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THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

The right-wing tory mp for stratford, angus maude, resigned from the board of governors and such newspapers as were at all interested in the politics of the subsidised theatre dug out the information that david jones had directed a play about revolutionary politics by the german, gunter grass; and that the distinguished actress peggy ashcroft - whose long association with the company has now reached director status - had canvassed for the labour party. 36 july 1984 marxism today the royal shakespeare company paul allen in december 1972 a famous letter appeared in the times over the signatures of trevor nunn, then as now artistic director of the royal shakespeare company, and his associate david jones.

SOUTH AFRICA'S DILEMMA

The south african military's surrogate force, south africa's powerful disinformation soviet union, hitherto distanced from the the mnr, originally conceived by rhodesmachine has scored some notable hits diplomatic manoeuvring over namibia by ian intelligence, and forged out of the recently. south africa's readiness to talk to tion of willingness to talk direct to swapo, pretoria's reverses on the battlefield have and a dialogue with angola conducted in mozambique by the end of 1983 can been parallelled by diplomatic setbacks over cape verde through us mediation.

CINEMA FROM THREE CONTINENTS

Or of its director, mahmoud zemmouri, who justifies it as a true reflection of the boredom and indifference of the young algerians of today towards the ideals of their revolution? unlike third eye, which chooses its films fairly indiscriminately from 20 years of third world production, nantes is a competitive festival awarding a prize each year to a film not previously screened in france. As it turned out, a gathering which had never considered the contradiction of a third world festival in a traditional capital of imperialism was aggravated by some narrowly sectarian positiontaking,and the drafting of the final symposium declaration led to such absurdities as a small group of largely londonbased representatives demanding that all third world film makers 'should critically assess the representation of women in the films they produce'.

Interview with MELVYN BRAGG

what do you think about the government's latest proposal to grant-aid the big four national theatre and opera companies directly, instead of handing all arts subsidy to the arts council? that's disaster. how do you feel about the cuts that have already been made to arts subsidy? they're whittling away at the work that's gone on to build up the arts over the last 20 years; it isn't as if we've got enough repertory theatres or cinemas, or arts centres, but what there is now considered a superabundance that can be chiselled away.

Labour's Lost Millions

As has been labour's collapse in june was worse than anyone expected: but what can we do about it? eric hobsbawm labour's lost millions correctly said: 'the labour vote remains largely working class; but the working class has ceased to be largely labour.' Labour must, of course, recover the support of the working class as a whole, but labour must also become, once again, the party of all who want democracy, a better and fairer society, irrespective of the class pigeon-hole into which pollsters and market researchers put them: in short, to use the old labour phrase, 'all workers by and brain' — and that includes not attlee had the charisma of an onlyhand the vast majority of britons who earn average building society wages and salaries.

The Heartland of Depression

the west midlands enterprise board (wmeb) one reason for focusing on the west midlands is that the plans and activities of the west midlands council in setting up an enterprise board are more advanced than elsewhere and it is interesting to see what has been achieved so far, what is likely to happen in the near future and to comment on its significance in terms of building up a system of intervention which will eventually play a substantial role in reversing the decline of the west midlands. de-industrialisation in the west midlands the west midlands is predominantly involved in manufacturing, and, within manufacturing, predominantly in engineering, producing mainly capital goods and consumer durables, particularly cars.1 the state, in response to the economic crisis, has introduced a package of policies over recent years aimed at shifting the balance of power between capital and labour decisively in the direction of capital.

Left holding the Flag

The emergence of national movements within the uk reflects the particularly catastrophic impact on scotland and wales of the decline of british capitalism, but also the politicisation of a sense of cultural identity which had historically been a component of the unitary british state and of british political parties (notably the liberals in the late nineteenth century, to a lesser extent labour since the first world war). there three elements — the continuity of the state and key institutions, combined with gradual adaptation and incorporation of new social classes; the strong sense of popular rights; and the long history of empire — mark off the british experience from that of countries where the left has been able to incorporate into its politics symbols of national identity.

Paisley and Protestant Politics

nationalist sectarianism if the economic differences between north and south were not so comprehensive as to explain partition, what of henry patterson's second argument, that the establishment of the northern ireland state was a defence ' for instance, bew, gibbon and patterson, the state in northern ireland, manchester 1979; henry patterson, class conflict and sectarianism, belfast 1980. The revolution was incomplete for a variety of reasons, but one of them was the insistence by the protestant working class that the 'loyalists' had the right to veto irish majority rule, and, ultimately, the unity of the irish working class.

