Old left, new right

Submitted by Red Marriott on August 1, 2020

Article in today's Guardian on how ex-Revolutionary Communist Party members have become key advisors and influencers at the heart of Johnson's Tory government. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/01/why-johnsons-tories-fell-for-a-tiny-sect-of-libertarian-provocateurs-rcp Part of the Anarchist Workers Group (which always carried some leninist baggage) dissolved into the RCP.

Ex-RCPer, and also former Farageist Brexit MEP, Claire Fox was today awarded a peerage and will now sit as a Baroness in the House of Lords.

wojtek

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on August 1, 2020

Are there any people on the right who have moved left?

Red Marriott

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Red Marriott on August 3, 2020

Georges Valois apparently went from anarchism to fascism to libertarian socialism (I haven't read the book); https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/From_Fascism_to_Libertarian_Communism.html?id=GC6pngEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Fozzie

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Fozzie on August 3, 2020

Matty Blag
Ricky Tomlinson

The journey rightwards seems a lot more lucrative though.

Entdinglichung

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Entdinglichung on August 3, 2020

wojtek

Are there any people on the right who have moved left?

Galvano della Volpe, Alfred Weiland, Hans-Jürgen Krahl

Serge Forward

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Serge Forward on August 3, 2020

Jack "from unionism to anarchism" White.

R Totale

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on August 3, 2020

I only recently heard of him, but that guy had a fascinating life. Also, I guess that virtually everyone who's not a red diaper baby probably starts off with vaguely liberal/centrist beliefs at some point and then sheds them as they go on (or else they don't, I suppose). But looking at people on the harder right, there's that Faraday Speaks fella, and a few others like Matt Collins - not that Hope Not Hate is ideal or anything, but it's certainly left of where he was. Trying to think if there was another musician who had a similar trajectory to Matty Blag but maybe I'm just getting him mixed up with someone else. There's Paul Weller, I suppose.

Lucky Black Cat

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Lucky Black Cat on August 3, 2020

R Totale

there's that Faraday Speaks fella

Another youtuber I know of who went from far-right to far-left (anarcho-communist in this case) is RE-EDUCATION.

Kind of an unfortunate name... my mind always adds the word "camp" at the end.

Lucky Black Cat

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Lucky Black Cat on August 3, 2020

Oh, there's also BadMouseProductions who went from anti-state pro-capitalist (so-called "ancap") to anarcho-communist and then became some sort of Leninist.

sherbu-kteer

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by sherbu-kteer on August 4, 2020

Ammon Bundy

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/ammon-bundy-comes-out-in-support-of-blm-calls-to-defund-the-police/

Black Badger

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Black Badger on August 4, 2020

Bundy hasn't moved to the left; his stance regarding BLM is that of a principled american libertarian who opposes police abuse as a manifestation of a larger authoritarian agenda of surveillance and other government intrusions into people's private lives. his public embrace of BLM has provoked a cognitive implosion among his erstwhile white supremacist and conservative supporters and followers, who thought of him as an arch-conservative and fellow racist. now, he may indeed be those things, but as i said, he's *primarily* (in this instance and at least so far) a principled libertarian in a sea of arch-conservatives and white supremacists who support the police when it serves their interests.

R Totale

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on August 4, 2020

I think Christian Piccolini probably counts, although I don't know too much about what his politics are like now.
Anyway, going back to the original post, who would win in a cult-off between the British Furedi RCP vs the American Avakian RCP?

wojtek

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by wojtek on August 4, 2020

Have any of these characters made any worthy reflections about their reasons for being drawn towards and then away from fascism/nationalism?

Reddebrek

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Reddebrek on August 4, 2020

wojtek

Are there any people on the right who have moved left?

The documentary Divide and Rule Never! https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-divide-and-rule-never-1978-online

had a number of white youths who used to be in the NF reflecting on why they joined it what it offered, what it didn't, and why they're no longer part of it.

R Totale

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by R Totale on August 4, 2020

Red Marriott

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Red Marriott on August 4, 2020

RT

Anyway, going back to the original post, who would win in a cult-off between the British Furedi RCP vs the American Avakian RCP?

The Avakians win on sheer staying power by some decades; and in the overt pride and intensity of their absolute cult of personality. But I can't see His Bobness or any of them gaining much influence in the White House.

Spikymike

3 years 8 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Spikymike on August 7, 2020

The UK Left press comment on the original item and it's reporting in The Guardian newspaper for those of us who remember these groups evolution over time:
https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1311/arise-lady-fox/