Thread by @TheCosmosUK1

1/ It's very easy to dismiss this chart, allegedly by Paul Mason as nonsense. Much of the content, such as the implication that @STWuk's @JohnWRees is somehow influenced by China is bizarre. However...

2/... structure of the chart itself resembles the strategic/conspiratorial thinking of the British security services, as outlined by once infamous anti-Soviet spy Sidney Reilley, in his memoirs: pbs.twimg.com/media/FUtce1oX…

3/ Outlining how his networks in the Soviet Union operated, Sidney explained:

"It was essential that my Russian Organisation should not know too much and that no part of it should be in a position to betray another." ...

4/ He went on:
"The scheme was accordingly arranged on the '5' system & each participant knew another 4 persons only. I myself knew them all [...] but by name and address only. Thus, if anything were betrayed, everybody would not be discovered".

5/ How does this relate to the diagram allegedly by Paul Mason? Well, the diagram tracks supposed connections/influence between foreign states & left groups. Rotated clockwise you have two intersecting pyramids, with Russia & China at the top.

6/ According to this model state influence cascades down from state actors at the top, through various intermediary groups, such as Jeremy Corbyn's Peace & Justice project to a much larger pool of people in wider society at the bottom...

7/ According to this logic, the "danger" posed by a Peace and Justice Party is largely on the scale of its influence on ordinary people within particular groups, which may provide an ideological counterpoint to the imperialist Labour party under #Starmer .

8/ Although the "map" is badly drawn it does reflect the real possibilities of what a new Corbyn led party might achieve, perhaps more in broad influence than electoral success. A Corbyn party could then theoretically play an important role in changing perceptions in the UK.

9/ Mason allegedly raises fears an "emergent “left anti imperialist identity” which “will be attractive because liberalism doesn’t know how to counter it"...

10/ ... and in the process highlights that the popularisation of an anti-imperialist left culture (minus the foreign influence) in the UK might work & could be a good idea. The diagram even helpfully suggests the organisations and people that may contribute to such a project...

11/ So it's not completely irrational, even if the mooted connections between individuals, groups & states are in many cases imagined. However, that people like Mason are allegedly trying to chart emergent left networks in alliance with national intelligence is genuinely worrying

12/ Because it raises the possibility that the security services are already searching for ways to infiltrate these groups. Going back to the pyramid structure of covert intelligence operations outlined by British spy Sidney Reilley, the logic is simple.

13/... If security services operatives or undercover police can infiltrate these groups and secure senior positions within them, their influence can cascade down into the rest of the movement. This can be explored more fully in the following hypothetical scenario:

14/ Imagine there was a political party led by a figure the establishment was afraid might get too close to power and felt they needed to remove. However, unfortunately, support within the membership of this party was so strong they'd always be reelected if challenged.

15/ Circumstances would have to be manufactured that might separate this hypothetical leader from their supporter base. This could be done over the one issue where the position of the leadership was at odds with the views of the broader base, through agitation.

16/ For argument's case, let's call the hypothetical issue "Brexit". To successfully agitate over "Brexit", the state wld need infiltrators to become elected to or employed within important senior positions in the party or linked groups under the pretence of loyalty to the cause

17/ These infiltrators could use public professions of loyalty to gain the trust of both leadership and membership as a pretext for causing friction later down the line, to effect of destabilising the whole project.

18/ it would only take a few individuals carefully placed within specific organisations working in relative isolation to stir up significant discontent amongst an honest majority who believe that the agitators are loyal to the cause.

19/19 This scenario is just hypothetical of course. But the mapping of the emerging anti-imperialist British left revealed in the Grayzone report suggests that a "Brexit" style campaign is a real risk, which should be taken seriously and not laughed of as paranoia.

"For argument's sake"