Share this page!

Paul Mason Profile picture
Twitter logo
24 Oct, 5 tweets, 1 min read
The Tory party is giving us an object lesson in "culture war-ification": free school meals are an economic issue - now they're being elided with criminality and fecklessness 1/ it's not random or accidental ...
2/ and now the Tory MPs are claiming cultural victimhood - "poor little public school educated me, being hounded by the plebs"... when their supporters *still* stand outside Parliament harassing left MPs/ journalists...
3/ It shows the futility of the mantra "don't fight the culture war": their attack on BLM, anticapitalism in schools, Critical Race Theory, "activist lawyers" etc an intelligent fightback but can't be ignored...
4/ For certain "don't fight elections as a culture war" but the labour movement is formed around values and solidarity... it's why the word scab exists... we're up against the talk radio shows and the far right Telegram channels: silence is not a strategy
5/ The practical solidarity over school@meals being shown by councils, volunteers and unions is the best answer to that calculatedly cynical MPs letter: class solidarity and defiant humanitarianism towards those suffering ✊🏼💥

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Paul Mason

Paul Mason Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @paulmasonnews

Paul Mason Profile picture
20 Oct
The Newsnight film on Labour's divisions under Starmer was pretty accurate... but 1/ Look how easily it has provoked more divisions. Len McCluskey's "counting gold" comment about Mandelson was a disgrace and so was Unite's initial defence of it... he is right to apologise...
2/ The allegation of Starmer being "untrustworthy" from Diane Abbot sounded to me like a left that has no intention of fighting for influence in a battle of ideas... I hope the #GrassrootsVoice NEC slate stays well away from this...
3/ There's a growing logic: the disaffiliation of a big union, a provoked confrontation over the EHRC report, a Unite-led "faction" so that tankies can live in a well-funded echo chamber while abdicating the struggle for a Labour government...
Read 6 tweets
Paul Mason Profile picture
18 Oct
We're in another round of "I'm quitting Labour because..." Seriously? 1/ The state is central to neoliberalism's power; it's the only tool we have to stop climate change. Without a party how do we contest with capital for control of the state? medium.com/@paulmasonnews…
2/ Fine - repurpose some union funds towards extra-party activism. Let's start with a daily news website, massive boost for Momentum, the SCG, Open Labour etc... but shaping the next Labour govt is critical.... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…
3/ Or if you are a Leninist who wants to smash the state, fine, join a re-enactment group. The fact is, as with Cliff's SWP in the 1980s, you will still end up obsessing over who controls the Labour Party... medium.com/@paulmasonnews…
Read 10 tweets
Paul Mason Profile picture
12 Oct
We're in Covid crisis mode again - and this is just the start. Why? Because Johnson is trapped between libertarian herd-immunity crowd, and a faction that wants to use the crisis to privatise public health... there is no functioning state.... 1/
2/ They promised major businesses there would be no second lockdown - not in public statements but in private briefings. So whatever the epidemiology says, they have to stick to local lockdowns...
3/ But during the summer the libertarians were on top, urging the return of schools, universities, office workers and of course restaurants... the exponential curve is back as a result....
Read 11 tweets
Paul Mason Profile picture
12 Oct
Here's an attack on my review of Giles Tremlett's book. And here's some evidence, drawn from the best possible source: the Wintringham archive at the Liddell Hart Centre. 1/ Next up Colonel Gal...
international-brigades.org.uk/content/traves…
2/ Yes of course Frank Ryan & Jock Cunningham led the battalion forward singing the Internationale but Colonel Gal (János Gálicz) also rallied them & gave orders - it's a one par summary of a 3 day battle! So what's the real issue here...
3/ The real issue is that nobody writing about the International Brigades is allowed to criticise Stalinism. Here's the IBMT "line" on my review (and wait til they read Giles' Book!)...
Read 5 tweets
Paul Mason Profile picture
8 Oct
What's working/ not working for Labour? 1/ The strategy is right: a radical economic offer plus reconnect with voters over trust, on crime/defence/security and *where possible* refuse Tory culture war provocations... but...
newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
2/ ... this battle has to be fought in three dimensions: parliament, society and the labour movement. At present, it's only happening in parliament. And not enough: 2nd reading abstentions are read as weak and don't deflect Johnson's culture war jibes... newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
3/ ... so the left fears that by its MPs voting on principle it is being edged out of Starmer's coalition. But real battle is not in parliament: Johnson/Cummings are moving rightwards *slower* than parts of their mass base...
newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
Read 6 tweets
Paul Mason Profile picture
7 Oct
I don't relish Lockdown 2.0 - it has huge public/mental health costs: but we are now at a stage where "shut down all pubs in X street until Y time near Z university, but not anywhere near a rich area " doesn't wash. Social solidarity means we're all in it, and all sacrifice....
What I want to hear from epidemiologists is epidemiology: not economics. If the science says lock down again for a limited time, and the economics say that will screw the recovery, let's have a mature democratic debate about the tradeoffs....
We can calibrate the number of delayed elective operations, or the mental health cost, but the cost to democracy of seeing a total breakdown of social solidarity at this point would be great. Politicians should take decisions and put them to parliament/assemblies.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get email notifications when new thread is out from this Author!

Check out other threads from this Author!

Read all threads by @paulmasonnews