commander of the Austrian forces during the attack upon the unfortunate Hungarians. It became known all over the brewery in less than two minutes, and before the general and his companions had crossed the yard, nearly all the labourers and draymen ran out with brooms and dirt, shouting out, “Down with the Austrian butcher!” and other epithets of rather an alarming nature to the marshal. A number of the men gathered round the marshal as he was viewing the large vat, and continued their hostile manifestations. The marshal being made acquainted by one of the persons who accompanied him, of the feeling prevailing against him, immediately prepared to retire. But this was not so easily done. The attack was commenced by dropping a truss of Straw upon his head as he passed through one of the lower rooms; after which grain and missiles of every kind that came to hand were freely bestowed upon him. The men next struck his hat over his eyes, and hustled him from all directions. His clothes were torn off his back. One of the men seized him by the beard, and tried to cut it off. The marshal’s companions were treated with equal violence, They, however, defended themselves manfully, and succeeded in reaching the outside of the building. Here there were assembled about 500 persons, consisting of the brewer’s men, coal-heavers, &c, the presence of the obnoxious visitor having become known in the vicinity. No sooner had the Marshal made his appearance outside the gates than he was surrounded, pelted, struck with every available missile, and even dragged along by his moustache, which afforded ample facilities to his assailants, from its excessive length, it reaching nearly down to his shoulders. Still battling with his assailants, he ran in a frantic manner along Bankside until he came to the George public-house, when, finding the doors open, he rushed in and proceeded up-stairs into one of the bed-rooms, to the utter astonishment of Mrs. Benfield, the landlady, who soon discovered his name and the reason of his entering the house. The furious mob rushed in after him, threatening to do for the “Austrian Butcher;” but, fortunately for him, the house is very old-fashioned, and contains a vast number of doors, which were all forced open, except the room in which the marshal was concealed. The mob had increased at that time to several hundreds, and from their excited state Mrs Benfield became alarmed about her own property as well as the marshal’s life. She accordingly despatched a messenger to the Southwark police-station for the assistance of the police, and in a short time Inspector Squires arrived at the George with a number of police, and with great difficulty dispersed the mob and got the marshal out of the house. A police galley was at the wharf at the time, into which he was taken, and rowed towards Somerset House, amidst the shouts and execrations of the mob. Messrs. Barclay have suspended all hands, in order to discover the principals in the attack. It appears that the two attendants of the marshal were an aide-de-camp and an interpreter. He had presented a letter of introduction from Baron Rothschild. who had therein described him as “his friend Marshal Haynau.”

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

Our own reporter, who visited Bankside on Thursday, ascertained that the general had a narrow escape from death, as his captors exhibited a strong inclination to extend towards him the same full measure of vengeance which he had so often exercised towards the unfortunate patriots of Hungary. In flying from his pursuers, he, as stated above, entered the George, where, after seeking vainly for some outlet by which to escape, he found his way into a small pantry, in which was a door. This door the general opened with the energy of desperation, and was half-way through it, when he found there was no hope of escape that way – the conqueror of Hungary had taken refuge in a dust-bin. As he stood looking around him, half in the pantry and half in the dust-bin, his pursuers overtook him; and, as he stood in a stooping posture, had a good opportunity of thrashing him with their various weapons, one of which, a bean-stalk, about an inch and a quarter in thickness, was used with such hearty good will, that it was broken upon his back. He was then seized by half-a-dozen of his assailants, some of whom had hold of his coat, while others less tender of his person, grasped his long moustachios, and dragged him back along the passage towards the street: but watching his opportunity, he managed, with the help of two labouring men, who were ignorant of his name, to break away from his captors, and rush up-stairs. His newly-found champions closing the door at the bottom of the staircase, and mounting guard outside. The general and his two foreign friends who had accompanied him, tried to escape by a window in one of the bed-chambers, but not succeeding, were compelled to remain in “durance vile,” until the arrival of a strong detachment of police enabled them to leave the house with safety. The general’s outer man had been so damaged in the fray, that he was glad to accept the loan of a coat, and that from a pitying bystander. The two men who had so gallantly defended the “Saviour of the Austrian Empire” against his assailants, were magnificently remunerated; the one receiving 4s. 6d , and the other 2s. 10d. for his services. The landlord of the George, upon inquiry at Morley’s Hotel, Trafalgar Square, on Thursday morning, was told that the general “had gone back.” Several dismissals have, we are told, taken place in Barclay’s brewery, but the obnoxious name of Haynau, together with those of his two companions, have been carefully obliterated from the visiting book.

