Former member Robert Barltrop features in new BBC One programme, 2030 23 Feb.

[hallblithe]

‘Lucy Worsley explores the lives of six real people who lived, worked and volunteered during the Blitz, highlighting the government’s reliance on ordinary people..’

[imposs1904]

Nice spot.

My guess is that his contributions will be based on the trilogy of short books that Barltrop wrote which were published by (I think) Waltham Forest Libraries back in the 80s.

[Mike Foster]

Sounds interesting! I’ll tune in and probably write about the programme for the next Proper Gander piece.

[ALB]

Don’t expect him to say anything much socialist as he was one of the few party members who joined up to fight in that imperialist war. As he joined the RAF he was a volunteer not a conscript.

[rodshaw]

He also featured on TV in the 80s or 90s, in a programme about the English language. I think he was talking about London dialects. He was also quoted in the book the TV programme was based on.

[imposs1904]

ALB wrote:
“Don’t expect him to say anything much socialist as he was one of the few party members who joined up to fight in that imperialist war. As he joined the RAF he was a volunteer not a conscript.”

I was always under the impression that he joined the SPGB after the war, so it wasn’t a case of him resigning from the SPGB to enlist.

However, it should be stated that he was already aware of the SPGB as a kid, so it’s not like he didn’t know the Party’s position on war before enlisting.

For more background on Barltrop first coming into contact with the SPGB, see this excerpt from The Monument:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/02/hard-times.html

[ALB]

There is some discussion on this here on Spopen, our forum for members of our parties in different countries.

[Author]

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