Re: [Marxism] Could Socialists not use "Great" before Britain

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Ed,

Thank you so much for the lesson in political  and historico- 
linguistic geography. I feel a consensus emerging.  England should  
definitely not be used to refer to Britain,  and vice-versa, and  
"Great" should be dropped as an appendage to Britain.  And yes, did  
not mean to slight Canada with the north america comment. But I kind  
of like Albion, personally. Wasn't that used by William Blake?

As it says in Wikipedia, "Albion (called Alouion by Ptolemy) is the  
most ancient name of Great Britain, though sometimes used to refer to  
the United Kingdom, or specifically (incorrectly) to England."

On the entry for Blake and Albion, Wiki continues:

"In the mythical story of the founding of Britain, Albion was a Giant  
son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. He was a contemporary of  
Heracles, who killed him. Albion founded a country on the island and  
ruled there. Britain, then called Albion after its founder, was  
inhabited by his Giant descendants until about 1100 years before  
Julius Cæsar's invasion of Britain, when Brutus of Troy came and  
defeated the small number of Giants that remained (as a group of the  
Giants had killed all of the other ones).

According to another myth, Noah's son, Japhet had a son named  
Histion, who had four sons. Their names were Francus, Romanus,  
Brittos, and Alemannus and the French, Roman, British, and German  
people are descended from them. Brittos divided Britain into three  
kingdoms and gave each to one of his sons. They were Loegria (a  
Latinization of the Welsh, Lloegr "England"), Scotland, and Cambria.[1]

The division of the primordial man is found in many mythic and mystic  
systems throughout the world, including Adam Kadmon in cabalism and  
Prajapati in the Rig-Veda.

The long, unfinished poem properly called Vala, or the Four Zoas,  
expands the significance of the Zoas, but they are integral to all of  
Blake's prophetic books.

Blake's painting of a naked figure raising his arms, loosely based on  
Vitruvian Man, is now identified as a portrayal of Albion, following  
the discovery of a printed version with an inscription identifying  
the figure.[2] It was formerly known as "Glad Day", since it was  
assumed by Alexander Gilchrist to illustrate a quotation from  
Shakespeare.

Blake also uses the name Albion in its traditional meaning, as an  
ancient synonym for Britain, in his poem "A Little Boy Lost" in Songs  
of Experience. The poem tells about a young boy who, using reason,  
realizes that humans are selfish, and that "naught loves another as  
itself." He asks the priest, "father, how can I love you/ or any of  
my brothers more?/ I love you like the bird that picks up crumbs  
around the door." The priest accuses the boy of blasphemy, and burns  
him "in a holy place/ where many had been burned before." Blake  
concludes the poem by asking, "Are such things done on Albion's shore?"






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