The Early Days of a Better Nation

Saturday, October 11, 2003


Socialism on One Planet

The current (Issue 176 - November 2003) issue of Fortean Times contains a fascinating article on the late Juan Posadas, a veteran Trotskyist and former professional footballer who developed some unique (as far as I know) political positions. One of them was advocacy of a Soviet nuclear first strike. Another, slightly less deranged, was that UFOs were clear evidence of the existence of communist civilizations elsewhere in the Galaxy.

Not even these, however, can prepare one for the indescribable quality of Posadas's prose, of which some small samples are given in the article. Having read a few of his demented rants myself (picking up a copy of Red Flag was sometimes the highlight of a demo) I can only say that the samples are representative, but that you miss the hallucinogen-like effect of reading an entire screed.

Strange to relate, the Posadists never really gained much support, except among Bolivian tin miners, who are among the most oppressed and most militant workers in the world.

(I once heard that 'There's a shepherd in Shotts who's a Posadist.' This may tell you all you need to know about Shotts.)

In Britain the Posadists were entrists in the Labour Party. As Go Fourth and Multiply (see below) points out, they tended to play down their distinctive positions when canvassing.

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