The spider on the glass, of course, was the result at Bethnal Green and Bow - except that spiders for the most part aren't as bad as this result. I've said something like it once before on my blog ('Private explanations, public meanings' - old normblog site, November 10 2003) - but anyone of progressive outlook who's heard George Galloway speak more than a few times without drawing the necessary moral and political conclusion isn't very perceptive. They had ample opportunity again last night if they witnessed the unpleasantness of his 'victory' speech, and of his interview with Jeremy Paxman (see video clip here).
In any case, we now have as the MP for that unfortunate constituency a man who publicly and fulsomely saluted one of the worst political butchers of modern times; and there are people on the left who have supported him, canvassed for him and voted for him. It says something about the condition of that section of the left. So do the terms in which one of their number felt it appropriate this morning to celebrate Galloway's victory:
For a while, I shall be rubbing the faces of Nick Cohen, Johann Hari, David "I give them a year" Aaronovitch and Harry's Place in the shit. Smell it, you fuckers, and feel this hate.Such is now the public language of someone appealing to, and purporting to speak for, the lineage of Marxian socialism - recalling nothing so much as the spirit of Vishinsky. All play-play? Mere words on a blog? Public language, especially when there is sharp division, especially in light of the bloody history of what has already been done in the name of socialism, has higher responsibilities. And it is never innocent of the darker dreams of those who abandon all verbal restraint.
For the rest, people on the left owe a debt of gratitude to the comrades at Harry's Place and others who worked for Oona King's campaign. As Paul Anderson says:
[T]he campaign to get rid of Galloway starts now.
