9 Something new under the sun
-
Graham Willett
Abstract
This chapter explores the responses of the revolutionary left to the emergence of gay people and gay politics, focusing on the crucial first decade from about 1970 to 1980. Gay Liberation was a project dedicated to the root and branch transformation of society and culture, a rejection of capitalism, to be sure, but also of patriarchy, heterosexual power, the nuclear family, and hierarchies of all kinds. Homosexuality erupted onto the public agenda in the mid-1950s, as a series of sex scandals drove the government of Winston Churchill to establish a Home Office inquiry into prostitution and homosexuality. The chapter finally examines the efforts of the three most important British revolutionary groups of the time: Militant/Socialist Labour League (SLL), the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Socialist Workers Group/International Socialists/ Socialist Workers Party (SWG/IS/SWP).
Abstract
This chapter explores the responses of the revolutionary left to the emergence of gay people and gay politics, focusing on the crucial first decade from about 1970 to 1980. Gay Liberation was a project dedicated to the root and branch transformation of society and culture, a rejection of capitalism, to be sure, but also of patriarchy, heterosexual power, the nuclear family, and hierarchies of all kinds. Homosexuality erupted onto the public agenda in the mid-1950s, as a series of sex scandals drove the government of Winston Churchill to establish a Home Office inquiry into prostitution and homosexuality. The chapter finally examines the efforts of the three most important British revolutionary groups of the time: Militant/Socialist Labour League (SLL), the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Socialist Workers Group/International Socialists/ Socialist Workers Party (SWG/IS/SWP).
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- List of abbreviations xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Movements
- 1 Engaging with Trotsky 25
- 2 The New Left 45
- 3 Narratives of radical lives 62
- 4 Marching separately, seldom together 80
- 5 Opposition in slow motion 98
- 6 Dissent from dissent 115
- 7 British anarchism in the era of Thatcherism 133
-
Part II Issues
- 8 Jam tomorrow? 155
- 9 Something new under the sun 173
- 10 ‘Vicarious pleasure’? 190
- 11 Anti-racism and the socialist left, 1968–79 209
- 12 Red Action – left-wing political pariah 229
- 13 Anti-fascism in Britain, 1997–2012 247
- Index 264
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- List of abbreviations xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Movements
- 1 Engaging with Trotsky 25
- 2 The New Left 45
- 3 Narratives of radical lives 62
- 4 Marching separately, seldom together 80
- 5 Opposition in slow motion 98
- 6 Dissent from dissent 115
- 7 British anarchism in the era of Thatcherism 133
-
Part II Issues
- 8 Jam tomorrow? 155
- 9 Something new under the sun 173
- 10 ‘Vicarious pleasure’? 190
- 11 Anti-racism and the socialist left, 1968–79 209
- 12 Red Action – left-wing political pariah 229
- 13 Anti-fascism in Britain, 1997–2012 247
- Index 264
