Lefties
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imposs1904 wrote:H. Walsby who was an ex-member of the SPGB – from the 30s – who continued to have a political and philosophical interest in the SPGB decades after he left the Party.
Then of course there was George Walford who followed on from Walsby disputing the idea that there would ever be a majority of socialists and we would always remain a minority at the top of an ideological pyramid (apart from himself of course) Though I believe he left money to the SPGB. NB According to Wike there is a criical review in the 1949 SS:Socialist Standard’s April 1949 review of Walsby’s book, called The Domain of Sterilities.
Vin wrote:According to Wike there is a criical review in the 1949 SS:Socialist Standard’s April 1949 review of Walsby’s book, called The Domain of Sterilities.Walsby wrote a long response to the review and published it as a pamphlet with the absurd name; Mugwump and Moonshine. You can read it herehttp://gwiep.net/wp/?p=389
Peter Rollings was also a member of the Socialist Party for a while and probably a secret Walsbyite at the same time. It was assumed that he joined the Party to do his sociological study of the Party and its members in the same sort of way that an anthroplogist studying a primitive tribe lived like them. But, of course, to join he had to show he understood the Party case. He actually wrote two good articles that appeared in the Socialist Standard in 1963 (hint, hint, Imposs):Charity begins at work (June 1963) and Man's degradation (September 1963).I think his draft PhD thesis on the Party is somewhere on the net. I'm sure JohnD will know where.
I posted 'Man's degradation' on the blog back in August of last year:Link: 'Man's degradation'I didn't realise Rollings used a different name for articles posted in the Standard.I remember reading his review of The Monument (the unofficial history of the SPGB) which appeared in the now sadly defunct, New Society. I'd be happy to post that review on the blog if you have a copy of it knocking around.I'll scan in 'Charity begins at work' sometime tonight.
Found Rollings's "Potrait of a Consistent Party" here:https://www.scribd.com/document/120552015/portrait-consistency-peter-rollings-1970s-pdf
ALB wrote:Found Rollings's "Potrait of a Consistent Party" here:https://www.scribd.com/document/120552015/portrait-consistency-peter-rollings-1970s-pdfCheers, couldn't find it myself.
As I was on that page anyway, another short piece from the June 1963 issue of the Socialist Standard that highlights the absurdity of life:Link: News From Wales
Thank you for your posts, most interesting.Peter Rollings is/was my father and I am losely trying to trace his last known whereabouts and quite interested in his past. Here are 2 new aliases that I didn't know of – P R Collins & W Brain. I have no doubt that he was studying the organisation as that was his way.I was born in Ghana in 1957 where he was at the time of Ghanaian (Gold Coast) independence, lecturing sociology at the university in Accra. Apparently, he got himself fairly heavily involved in the local politics and was actively involved with the losing side during the government & subsequent presidential elections. He was apparently also writing a thesis for his Ph.D. about the psychology of the African negro, a submission which nobody was interested in academically at the time and which did not get him his Ph.D. I expect that it would be wildly politically incorrect today.We moved back to Britain in 1960, presumably when the climate for political opposition in Ghana heated up, somewhat. He left my mother (with us 3 kids) in 1963, when we were living in Wales near Swansea. I believe he was lecturing sociology in the university in Swansea. My mother said that he had "infiltrated" a somewhat dangerous group of Welsh nationalists who might have killed him if they knew that he was just there to write a thesi for a Ph.D. on them (which, again, nobody was interested in, academically). Maybe they sussed him as he suddenly upped sticks in 1963 and went to Ghana, subsequently remarried to a Ghanaian lady and later moved back to Reading university as "James Shepherd".I think it is fair to assume that an element of his membership of the Socialist Party was study towards his Ph.D. thesis, which I don't think he ever passed, but it was (is) also a great source of intellectuals for the stimulating debates & ideas. The few odd times that I met my father in later years, I always got the impression that he was studying me, my habitat & the people I associated with. Often he would turn up unannounced with a bizarre belated gift for some missed birthday, when he had missed the last six. Sometimes he would turn up with a minibus full of African scholars, presumably sociologists, who all appeared to want to study an Englishman in his natural habitat (tides turn!). I get the impression that all of life was a sociological study for him.I last heard from him living in South Africa as "Peter Shepherd" and married again to a semi-prominent Inkatha Freedom Party politician & academic, Harriet Ngubane (again the losing side). She died in 2007. I had a phone call from him around that time which seemed to be mainly to see if I could sub him some money for a trip to Ghana, which I was sadly unable to do. I haven't heard since. The last address I had for him was a PO box in Rondebosch, Cape Town but subsequent Christmas cards have never been reciprocated nor returned.If my father is alive, I guess he'll be about 89, now. If anyone has any further info, I would be grateful. Thanks again for the posts. Real good.
OK. Thanks for clarifying that before I wandered off on another tangent. Strangely, he/we were living near Swansea at that time.
Hi. Not really, though I have seen a couple of bits & an obit. for George Walford. I would be grateful for any links, if you have some. I will admit that some of the articles I have found quite heavy going, but interesting, none the less. Any pointers appreciated. Many thanks.
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