This is definitely one of those, "Ya think ya heard it all, and then...." stories. I've been following along then saw yesterday first a "Marxists" report, and then "Maoists"? Yikes. Hey, I've read Marx too but.... And then, from zwiebel's link (above): 'The National Executive warns that....his...activity will come to no good end.' Yep. Heard it all now. Till the next time.
No you haven't. There's more......
Surreal! Alexis Sayle the comedian pops up here too.???
'The COE suffered when it lost about 10% of its membership after Comrade Avarindan Balakrishnan ( popularly known as Bala) led a break from the Communist Party of England in 1974. He was the leading force behind the Workers Insititue of Marxist Leninism Mao Tse Tsung Thought.....Bala described them as 'The Communist Party of Elizabeth (Most Loyal).'
'The
Singaporean-born member, Balakrishnan..'
I am really beginning to get the picture now. Comrade Bala seemed to be a Jim Jones-like figure without the charisma, who even other radical revolutionaries could not stomach. He may be Indian heritage but it seems by birth he is a Singaporean.
In the linked article, the group he founded are described by other radicals as 'head bangers', 'mad as hatters', 'strange' and a 'cult'. Bear in mind, this was all said long before the latest news broke.
The comedian Alexis Sayle attended their twice-weekly theory class meetings, and said he was the dimmest one there.
Comrade Bala was chucked out of the Communist Party for basically setting up his own little cult within it (mostly made up of impressionable students and poor immigrants and with a strong Chinese basis).
Then it goes into shades of Jim Jones;
With a core group of about 13 'workers' he set up the Mao Tse Tung Memorial Centre in Oct 1976 in a bookshop at 140 Acre Lane, Brixton. Half were in paid work, the other half were the lazy-assed full time revolutionaries (see where the 'domestic servitude idea came from?). They were hassled by locals and other left wing groups, and it was noticed that members were allowed 'no intellectual growth or challenges'. Comrade Bala was the 'dominant personality and leader'. They were banned from many meetings of other groups because of their disruptions, and regarded themselves as a branch of the communist Party of China. They had links in
Ireland and Canada. (I saw something from Canada but ignored it, grrr!. That's got to be why the Irish woman ended up there too)
After the big raid in 1978, members gradually disappeared and the tenancy of the Acre Lane place was lost - ostensibly because of non-payment of rates. The Party held some further meetings in University College London Union HQ in Gordon St, Bloomsbury. But by 1981 anyone who asked about the party was told it had 'gone underground'. It seems that Bala and his wife had actually been given a council house by then, in reality. Chand, his wife, was obviously present through all of this, but gets little mention.....
The group was weird enough to attract the attention of a sociological study published in 1982. Title of the book was, 'Essays in the Sociology of Perceptions' by M Douglas. The essay about the commune was conrtributed by S Rayne and was called......
The Perception of time and Space in Egalitarian Sects: A Millenarium Cosmology'
I haven't found the TV documentary yet. I think it showed in 81/82.
This really is an amazing case - a 70s cult that survived in a despicable form until 2013. Thank heavens for social housing, benefits and the NHS - he'd probably have taken them off to Guyana for a Kool-aid trip otherwise.
http://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/high-tide.pdf
