Old familiar faces

The sentiment of this still rings true today:

"If that were true — “the full scale of man's activities” — it really would be interesting. But, of course, it isn't. Search the Universities and Left Review, and only in a line here and a phrase there will you find the working class mentioned. Professor Cole has a good word for them, and there is a little lofty patronage from David Marquand (“in the thirties, there had to be an effective mass movement for the intellectuals to join”) and E. P. Thompson (“the experience of rank-and-file political activity teaches us and keeps our ideas on the ground”). The names in the Universities and Left Review see themselves (bear witness, the articles on art, the cinema, architecture) as members of an élite: the General Staff on that beach-head, the upper crust of the “genuinely socialist society.” ( . . .)"

Not sure about this bit from the same article:

"The most useful left-winger we ever saw was Tom Finney. The day he scored against the Arsenal—now, that was worth three-and-six."

I thought the SPGB membership passed a Islington Branch resolution at its Conference in 1937 that stated that Cliff Bastin was the best left-winger ever? I hope they had a Party Poll to rescind that policy position before going into print about Tom Finney.

Further Reading: Universities and Left Review archive