Reynolds’s Newspaper September 1850

Beard Liberation Front

2^nd June

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Heavy voting against Warner in early voting for Beard of the Cricket World Cup, the W G Grace Prize

The Beard Liberation Front has said that the search for the Beard of the 2019 Cricket World Cup is underway.

An indicative poll of well-known hirsute cricketers who are playing is now on-line and full poll will commence after each team has played their opening match on 3rd June.

In the beginning was WG Grace but in the twentieth century cricket went to the barbers. So much so that by the early 1960s a major shaving company was sponsoring one day cricket and players deemed insufficiently clean shaven were sometimes sent from the field to sort it out.

In the twenty first century beards in cricket are back from Moeen to Hashim. Its now understood that a beard can have a psychological impact on opponents after Mike Brearley pioneered the point. Beards can also have an aero-dynamic impact on play itself.

Beards will play an important, perhaps vital, role in the World Cup. But who will have the winning whiskers?

Contenders could include Moeen Ali, Hashim Amla and Virat Kohli. Competition is expected to bristle as the competition goes on

However the Beard Liberation Front has said that to be eligible the beard must at least pass the Clint Eastwood post-stubble test & will ideally be more in the WG Grace beard zone

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there was heavy voting against David Warner on Saturday but it is early days yet.

The Ambridge Socialist

69 Years of the class struggle in Ambridge

June 2^nd

Natasha and Tom: which way forward?

Natasha having returned to Ambridge is making her presence felt. She has taken charge of preparations for Open Farm Sunday at Bridge Farm and extolled the virtues of spending on credit to Emma.

Discussion amongst Ambridge Socialist readers as to where this is going has raised several possibilities. One is that Natasha is the new Rob Titchener, seeking to control and ultimately destroy Tom. A concern there is that such behaviours do tend to be exhibited primarily by men. Another is that Natasha will eventually go bankrupt and drag Bridge Farm and several other bits of Ambridge down with her.

Whatever it is, it being Ambridge it will take time. Capitalism will remain in crisis in Ambridge for the foreseeable future.

Hilda the disrupter

Hilda has run up the curtains at the Lodge and pulled them and then played dead so that Kate had to take her to the vet. Perfectly reasonable behaviour for anyone being faced with time with Kate surely.

Tom Archer wins the Single Wicket

Tom Archer won the Ambridge Single Wicket on Bank Holiday Monday after favourite Chris Carter was injured in the knackers. As ever Tracy Horrabin was central to matters.. She has ‘apologised’ to Chris

PC Burns has found the bunting thief, sort of

Yet more fragments of bunting have been found and PC Knacker Burns has continued his four year long search for the person who originally stole it…The Professor. Knacker Burns has vowed vengeance, but has he got the right man?

Ambridge Socialist poll. Has Knacker Burns really found the bunting thief?

In Other News

Alice is talking robots again.

Jazzer has acquired a spider, Webster…

The Professor has been twitching again

Beard Liberation Front

In Madrid on Saturday night Liverpool and Tottenham face each other in the Champions League football final.

Both sides will have many partisan supporters and I’m one being a born and bred Tottenham resident

It is however only a game and its worth keeping in mind that far more unites the two areas than divides:

1 Both Liverpool and Tottenham are Labour areas

2 Both Liverpool and Tottenham voted Remain

3 Both Liverpool and Tottenham are working-class areas whose industry was devastated by Thatcherism

Cheer on the appropriate side tonight but the history of working-class solidarity should be the winner in the end