Poland's Economic Mess

polish workers and military men, and western bankers and governments, are playing the last hand of a dangerous game in which either they all win, in which case an economic recovery can still take place, western credits are protected and at least part of the political achievements of the after-august can be preserved; or they all lose, with poland starving under soviet occupation, western financial circles are disrupted by the write-off of polish debt, american midwest farmers lose markets, and western firms lose sales of gas equipment and access to soviet gas. This is no more than 1% of the value of polish established coal reserves (if they were dug out of the ground and transported to hamburg — a big if), or two-year cost of the critical state of the polish economy, which had given solidarity a powerful political lever and jaruzelski a plausible pretext for military rule, continues to affect the course of polish events.

Interview with Mieczyslaw Rakowski

1 the system under which appointments to a wide range of posts in the state and society can only be filled by people approved by the party.  12 october 1981 marxism today because we are convinced — and we believe that on this matter many poles adopt the same attitude — that there is no alternative to socialism, and so far life has proved that socialism can't be built by a bourgeois party. may i start by asking how far you feel that the recent congress of the polish the leading committees of the party at many levels are populated, united workers' party made a positive contribution to tackling poland's so to speak, by new people, who still have to learn how to lead.

BONDAGE JUDGE SHAKES GISCARD

bidalou, 36, a leading activist in the left wing french judges' trade union, the syndicat de la magistrature (it really exists and has not been invented for the columns of marxism today), was suspended from the hayange (moselle) bench on 9 february last for declaring himself a 'punk' and appearing in court in unbecoming hairstyles and garb. Lord unemployed man who had defaulted on a denning and mr justice melford-stevenson bank loan, judge bidalou subpoenaed prime (who is itching to come out of retirement) will minister raymond barre on the grounds that emerge to continue their vigilant and famous unemployment was the ostensible cause of defence of the individual from state harassthe offence, and the prime minister was ment.

Thatcherism - a new stage?

But the constitution of all those elements into a radical political force, capable of setting new terms to the political struggle, and effectively condensing a wide range of social and political issues and themes under the social market philosophy and banner of the radical right is a qualitatively new political event. Leonard and corrigan especially have shown clearly the manner and degree to which 'thatcherism' has rooted itself in the contradictory experience of the working class under social democratic forms of 'statism' — rooted itself, exploited those contradictions, effectively presented itself as the 'popular force' in the 'struggle' of 'the people' against 'the state' — and thereby effectively mobilised a measure of popular support for imposed solutions, for a more authoritarian form of state, within the dominated classes.

The Piper on the Parapet

the poem begins with the knowledge that scottish revival is not going to occur, and the image chosen to express what is desired is therefore informed with defeat: the ' great music' is that of the maccrimmons and other great scottish pipers, and it stands for something not so much collective and national as a movement in the individual spirit intent on everlasting nature behind time, reason, and personality: your pibrochs that in the grey life of these islands are like the metaphysic of light in the style of plotinus, the great one-word metaphors of the enneads, gleaming godlike in the dry and formal diction ... the real historical scotland has so far lost itself to the spread of londonising ' civilisation' that it can only be approached by the imagination's leap from a state of absolute insulation. The opening exchange, between plato, burke, joyce, morand, and the author, is appropriate for it brings the synthesising technique to the surface, as a human debate: : peter thirlby : the piper on the parapet he proceeds to argue that the only chance for poetry, and the awakened consciousness which poetry represents, lies in the initial awakening of the masses to their political condition; from there poetry must start, and from there it is but one step to the whole condition: a' that is great is free and expansive, what ha' they expanded tae? they've affected nocht but a fringe o' mankind in ony way.

Notes on a Train

Sometimes we speak as if renunciation  122 the new reasoner mervyn jones : campaign notebook 123 • of the bomb, putting britain on the side of the angels, were a solution of the problem of threatening war. these are: (a) many people to whom we can appeal do believe that russia is a potential aggressor; (b) many more people think that russia's intentions are probably peaceful, but that you can't be sure and it's prudent to be on the safe side; (c) it is a fact that any nation which does not regard war as the supreme evil is capable of blundering into war, and this goes for russia.

