Armed Road, Only Road – IMG (1970s).
Watching Trevor Phillips on the telly this morning brought back some happy memories of his student union days. He was the leader in London, later nationally, of the NUS, of an alliance between Labour students and the Communist Party. The Broad Left, who believe it or not tried to recruit me at one point at Warwick, were not fond of the faction I was I was a member of, the International Marxist Group but obviously made exceptions for outstanding cadres.
Around that time one of our favourite IMG chants at demos was Armed road, only road. One solution armed Revolution!
We would be top of the Prevent list.
These days a few former IMG members in the former left wing New Left Review are British to the core
Not most of us I hasten to add.
IMG IMG fear and the dread of the whole bourgeoise.
..’
Tendance Coatesy 
The thing about socialists is that they usually do a far better job of deradicalising themselves than anything Prevent could accomplish. Arguably the entire history of the socialist movement over the last 150 years can be seen, overall, as one long retreat from the socialist pioneers’ original beliefs and positions. And few people who misspend their youth calling for armed revolution are still doing so as they draw their pension. There are exceptions, of course, but they are very much the minority.
In the good old days, when our rulers were much more intelligent than they seem to be nowadays, they just let us let off steam, sell our papers and pass our resolutions, with just a few spycops to keep an eye on us. Now they seem horrified at the very idea that anyone could possibly dissent from them, their system and their dismal ‘values’. To the extent that anyone is getting ‘radicalised’, it’s in revulsion against the futile circus served up to us as ‘liberal democracy’…
Francis
March 10, 2024 at 7:01 pm
Ultra Left? Moi? I remember that era of NUS politics well. Was a a delegate at severa NUl Conferences late 70s as SWSO. As well as Phillips, there was Aaronovitch, witty and urbane, Sue Slipman, and Mandelson already doing the backroom fixing. In another part of the forest Tommy Sheridan and the Monster Raving Greenstein appeared. Circa 79 80
Mr Paul Bryden
March 14, 2024 at 4:05 pm