Labour on Labour
at Bishopsgate Institute
Saturday 20 March 2010 • 10.00am – 4.00pm
Tickets: £15, concs £10; advance booking required
Who were the most influential individuals and organisations in the labour
movement? Who inspires the politicians and activists of today? This
unique one-day event will ask figures in today’s labour movement to describe
the people or groups who inspired them in their beliefs and decision to lead a
career in politics.
Speakers:
• Diane Abbott (Labour MP) on Rosa Luxemburg and women in revolutionary
politics
• George Galloway (Respect MP) on George Lansbury
• Stan Newens (ex-Labour MP and MEP) on Robert Owen
• Harpal Brar (CPGB-ML) on Lenin
Additional events:
• Exhibitions of archives and historical material from Bishopsgate Library
relating to the labour movement
• Bishopsgate Library Tour
Please note that lunch will not be provided.
Please download the booking form available at http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/events
socialist history news 
What qualifies Diane Abbott to speak on Rosa Luxemburg? Or “revolutionary politics” for that matter? If Luxemburg is her heroine, it will certainly be a surprise to hear how she squares that with some of her recent political decisions (it would be all too obvious to mention private education).
Do we think that Labour are hoping to shore up their vote in the coming election by trying to convince lefty types that they still have some credentials in the movement? (See also Miliband at the ‘Progressive London’ conference. Sick.)
Maybe Diane Abbott talking about Rosa Luxemburg is supposed to make us forget about 1.5 million Iraqis and no-one knows how many Afghans dead. Not to mention British backing for the ongoing genocide in Palestine. And then there’s Yugoslavia, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Congo … such a long list and so much blood to expunge. Rosa Luxemburg would be turning in her grave.
Almost fell off my chair when I read that Diane Abbott was going to talk on Rosa Luxemburg. (I was surprised she’d heard of her), but simply because it’s so unexpected the whole line up looks good Harpal Brar on Lenin and George Galloway on George Lansbury are bound to be entertaining as well as useful, (both Brar and Galloway really know how to mix wit with their politics)
I have never heard Stan Newens speak and Robert Owen is not a favourite of mine, still I expect he may well tell me something I don’t know, but Dianne Abbott on Rosa Luxemburg, that must surely be a sight for sore eyes!
Yes indeed – looking forward to Abbott’s attempt to square the circle! FOr Brar on other things, have a look here:
Capitalism can’t save the planet!
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=70FA81E22FC51461
What does the USSR mean to our generation?
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CAA06B450C2198B7
Celebrate the 91st Anniversary of the Great Socialist October Revolution:
http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?pi=0&ps=20&sf=&sa=0&sq=&dm=0&p=CFF96A5F6D819704
Why did the USSR Collapse?
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C17F6326B0AD2497