The Making of 'London'

The street-cries are the cries of people buying and selling, the " mind forg'd manacles " are manacles of selfinterest, childhood (the chimney sweep) is bought and sold, life itself (the soldier) is bought and sold, and to complete the poem, youth, beauty, and love, the source of life, is bought and sold in the figure of the diseased harlot. Another entry in his commonplace book underlines the reasons for his choice : why should i care for the men of thames, or the cheating waves of charter'd streams, or shrink at the little blasts of fear that the hireling blows into my car?  66 the new reasoner '1 ho' born on the cheating banks of thames, tho' his waters bathed my infant limbs, the ohio shall wash his waves from me: i was born a slave, but i go to be free.

A Socialist Foreign Policy

(6) what labour should work out - and take every opportunity to discuss with the leaders of the communist governments, as called for by the 1957 brighton foreign policy resolution, moved by the n.u.m. and seconded by the a.e.u. - is a policy for european settlement embodying the following points : (a) a treaty including all the european members of the united nations, and also the soviet union, the united states and britain, under articles 52 and 53 of the charter (which provide that regional agreements may be concluded by members of the u.n. but must be consistent with the terms of the charter and, notably, leave it to the security council to take enforcement in case of threats to or breaches of the peace). Unification by ' democratic means' implies a compromise between the extreme adenauer-dulles position on the one hand of treating the east german government as so much thin air, and unification as the ' liberation' or ' taking over' of the soviet zone, with a free hand to k. zilliacus, m.p.: a socialist foreign policy 33 put the social clock back to pre-war capitalism and landlordism; and the kruschev demand that the east german regime be recognised as a sovereign government on the same footing as that of western germany, and unification should take place by agreement between them, perhaps on the basis of a ' confederate ' relationship which would leave it to the east germans to decide whether or not they wanted to retain their socialist economy.

Tolerance - Can It Be Taught?

Do we recognise the responsibility which is vested in us of trying by means of informed and enlightened teaching to banish irrational and sweeping judge- disturb the peace and harmonyof the world today ments from the minds of the young, and thus fortify the public opinion of future generations —the colour-bar, neo-nazism, racial discrimination and ideological conflict—to realise that one of the basic factors in such education must be the creation of wide human sympathies in the minds of young people, and the eradication of the irrational fears and suspicions which are at the against the sinister and corroding forces of intolerance and mass hysteria? even when those responsible for training the young realise the seriousness of this challenge they are profoundly perplexed as to what is the best method of meeting it. This means that the background of the gospel story as it was known and taken for granted by its authors, should be described when- ever it is read and the unwritten implications of that story carefully examined, thus the class would need to be reminded that jesus andall his early followers were jews, that he himself was attractive, brought up in the jewish faith, and that his appeal was primarily based on the teachings of so-called christians, yet they have never attached a stigma to christendom as a whole, the young, who are often more generously inclined than their elders, could be impressed with the importance of exercising charity and taking the full historical facts into account when they pass judgement on a small group of human beings who have had a toughstruggle in history, moses, the prophets and the rabbis; that he was put to death, in roman fashion, by the decision of an oppressive roman governor, at the instiga- tion of a section of the priesthood who attempted to stir up popular feeling against him.

The State of the British Theatre

the market for new plays for these theatres outside the west end is narrowing down to reproductions and to the limited output of the royal shakespeare and the national theatre, with periodic crumbs from theatre workshop (usually too elaborate to produce), bernard miles and the occasional enterprising rep. what price work? unless i become a member of the national theatre or royal shakespeare companies this is the world i inhabit as an actor. The second was a demonstrative process, the third is just another professional theatre has for many years been extremely selfindulgent towards amateur work, an attitude, i think, arising out of the social cachet of the pro- “company: necessary, desirable maybe, but valid fessional theatre in the 20’s and 30’s and one only so far as it presents good work like any other professional company.

Signpost of the 80's

If one could believe in the black and white picture of the Labour

Being Gay: Politics, Identity, Pleasure

The last of these points concerns the representational structures informing what it means to 'be gay' within contemporary british culture - in relation to defining forms of gay history and a gay 'life-style' - and how an understanding of those structures may contribute to the future of a socialism that finds itself increasingly obliged to address issues arising from the links between political and sexual identities. I would wish to emphasize that to 'be gay' it is necessary to comprehend the historical significance of the pleasure camp has given gay men in coping with a world that prohibits gay representation.

