Posted by Duncan on August 07, 2003 at 10:47:25 from 195.93.32.8 user Duncan.
In Reply to: Re: A Bit Off Track? posted by Peter H on August 06, 2003 at 17:23:14:
Totally agree with a lot of what's been said.
And can I just say as a 'left-winger' that I think the one consistent thread of AR's political thought that seems entirely uncontroversial is his anti-imperialism. Again, I'm not saying there's anything propagandist or didactic about AR's fictional writing, but anybody who wishes to try and paint AR as an imperialist seems to have completely misunderstood him. Missee Lee has never been my favourite SA adventure, but - despite the stereotypical rendering of Chinese speech patterns and other references that might sit a little awkwardly today - it is furiously anti-imperialist. Everything about AR's demands for Britian to stay out of the wars of intervention, his opposition to militarist Germany, his opposition towards NATO's stance vis-a-vis China represents a strong thread of anti-imperialism, whatever arguments people may have about the extent to which he supported the bolsheviks or other political groupings.
I love the quotations that Paul Foot picks out in his Forward as well. They are beautifully written and I do worry that there's a tendency to side-line AR's political writings because - for whatever reason (and I apologise if I seemed to suggest that there was an anti-left bias around here, it's just I normally get shouted down if I go off on one!!!) - people are uncomfortable with anything too political.