In his May Day message for the Morning Star, RICHARD BURGON says the call for peace, equality and socialism has never been more relevant

IN MY early twenties, I got a job in a record shop. For a music enthusiast, it seemed like the ideal workplace. On my first day, the deputy manager made me clean the toilets, which hadn’t been cleaned for months.
On the second day, he “accidentally” shoved me into the shelves behind the counter. All the CDs fell on top of me, and he told me off for being clumsy, made me put them back in order.
On the third day, he referred a posh customer to me who was yelling and swearing about Mozart’s The Magic Flute. And so on, for the next few months — until I quit, feeling that I’d never be good at any job, if even working in music didn’t suit me.

JONATHAN TAYLOR is intrigued by an account of the struggle of Soviet-era musicians to adapt to the strictures of social realism

