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| A higher level | A higher level |
| (5 days later) | |
| I was trying to raise people's political consciousness but a playground slide got in the way, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column. | I was trying to raise people's political consciousness but a playground slide got in the way, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column. |
| I got slowly to my feet, thanked the comrade chairman, glanced briefly round the room at the 20 or so fellow revolutionary socialists who'd turned up for this regular Thursday evening meeting in the upstairs room of The Lowther pub, and began my report. | I got slowly to my feet, thanked the comrade chairman, glanced briefly round the room at the 20 or so fellow revolutionary socialists who'd turned up for this regular Thursday evening meeting in the upstairs room of The Lowther pub, and began my report. |
| The issue of a new slide dominated meetings | The issue of a new slide dominated meetings |
| It was clear after only a few minutes that what I had to say was not to the liking of my political colleagues. For although I could claim that I'd succeeded in the first part of my political mission by infiltrating the local council tenants association (I'd explained to them that I could offer academic advice on housing law), I'd singularly failed in the far more critical part of my intervention into their lives. I'd failed to raise their consciousness. | It was clear after only a few minutes that what I had to say was not to the liking of my political colleagues. For although I could claim that I'd succeeded in the first part of my political mission by infiltrating the local council tenants association (I'd explained to them that I could offer academic advice on housing law), I'd singularly failed in the far more critical part of my intervention into their lives. I'd failed to raise their consciousness. |
| Back at that time, in the early 70s, I spent a great deal of time fretting about levels of consciousness. In one way, of course, my very membership of a revolutionary socialist group meant that I had a higher level of consciousness than those other academics in my sociology department who had failed to recognise the imminence of the proletarian revolution. But I also knew, with an almost plimsoll-line certainty, that my political consciousness was still several degrees lower than that enjoyed by senior members of my socialist coterie. But the real problem lay in the levels of political consciousness currently manifested by the members of the York Tenants' Association. | Back at that time, in the early 70s, I spent a great deal of time fretting about levels of consciousness. In one way, of course, my very membership of a revolutionary socialist group meant that I had a higher level of consciousness than those other academics in my sociology department who had failed to recognise the imminence of the proletarian revolution. But I also knew, with an almost plimsoll-line certainty, that my political consciousness was still several degrees lower than that enjoyed by senior members of my socialist coterie. But the real problem lay in the levels of political consciousness currently manifested by the members of the York Tenants' Association. |
| FIND OUT MORE Hear Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 at 1600 on Wednesdays or 0030 on MondaysOr listen again here | FIND OUT MORE Hear Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 at 1600 on Wednesdays or 0030 on MondaysOr listen again here |
| Even though I had, as instructed by my branch comrades, tried to introduce political awareness into their discussions, they'd so far shown no appetite whatsoever for discovering the economic roots of their alienation, or for rising up against their capitalist exploiters in the Town Hall's housing department. | Even though I had, as instructed by my branch comrades, tried to introduce political awareness into their discussions, they'd so far shown no appetite whatsoever for discovering the economic roots of their alienation, or for rising up against their capitalist exploiters in the Town Hall's housing department. |
| In fact, as my report was now slowly and hesitantly revealing to the comrades gathered in The Lowther, these tenants had only shown any enthusiasm whatsoever for one policy initiative. They wanted the council to install a new slide in the playground on the corner of Ebor Road. Not even the wildest stretch of the imagination could possibly allow this to count as an example of what we in the group liked to call "a transitional demand", that is a demand which while not revolutionary in itself could be a step towards the revolution (occupying the admin block at the university was a popular example). | In fact, as my report was now slowly and hesitantly revealing to the comrades gathered in The Lowther, these tenants had only shown any enthusiasm whatsoever for one policy initiative. They wanted the council to install a new slide in the playground on the corner of Ebor Road. Not even the wildest stretch of the imagination could possibly allow this to count as an example of what we in the group liked to call "a transitional demand", that is a demand which while not revolutionary in itself could be a step towards the revolution (occupying the admin block at the university was a popular example). |
| I tried to add a little substance to my report by describing the condition of the present playground slide in some detail, but it was already clear that I'd lost the attention of the group. Backwater Although most of them realised that it was not always possible to emulate the conditions of the Russian revolution in such a relative political backwater as York, they still knew there must be more important political matters on hand than the manner in which a children's slide was rendered unusable by the rusty state of its conjoining panels. | I tried to add a little substance to my report by describing the condition of the present playground slide in some detail, but it was already clear that I'd lost the attention of the group. Backwater Although most of them realised that it was not always possible to emulate the conditions of the Russian revolution in such a relative political backwater as York, they still knew there must be more important political matters on hand than the manner in which a children's slide was rendered unusable by the rusty state of its conjoining panels. |
| After my report I was told firmly that I must return to the tenants' association and try yet again to raise their consciousnesses by at least one or two degrees. It was no good. Their consciousness remained resolutely at the same level - the level of the slide. | After my report I was told firmly that I must return to the tenants' association and try yet again to raise their consciousnesses by at least one or two degrees. It was no good. Their consciousness remained resolutely at the same level - the level of the slide. |
| Years later I explained my failure to a rather cynical colleague in the politics department at York. "Some times", I told him sadly after I'd recounted the slide debacle, "people are simply incapable of recognising their own class interests". | Years later I explained my failure to a rather cynical colleague in the politics department at York. "Some times", I told him sadly after I'd recounted the slide debacle, "people are simply incapable of recognising their own class interests". |
| "You could put it like that," he said. "But you might also say that when it comes to politics, most ordinary common sense people have a rather profound ideological position. They know, to quote Tony Benn's uncle, that 'politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedy'." | "You could put it like that," he said. "But you might also say that when it comes to politics, most ordinary common sense people have a rather profound ideological position. They know, to quote Tony Benn's uncle, that 'politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedy'." |
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