Random George Orwell quote of the day

Found the quote below in amongst my drafts on the blog. I presume the words were uttered by Martin Newell, but the magazine, Rolling Stone, is one of the labels and I find it hard to believe that Martin Newell was quoted in said magazine. I mean, he should, the bloke's a lost and neglected songwriting gem, but it's strange all the same. If nothing else, it has reminded me that his autobiography (part 2) is on my bookshelf, and should be read:

  "Everybody's quoting Orwell nowadays on the blogosphere for some reason. Something to do with quintessential Englishness and such like. (England must be getting tanked at the cricket again.)"

Class Act

I am a lazy bastard when it comes to updating the blog - especially the 'booksiveread' section - which is shame because my two remaining readers miss out on such gems as this from Sue Townsend.

She was writing about this stuff in 1989. The intellectuals on the 'left' are only getting their head around this sort of stuff now twenty plus years later.

She really was my favourite sort of Labourite.

Favourite quote of the Left Forum weekend

He attributes it to someone else but I heard it from the lips of the DSA's Michael Hirsch:

"There is no such thing as spontaneity. It just means someone else has done all the organising."

I would have claimed that quote as my own, but that's just me.

Someone in Allston, Massachusetts owes me a chocolate biscuit.

A poignant quote from 'A Month In The Country'.

A killer quote to bite me in my SPGB arse

A quote staring back at me at the bottom of an email newsletter:

"Pity the revolution that devours itself in order to obtain victory.

Pity the revolution that waits for a final triumph to put its ideals into practice." - Jose Peirats.

Where's the sitcom tendency when you need them?

You know the type. Those "completely demoralized elements, wearing showy bell-bottom pants and sporty haircuts."

Not sure if Jim D over at Shiraz Socialist is blogging with a straight face, but he's unearthed a quote from James P. Cannon for those of you who are sick and tired of always having to fall back on that old George Orwell quote from 'The Road To Wigan Pier'. You know . . . that one.

Yeah, I know the Cannon and the Orwell quotes are not like for like, but they both boil down to the same sentiment. To paraphrase Jean-Paul Sartre: "Hell is other party members."

Shit, I wish I'd thought of that Quote of the Day

"Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Expropriate the fishing boat, and he and his community will eat for life."

Martin Schreader, SPUSA.