Re: Bad writing

[Michael Pugliese <debsian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Too bad Paul Flewers pamphlet is O.P.
This might be O.P. as well but, Raymond Williams wrote a great little book
on Orwell, in the Penguin-Viking Modern Masters series circa
1970 or so. When I read it in high school, as background for the obligatory
assigning of "1984"
for English class, I thought Williams was too harsh on Orwell for his
nationalist "little Englandism" and anti-communism. If I can find a copy
now, daresay I'd say Raymond was spot on.
  BTW, Williams and fellow New Leftist, E.P. Thompson, were painted as
"populist" "empiricist" "romantics" "anti-theoretical" and other "bad"
things by Perry Anderson and Tom Nairn of New Left Review and Richard
Johnson
of the English socialist-feminist history journal, "History Workshop."
    Given the tenor of Williams polemical book on Orwell these objections to
his and Thompson's
politics are a bit ironic.
                            Michael Pugliese
P.S. Paul mentions, Julian Symons. Is that the mystery writer? Wasn't he a
CPGB'er or Trotskyist in the 30's? (A few days ago, I thought the editor
of," The Black Book on Communism,"
S. Courtois had been a Trot. Thanks to the post
which corrected me. He was a Maoist in the 60's.
Gotta keep the sectariana up to date and accurate! After the tear gas and
rubber bullets recede a bit from Seattle WTO (and we've all had time to read
the blizzard of e-mails from all concerned re:the protests) I'm looking
forward to the think pieces and recaps from the press of the left sects in
the U.S. and elsewhere.
                                              Michael P.