Communist Party of Britain and Morning Star

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A "time and place" for Stalin-worship?

The Young Communist League (YCL) turned out in some numbers for the TUC’s “cost of living” demo on 18 June, all dressed up in black with oh-so-”militant” red bandanas and flags. This kind of posing has become standard practice for the YCL, but their chants were new: “One solution, revolution!” and “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! Che Guevara! Stalin!” These slogans were obviously intended to (1) promote the YCL’s self-image as ever-so-left-wing r-r-evolutionaries; (2) annoy the hated “Trots”; (3) direct a metaphorical two fingers at the adult Communist Party of Britain, whose contingent on the demo was...

No heroes of ours! YCL celebrates the Stalinist tradition

On the 18 June 2022 TUC demonstration on the cost of living crisis, the Young Communist League sub-contingent, dressed in black with red facemasks, made an instructive and highly damaging intervention. Among their chants were: “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! Che Guevara! Stalin!” On 29 June 2022, Andrew Murray wrote in the Morning Star , paper of Communist Party of Britain (CPB), defending the chant. He wrote: However, if there is to be a debate on the Soviet leader, let’s start with Che: “In the so-called mistakes of Stalin lies the difference between a revolutionary attitude and a revisionist attitude...

Steve Sweeney, Ukraine and Russia

Steve Sweeney, international editor of the Morning Star , has written to us: “An article written by Jim Denham in the 15/6/2022 issue of Solidarity ... states that I have ‘publicly backed the Russian invasion’. I would be grateful if you could point to where I have done so...” As Solidarity has said , this based itself on Sweeney being a platform speaker (in a personal capacity) at the “Victory Day” meeting held in May by George Galloway’s Workers’ Party of Britain (WPB), at the Venezuelan Embassy’s meeting hall. Sweeney didn’t say “I back the Russian invasion” at that meeting, so we withdraw...

The CPB on 18 June

The Communist Party of Britain put effort into their contingent on the 18 June TUC march, the first sizeable CPB contingent on a big demonstration for years, even if it was only about 100. A big banner, apparently fresh-made, said: “Stop the War. Britain out of NATO”. (Note: not, Russia out of Ukraine). A telling comment on the recent exchanges in Solidarity about whether the CPB fails to back Ukraine’s rights. The Young Communist League sub-contingent, maybe two or three dozen, were all dressed in black, with red facemasks. Chants : “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! Che Guevara! Stalin!”, and “One...

Reply to a reader on Ukraine

Reader Andrew Northall objects (letter in Solidarity 637 ) to my description of a Morning Star editorial as “repeat[ing] its refrain that the invasion was an ill-judged but understandable response to NATO’s expansion ... an error of judgement on Putin’s part.” Andrew complains that I left out the fact that the editorial used the words “crime” and “gross” [error of judgement], and thus I claimed it said the opposite of what it actually did. Andrew argues that my description of the Morning Star ’s stance (together with that of the Communist Party of Britain, who control the paper) amounts to...

Morning Star stumbles in fog of war

The Morning Star likes to quote Clausewitz’s expression “the fog of war”, suggesting it is impossible for ordinary folk to work out what is going on in Ukraine, and “official” information should not just be assessed critically, but ignored. This hasn’t stopped the paper’s International Editor Steve Sweeney (who has publicly backed the Russian invasion) reporting the Russian version of the bombing of a Mariupol maternity hospital in early March (denial that the bombing happened at all, while simultaneously justifying it by claiming the hospital was being used as a base by the Azov Battalion) or...

Delusions of "Non-Alignment"

The Morning Star — presumably reflecting conflicts within the Communist Party of Britain - continues to wriggle and writhe in its coverage of the Ukraine war. Pro-Putin International editor Steve Sweeney remains in place (though less prominently featured since he spoke at a London pro-invasion “Victory Day” event called by George Galloway), and regular contributor, Nick Wright, while noting disagreements within what he calls “the world communist movement”, nevertheless reassures readers that: “Almost all protagonists in this argument share elements of a common analysis; that the eastward...

Wrong about the Morning Star on Ukraine

It would take a very long letter indeed to respond to each and every one of Jim Denham’s falsehoods which fill his weekly column (obsession?) about both the Morning Star newspaper and the Communist Party of Britain. But that would be tiresome and I know would be well beyond the tolerance and patience of the editors and readers of Solidarity . However, I will just focus on one of the most recent, and allow readers to assess whether Jim is always telling the truth when he makes claims and assertions about the Morning Star and the CPB. Jim claims ( Solidarity 635 ) that the editorial of 13 May...

Murray’s way forward for Labour

The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is all over the place on what to do and say about the Labour Party at the moment — and this is reflected in the pages of its mouthpiece the Morning Star . The CPB’s little Englander ignoramus of a general secretary, Robert Griffiths, told a recent CPB executive committee (reported in the MS of 11 May) that what he described as Labour’s “failure” in the recent local elections was down to “two key factors”: that “millions of former... supporters... have not forgotten nor forgiven Labour’s attempts to dismiss the democratic vote to leave the EU”, and that...

Morning Star’s international editor breaks cover

The Morning Star and its political masters at the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) continue with their formal opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. But is becoming more and more obvious that this “opposition” has nothing to do with defending Ukraine’s right to self-determination. It is just a calculation that the invasion was an “error of judgement” on Putin’s part. In an editorial on Friday 13 May, the Morning Star repeats its refrain that the invasion was an ill-judged but understandable response to Nato’s expansion. Finland and (probably) Sweden joining Nato “illustrates just how the...

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