"london 'slaves' had been in political collective with captors, police say"

[Popular Front of Judea]

So I wonder if the would-be revolutionary leader ever logged on to RevLeft?

The 73-year-old man arrested on suspicion of holding three women captive in a south London flat for 30 years is a one-time Communist party activist who was well known within far-left circles in London during the mid- and late 1970s as the leader of a separatist party-cum-commune.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, known as Comrade Bala, had been a senior member of the Communist party of England (Marxist-Leninist) – a member of the party's central committee – but according to a history of the movement he split from the party in 1974.

His new organisation, described as "characterised by the ultra-left posturing and Mao worship", was called the Workers' Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. But the group is not thought to have been active since the 1970s – before one of the women, now aged 30, was born.

Balakrishnan's beliefs, niche even among the ultra-left groups of the time, styled his group as a direct component of Maoist China, calling on the Red army to come to south London to liberate working people.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...krishnan/print

[Ismail]

idk, i don't think there's anything academic - pseudo or otherwise - about it, just seems like run of the mill maoism-by-numbers rhetoric. but yeah, very weird stuff, i love this part:

hoxha, the modern day trotsky

Daniel Burstein of the CPML, shortly before dropping any pretenses of Marxism and becoming a bourgeois journalist (and is an entrepreneur nowadays) wrote in 1980 that, "To a lesser degree, many Marxist-Leninists were also influenced by Enver Hoxha and the Albanian Party of Labor. But now it appears that the Albanian party leaders have degenerated into an isolated band of ultra-'left' splitters and Trotskyites of sorts."

Likewise in their 1979 article "Beat Back the Dogmato-Revisionist Attack on Mao Tsetung Thought," the RCPUSA wrote that, "Hoxha claims that Leninist principles 'do not permit the existence of many lines, of opposing trends in the communist party.' Brilliant! With one sentence Hoxha wipes out the need to fight revisionism, dogmatism, Trotskyism and every other conceivable deviation that might arise within the ranks of the Party." And, "Of course this is not the first time in history that revisionism has posed itself as 'orthodox' Marxism and tried to paint the genuine revolutionary communists with the brush of 'deviationism,' or even fanaticism. Karl Kautsky was the orthodox Marxist of his day in his battle against Leninism. And, likewise, Trotsky posed as the 'proletarian' and 'pure' Marxist as he did his best to undermine and wreck the world’s first socialist state."

So yeah, Maoists in general had little hesitancy in denouncing Hoxha as a Trotskyist, not just this political cult.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

So basically Ismail, they're all wankers - trots, hoxha, maoists and their odd RCP and 'Bala' offshoots.

On a serious note, if this bala guy's political party had been inactive for 30+ years, why is that a factor in the story? Was the slavery even motivated by, or related to, his odd political cult?

None of the news stories seem to articulate what, if any, political activities these people were up to in the years since the late 1970s when his Mao worship party seems to have become defunct.

[ed miliband]

So basically Ismail, they're all wankers - trots, hoxha, maoists and their odd RCP and 'Bala' offshoots.

On a serious note, if this bala guy's political party had been inactive for 30+ years, why is that a factor in the story? Was the slavery even motivated by, or related to, his odd political cult?

None of the news stories seem to articulate what, if any, political activities these people were up to in the years since the late 1970s when his Mao worship party seems to have become defunct.

well, the group went underground 30 years ago... these women have been held for some 30 years. it's not difficult to join dots. given the nature of the group when it existed (if you search for the steve rayner article on them it will come up on google books): incredibly close-knit, all money earned going to the collective, etc. it's quite easy to imagine that when the group 'disappeared' - in incredibly paranoid circumstances - it became more sinister, and people involved were left in a more vulnerable position.

[Popular Front of Judea]

On a serious note, if this bala guy's political party had been inactive for 30+ years, why is that a factor in the story? Was the slavery even motivated by, or related to, his odd political cult?

None of the news stories seem to articulate what, if any, political activities these people were up to in the years since the late 1970s when his Mao worship party seems to have become defunct.

