No excuses can hide the criminal actions of a Nazi fellow-traveller in this admirably objective documentary, suggests MARTIN HALL
Cultural strategies for communists
FRAN LOCK welcomes a discussion of culture designed to stimulate discussion and help to develop practical campaigns
Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist, in concert in Brussels October 28 2017
PAUL DONOVAN relishes a fascinating exploration of the leading lights of the Labour right in the 1970s
BEN LUNN alerts us to the creeping return of philanthropy and private patronage, and suggests alternative paths to explore
A novel by Argentinian Jorge Consiglio, a personal dictionary by Uruguayan Ida Vitale, and poetry by Mexican Homero Aridjis
MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
New releases reviewed by IAN SINCLAIR
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
Class And Culture: Provocations For Cultural Democracy
Edited by Mike Quille
Communist Party of Britain, FREE
CLASS and Culture: Provocations For Cultural Democracy, is an accessible, galvanising exploration of culture, not merely as the medium through which ideology flows, but as a vital, joy-giving force in the lives of working-class people, and as a potential site of radical resistance.
Poetry Matters by Kevin Patrick McCann outlines not only the way in which working-class people are excluded from access to poetry, but also the methods by which working-class poets are assimilated, defanged and tokenised.
As McCann pithily puts it: “You can be a rebel and attack glaring injustices; just don’t attack the real causes of those injustices. For example, you can attack racism as long as you don't make the connection between racism and the class system.”
Similar stories
ALISTAIR FINDLAY welcomes a collection of essays from one of the cultural left’s most respected speakers and activists
JOE JACKSON explores how growing up black amid ‘the quiet racism of Scotland’ shaped the art and politics of Maud Sulter
MIKE QUILL reports on a lively conference in Barnsley that took stock of working-class access to culture and proposed strategies to embed culture within the trade union movement
ABAYOMI AWELEWA celebrates AKINWANDE OLUWOLE SOYINKA, the legendary African author whose work shows the powerful role of the arts in challenging oppression, advocating for justice and inspiring social change