John Lennon

I remember years ago some party member told me that Lennon got a hold of a copy of the 1969 edition of Questions of the Day which gave him the basis for the lyric. Is this just hearsay or is there any credence to this rumour. Was it even a rumour?

The USA vs John Lennon is a good documentary about his years after the beatles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pn7d_PTNBASome good interviews in it which go into his politics and affiliations. He comes across as well meaning and with a few ideas which would correspond with those of the party but he also seems very into his identity politics, national liberation struggles and some reformism. Probably partly influenced by the Maoists he was hanging around with.The article on Hippies from the socialist standard was one of my favourites from socialism or your money back.

That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying he had very muddled politics much of which was based on feelings not science. I’m also saying that he was heavily influenced by some of pals who were Maoists and of course by the politics at the time the Vietnam war. If my post had been meant as an attack on John Lennon then believe me it would have been a lot more scathing. First would have been his time in India while still with the beatles and all the dappy religous stuff that he got up to, which he later renounced. On whether he was a socialist or not I’d probably say he was, much more so than some of his pals who called themselves socialists. If only for the fact that that he advocated a moneyless, classless, stateless society. Although he was not a Marxist and had no idea of how to reach socialism. Essentially what I’m saying is he had no defined politics he had much in common with the SPGB but he was also very wrong on certain issues, while he was at his most politically active.On Imagine I used to really dislike it when I was a kid, I’d always preferred the rolling stones. It was only when I got older that I finally got the song, it was a great feeling when I actually did understand it. I’ve now become a bit of a fan of Lennon’s work after leaving the Beatles, whose music I still dislike. My favourite is probably working class hero but bring on the Lucie, gimmie some truth, God, woman is the nigger of the world and there are plenty more that I like and a few I don’t. I also agree with you that a piece of art shouldn’t be judged on it’s creators politics. However, if you are using Lennon’s songs to comment on his politics then further  analysis is required.Anyway here’s a “lost” interview with Tariq Ali which gives some insight into his politics.http://www.counterpunch.org/2005/12/08/the-lost-john-lennon-interview/

Again linking to other threads and discussions of the lesser evil, i see in the interview that was raised too. JL:…Like Richard Neville said, there may be only an inch of difference between Wilson and Heath but it’s in that inch that we live….TA: I don’t know about that; Labour brought in racialist immigration policies, supported the Vietnam war and were hoping to bring in new legislation against the unions.RB: It may be true that we live in the Inch of difference between Labour and Conservative but so long as we do we’ll be impotent and unable to change anything. If Heath is forcing us out of that inch maybe he’s doing us a good turn without meaning to…JL: Yes, I’ve thought about that, too. This putting us in a corner so we have to find out what is coming down on other people… Lennonism TA: How do you think we can destroy the capitalist system here in Britain, John?JL: I think only by making the workers aware of the really unhappy position they are in, breaking the dream they are surrounded by. They think they are in a wonderful, free-speaking country. They’ve got cars and tellies and they don’t want to think there’s anything more to life. They are prepared to let the bosses run them, to see their children fucked up in school. They’re dreaming someone else’s dream, it’s not even their own. They should realise that the blacks and the Irish are being harassed and repressed and that they will be next.As soon as they start being aware of all that, we can really begin to do something. The workers can start to take over. Like Marx said: ‘To each according to his need’. I think that would work well here. But we’d also have to infiltrate the army too, because they are well trained to kill us all.We’ve got to start all this from where we ourselves are oppressed. I think it’s false, shallow, to be giving to others when your own need is great. The idea is not to comfort people, not to make them feel better but to make them feel worse, to constantly put before them the degradations and humiliations they go through to get what they call a living wage.