Monday, July 19, 2004
Paul Foot, 1937-2004. posted by Richard Seymour
I was shocked and saddened this morning to read of the death of Paul Foot, "66 going on 21" as the Guardian had it. He died of a thoracic aortic aneurysm, having previously been brought down by a heart attack in March 1999. I had seen Paul speak several times at various meetings, and have read much of his writing and reporting. His work on such issues as the Lockerbie bombing, the execution of James Hanratty, the Poulson scandal, BP's sanctions-busting in Rhodesia and New Labour's Private Finance Initiative has been indispensable for socialists, as well as for individual campaigners.But I remember him most for his stunning oration, a dying tradition in the feeble era of the 'Westminster village'. Like the late Tony Cliff, he could rouse an audience with passion and humour - but it is probably fair to say that he had a little more humility than Cliff. In particular, he managed to keep an audience spellbound at a Marxism 1998 meeting, in which he simply read Shelley's "Mask of Anarchy", thundering the final verse:
‘Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number—
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you—
Ye are many—they are few.’
Paul was an admirer of Shelley, and of the romantic poets in general - particularly William Blake (whom he reviewed with caustic wit and affection for the ISJ). Like one of his favourite historians, Christopher Hill, he was appreciative of the interface between politics and culture, between poetry and revolution. His book, Red Shelley, makes a lucid, persuasive, and above all elegant case for reading Shelley as a socialist before his time. It combines his lapidary style with considerable learning and eagerness.
Paul will be remembered by those on whose behalf he campaigned. The BBC story linked above is appended by a lengthy string of comments and tributes, and quite a few of them are from those who benefited directly from his hard work. In his best work and speeches, he always emphasised the role of ordinary people, insisting on their ability to organise things for themselves. Workers could resist pay cuts, but they could also - if they wanted - run society for themselves. As he insisted, quoting the French revolutionary Camille Desmoulins, at the end of one memorable speech:
"The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise."
Or, as another of Paul's favourites, Oscar Wilde, would have put it, let us rise from our semi-recumbent postures. It is most indecorous.
4:40:00 pm |
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