Reasons to be cheerful Pt 12: The Law of Historical memory
Heard this this morning and it made me stop then and stop again just now. Tales of the International Brigade have been putting something in my eye since I was 15 and they still do to this day.
I can think of fighting for my own freedom but going all that way to country you didn't know for a believe is always inspiring particularly when you know all the terrible betrayals they received from Stalin and his chums. Anyway have a listen.
1 comment:
Thanks - that has brought a lump to my throat. Just read a thriller set in Stalinist Russia and followed that with Darkness at Noon (again). Masochist, eh? These people were remarkable, sacrificing so much for a truly democratic socialist future that they felt certain was coming. I suppose that faith enabled them to risk everything. Now that hope is gone, the best we can muster to combat the rise of fascism today is six freerange eggs, risking only lysteria poisoning.
Erm, sorry, this was meant to be cheerful. I'll send you a book - The Levellers: The Putney Debates -that might fire your passion further, though John Lilburne and Thomas Rainborough still wait with Orwell, Little Loewy, Thomas Paine et al for the realisation of their dreams. Darn.
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