I’m not a fan of Joseph Stalin, though my earliest clear memory related to international events was the death of ‘Uncle Joe’ in 1953 when I was still in short trousers. Back then there were still many with fond memories of the man who had led his country in the fight against Hitler, if only after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Back then we remembered that Germany had lost the war in Russia and were prepared to overlook the purges, the details of which were then only dimly known.
Another event I dimly remember – it happened during my first year in secondary school – was the Hungarian Uprising three years later. Its crushing suppression caused a re-assessment on the left with communist intellectuals criticising the Soviet actions and at the same time repudiating Stalin. Since then he has had few defenders here.
But elsewhere in many countries Stalin remained in the pantheon of the great communist leaders, and London gets an annual reminder of this in the May Day celebrations, although I’m pleased to say that although present, Stalin seemed to be a little less at the forefront than in previous years. Here in the UK, the left have never really celebrated International Workers Day in more than a half-heated manner. The May bank holiday – not on May Day but on the first Monday in May – is a demonstration of this, and any May Day events tend to be held neither on May 1 or the Bank Holiday, but on the Saturday preceding the Monday. On May 1, we work as normal, not even wearing a sprig of Lily of the Valley or some other symbol.
But for those not at work on May 1, there is a London May Day March, organised by a London May Day Organising Committee. I’m unclear when it started but it was certainly around in the mid-80s, when it went to Wapping. Although it is “a unique bringing together of trade unionists, workers from the many international communities in London, pensioners, anti-globalisation organisations, students, political bodies and many others in a show of working class unity”, the event is visually dominated by groups from London’s international communities, some of whom still march behind banners including the face of Stalin, along with the rather small but active Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist).
Although a giant image of Stalin rather sends a shiver down my spine – and I think personality cults are always a bad thing, though perhaps less so when personalities are dead rather than alive – it’s hard not to be stirred by the enthusiasm and determination of these international groups. Although some on the left have been very critical about their domination of the event, they only do so because in general the British left can’t really be bothered. There are a few stalwarts carrying the union banners, a few trade unionists and Labour MPs who come to speak – and good for them, but where are the rest? Either at work or in front of a computer screen posting put-downs on socialist and anarchist forums.
If we really celebrated International Workers Day, it wouldn’t perhaps greatly change the world, but already the relatively small London March brings a large part of London to a standstill despite the media entirely failing to report it. Perhaps if the TUC and the Labour Party and all the rest got behind it at least it would get a mention in the press who could no longer concentrate on privileged college choirs singing madrigals and the Obby-Oss. Though it would also be good to regain more of our traditional merry-making and mayhem which the Puritans put an end to.
Abdullah Ocalan was rather more in evidence on the march than Stalin
Redhack started years before Anonymous
More pictures at London May Day March.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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