Good question. The details of this case have been dribbling out slowly. I assume that the two older captives came into contact with their captors back in the '70s. Once they came to live with the couple they could have been manipulated by fear of government repression, a tactic used by other cultish leftist groups. (The two older captives were immigrants.) See: Communist Party USA (Provisional)

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

well, the group went underground 30 years ago... these women have been held for some 30 years. it's not difficult to join dots. given the nature of the group when it existed (if you search for the steve rayner article on them it will come up on google books): incredibly close-knit, all money earned going to the collective, etc. it's quite easy to imagine that when the group 'disappeared' - in incredibly paranoid circumstances - it became more sinister, and people involved were left in a more vulnerable position.

my point was more that, as far as i'm aware, there were 5 people. What have they been doing for 30 years? I agree its so sinister!

Also, i'm willing to bet that if they had a network of 13 houses then they were being funded from somewhere...

[The Idler]

if you've spent 30 years with the WRP and Gerry Healy barges in one day and eats your kids, you'll be angry - but at the same time, you'll be throwing away 30 years if you quit

Good points but this one doesn't apply because the group philosophy of presentism described on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker...Zedong_Thought)

In 1982 Steve Rayner wrote a study of the organisation and critiqued its presentism.

Presentism is the philosophical doctrine that only events and entities that occur in the present exist.

[Comrade Jacob]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...olitical-group

What the fuck is this shit?

[Aware]

They aren't Maoists, they're insane.

[Tim Cornelis]

They aren't Maoists, they're insane.

Implying that's mutually exclusive.

But seriously, there've been various Maoist sects in the West that were actual cults (for instance: KEN-ML in the Netherlands). I don't find it surprising to find out.

[Arlekino]

I don't even believing there are some slavery. Is in favour to Hollywood movies stories and newspapers sales is high.

[goalkeeper]

I think it is misleading to refer to this as "London Slave case" or whatever. I mean, they were in someway slaves in that they were confined by this Chairman Bala guy seemingly against their will, but I don't this is much about exploited indentured labour and more paranoid weird cult.

[Arlekino]

oh yes what a story 30 years of slavery how this managed? is dark matter somewhere, is nonsense and is fiction.

[The Jay]

oh yes what a story 30 years of slavery how this managed? is dark matter somewhere, is nonsense and is fiction.

You're blaming the victim here. It isn't their fault that they were manipulated and brainwashed. Quit it.

[ed miliband]

You're blaming the victim here. It isn't their fault that they were manipulated and brainwashed. Quit it.

it's not victim blaming: it's denying any victims even exist.

[The Jay]

it's not victim blaming: it's denying any victims even exist.

Semantics could be argued here.

[ed miliband]

i don't think so, the user you quoted is basically saying the whole thing is completely made up, a fiction to sell more newspapers and hollywood films. victim blaming implies that there are victims, sure, but they are to blame for what has happened to them. the quoted user doesn't think these victims exist to be blamed.

[Craig_J]

I stopped reading after the second paragraph.

They use the terms "communist" and "far-left" simply as a way of putting the left down and making us look like we are all therefore the same. It's that old "leftists want totalitarian dictatorship" thing again.

They may have been Maoists and may have been communists. But their use of language is just more prooganda.

Would you ever see this in the media???

"The couple which held two women as slaves for thirty years are believed to be captalists. They were revealed to be Thatcherites, who had activley supported the Conservative party during her tenure, and were believed to belong to a cult of business leaders"

Of course not, the media think if you're a mainstream captialist that isn't a cause for any problems. However if you're leftist that is evidence that your ideology was the reason for you're brutality.

[Craig_J]

I don't even believing there are some slavery. Is in favour to Hollywood movies stories and newspapers sales is high.

What's next, holocaust denial? Of course it exists.

[Sasha]

I'm pretty sure if these where moonies or something that would get equal mention, sure they would underplay the rightwing, cappy connections of the moonies but then again, rightwing cults tend to be more secretive about their ideaoligy than left cults.