The Guardian, Laurence Weidberg and us
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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/29/unthinkable-snow-in-august
This has been mentioned on Spintcom but should probably be recorded here too.
Someone at the Guardian has a long memory, but it's true about Laurence Weidberg.
I remember seeing L Weidberg in Hide Park early 80s. I dare not repeat some of the things he said. He was certainly unforgettable. I believe his son was/is in the party.
Vin Maratty wrote:I believe his son was/is in the party.I think I'm correct in saying that two of his sons were in the party. Ronnie, the elder and more active of the two, sadly also died some years ago at a relatively young age.
Yes, Ronnie died in 1994. He was an academic jurist and because of his father's proclivity to take legal action changed his name to Ronnie Warrington (after the town where Gerrard Winstanley was born) and wrote articles both for his work and for the Socialist Standard under that name as well as as RAW. For instance, this one on Miliband's father:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1970s/1977/no-871-march-1977/open-letter-professor-milibandAfter he dropped out of the Party he ended up as a post-modernist:.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Ronnie-Warrington/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ARonnie%20WarringtonA sad degeneration from his earlier work, when still a Party member, on the legal theory of the Russian Marxist Evgeny Pashukanis, as in R Warrington: `Pashukanis and the commodity form theory', International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 9 1 1981.For more just type "Warrington" + "Pashukanis" into a search engine.I think his brother became a Jewish patriot and went to live in Israel.Ah well.
rodshaw wrote:Were / are the Weidberg family capitalists, or have I got that wrong?Correct. Larry made umbrellas. Not sure how many he employed.
I seem to remember there were other capitalists in the party. nothing wrong with that! Wish I was a capitalist
I would say he 'takes no prisoners'.
One of Weidberg's famous put downs was on the EC, when a member with a certain reputation said "Let's face it, we must …", he interjected "Which face would that be?".
Forgot to add that a member got in a comment on the Grauniad's article:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/03/eccentric-memories-and-summer-snow
jondwhite wrote:Why were speakers like that?If you have ever spent time on a soap box in hyde park I think you will understand.
jondwhite wrote:Why were speakers like that?But they weren't all "like that". A few were abrasive, one or two abusive even, but the majority of speakers, particularly those on the outdoor platform and considering the provocation they often had to endure from sections of the audience, showed immense self-control.
I'll never forget the time I was on the platform at Speakers Corner and receiving a battering from the organised hecklers, who had obviously spotted a wet behind the ears naive new speaker from the SPGB who had no idea on how to deal with the absurd questions coming from all directions in a crowd of about 200.After about 45 minutes of organised mayhem and with no liquid refreshments to hand or any party member to take over I was starting to feel the strain. To my relief I spotted Larry walking past the outside of the crowd and shouted over to attract his attention. To my dismay he glanced over, smiled, and walked on. As if to say 'Hard luck, get on with it'! You can guess my thoughts at the time.Larry, was the only speaker I knew of who frothed at the mouth when on the platform. And when you asked him a question it was wise to stand to one side before he replied.
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