ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by DavidBOC

I wonder if any current MP's, peers etc were formerly part of CPGB

When I was filling in my (very basic) vetting forms before joining up I was just about to ask a family friend who had known me since birth on the basis he was a Government Scientist on the mushroom cloud bangy-type stuff. Just before I did so someone mentioned he was a former CPGB member.

The 17 year old me thought discretion was the better part of valour, cast away snob value & asked a decent chap who was an RAF MT Sgt (the equivalent to a WOII, you know) to do the bizzo instead.

Originally Posted by WolvoExPunk

Back in the 80s and 90s, Wolverhampton had an active branch of the Socialist Workers Party

That's not the Communist Party though. There was the SWP and the Militant, the Communist Party, the Revolutionary Communist Party and several others. Although they may seem like very similar organisations, there are actually marked differences between them and some of the differences are quite a lot.

Originally Posted by WolvoExPunk

An academic? You mean he wasn't a miner, a steelworker, a docker, a shipbuilder, a bus driver, a railway engineer, a tradesman, a labourer, a clerk, a sailor, soldier or any other type of blue collar occupation?

No, I find that very hard to believe. There is no way the working class members of any Marxist organisation are gonna take the blindest bit of notice of the say so of some jumped up middle class academic prick. Surely Bugz will clarify this. What was Karl Marx's income? He must have had some type of job.

Karl's dad was a wealthy lawyer who owned real estate, including vineyards in France. Karls mom was from a wealthy family of manufacturers named Phillips, the family firm now makes lots of electrical/electronic thingies.

Originally Posted by CaptainPlume

Bugsy's politics may be tonk, but AFAIK (like whet/sven) he did actually serve & provides a different POV. If he has been banned I say Free The Bugsy One (with every four gallons).

Bugz does have a rather unique view of politics. Undoubtedly he served. However, whenever he posts anything I check the wind direction. Before I urinate into the prevailing wind, I reassure myself that my action is more productive than trying to discuss anything with bugz.

Originally Posted by CaptainPlume

When I was filling in my (very basic) vetting forms before joining up I was just about to ask a family friend who had known me since birth on the basis he was a Government Scientist on the mushroom cloud bangy-type stuff. Just before I did so someone mentioned he was a former CPGB member.

The 17 year old me thought discretion was the better part of valour, cast away snob value & asked a decent chap who was an RAF MT Sgt (the equivalent to a WOII, you know) to do the bizzo instead.

Sometimes they do a lot of background. A good friend and grad school classmate, USN officer who was getting cleared Yankee White told me that he had listed me as one of his friends and I might be contacted. A few weeks later an investigator called and came by my office and asked lots of questions. He did get the clearance. Of course when I let my friend know that the investigator had stopped by I told him that I had told the investigator "He's a really fine person on the days when he is sober as far as I can recall, it has been a while since he was sober"

Originally Posted by Pyianno

Ken Livingstone is an old communist.

Noooooooo???????

Originally Posted by samain11

Catherine Ashton, current EU foreign minister, treasurer of the CND when she took money from the Soviets via CPGB, never been elected to Guvmint but was put into the Lords and given a Gobmint job by T.Bliar. Degree in Sociology and an impeccable working class background, labour royalty really...and no.. you wouldn't, I wouldn't for certain.

You're not wrong, are you ?

The link to the pic says 'Baroness_Ashton_headshot' - she bloody well ought to be, purely on aesthetic grounds if nothing else.

Originally Posted by rgjbloke

That's not the Communist Party though. There was the SWP and the Militant, the Communist Party, the Revolutionary Communist Party and several others. Although they may seem like very similar organisations, there are actually marked differences between them and some of the differences are quite a lot.

Splitters.