One Day a short story

tion with prices determined by an inexorable interplay of producer costs and consumer demand is further undermined by the fact that unrestricted laissez-faire very rapidly throws up a great mountain of monopolistic, monopsonistic and other restrictive practices which prevent any equality between the marginal cost of the workers’ and producers’ effort and the marginal value to the consumer of the end product; and such an equality is fundamental to the way in which the price mechanism under laissez-faire is alleged to ensure a socially just use of resources. t h e n eed fo r d e m o c r a tic s o c ia lism in the search for socialism this, then, that i have described, is the variety of socialist political philosophy which alone seems to me to commend itself on the grounds of the fundamental moral imperatives of happiness and freedom which, unlike socialism in all its complexity, can and do seem intuitively, as well as rationally, acceptable and essential to anyone of a recognisably left wing general psychological disposition.

Art History Differently: Griselda Pollock

Feminism will always be disabled by the principal terms of modernist art history: its formalism and ahistoricism, its reverence for the avant-garde and the individual artist-hero, its concept of art as individual expression or social reflection, its sense of itself as objective and disinterested, its pursuit of universal values at once transcendent (of mundane social relations) and intrinsic (to the autonomous work of art, severed from the social circumstances of its production and circulation). for more than a century feminist art history has been pulled between the poles of 'sameness' and 'difference': women are as good as men (by the same criteria) though subject to difficulties and discrimination in practice, or women produce a specifically womanly art with womanly values (something long argued by writers who patronize women).

Narratives Of Nationalism: Being 'British'

It produces a space (in both the physical, temporal, and symbolic sense) in which previous social relations, economic organization, and established knowledges and expertise are thrown into question, crisis, and movement; in which work may become discontinuous; in which ecology will not be of peripheral concern to the economy but part of the same social budget; in which the gender of power and politics can no longer be assumed or ignored; in which the exhaustion of the post-war consensus and the hardening of ideological discourses may, paradoxically, encourage the creation of transversal connections over previous political divisions, as, for example, in the case of sexual rights and freedoms; in which native perspectives may be frequently interrupted and forced to accommodate transnational tendencies and realities; and in which consumption is not a byproduct of industrial production but a self-generating economy and way of life no longer limited to the 'family unit' but now characterized by highly fluid and heterogeneous channels of consumption that, in t u r n , are symptoms of important changes in the very conception of 'production' and 'markets'. 4 2 t h e combination of such features is forcibly changing the context and nature of existing social and cultural powers and firmly 'puts on the agenda the emancipation of politics from its subordination to economics'. In the same vein, recent appeals to popular culture or to the gramscian concept of the 'national popular' can also drive into an even tighter fit the racial and nationalist connotations of a particular culture and 'people', thereby obscuring those other cultures and 'peoples' whose very presence is today forcing a critical redefinition of 'british culture as a whole'.24 in the construction of the nation as an 'imagined community', to use benedict anderson's term, we discover that 'race' is clearly a social and political construction; it is not simply something to do with the colour of our skin.

Social Class and the Psyche

148  social class and the psyche contrast the middle-class children’s discussion of independent travel with that of a group of black and white working-class boys from the same class: david i go everywhere, wood green, holloway, chapel. We wanted to see what the use of psychoanalytic ideas might usefully tell us about the lived experiences not only of urban working-class children but also middle-class children, who are so often excluded from discussions of social class.

The Values of Community Writing

a brief history of community writing community writing has been in common usage since the early 1980s to describe forms of writing and publishing, and forms of reading that writing, which exist outside the dominant literary and educational institutions and the relations of reading and writing which they maintain and promote. Soundings issue 12 summer 1999 the values of community writing rebecca o'rourke and lynette hunter rebecca o'rourke and lynette hunter describe the development of community writing in the uk and look at its relationship to transversal politics unlike the 'doing transversal politics' seminar at gresham in january 1999, which grew out of several years of work with a core group of women, 'translating practices, translating words' brought together a range of cultural practitioners who in the main worked in isolation from each other.