Author’s Note: Every so often, an aspect of my youth raises its head. For British people of my generation (I was born in 1967 – during the “Summer of Love” – with my parents both being hippy Revolutionaries), a left-leaning BBC was very much the norm. The bourgeois can NEVER be trusted – but many living today would be mistaken for thinking that the UK’s once pervasive Socialism would give the impression that Britain was once a Soviet State! Yes – there was anti-China and anti-Soviet propaganda (ITV was worse – as this was founded in the 1950s to pump US-style corporate TV into British living-rooms) but there was also programming that attempted to give the “other side” of the story. I once watched a documentary about “abolishing” Xmas – and the idea that armed conflict was “morally” wrong, etc. Of course, an endless cascade of counter-examples can be provided. My point is that the British consciousness was so left-wing that those possessing this outlook very rarely viewed themselves as “Socialist” or “Communist” as they did not have to.
These designations only come into play when the genuine left-wing is under attack (as is the case today) or is being denied. The contemporary post-Thatcher UK is reminiscent of a fledgling US State that is still struggling to find its feet whilst predatory capitalism takes its full effect. As a nation, our British Socialism is dying and we are a poorer nation for it. The British State is now so oppressive (regardless of the incumbent government) that the youth are forced to work in zero hours jobs (introduced by the EU – and NOT abolished upon the UK’s leaving of that US aberration) and view anything provided free at the point of use (paid for through collective taxation) as being “morally” repugnant!
What will happen next? Time will tell. Whilst we are retreating into groups and individualities of self-defence – we may use whatever cultural elements we can find to invigorate the intellect and stimulate the body. The far-right, right-wing, the Trotskyites, the liberal (bourgeois) left, and the liberal capitalists are the enemies of humanity. The “left” they blame for everything “bad” – is a figment of their own Hitlerite imaginations. We must constructively “sit this out” until this false consciousness is naturally replaced with a correct (working-class) consciousness. As a young child, every time I sat in a GP’s Surgery waiting my turn to receive the best (free) medical attention in the world – I never thought that this most civilised way of living in the world would come to an end! We of that generation never thought that our own national governments would betray the British people and bring-back the abolished homelessness, starvation, and death through cold, medical neglect!
We did not predict that a Labour Party (1997-2010) would export (racist) imperialist wars and bring terrorist attacks onto our British streets (after remedying the Irish issue). Or, that such a Labour Party would privatise the NHS at a break-neck speed whilst telling us the privatisation was being halted (Tony Blair personally invented the concept of NHS Staff “paying” for their own parking at their places of work – during their 12-hour shifts). This “New Labour” even began the attack on all disabled people – putting-out the false propaganda that all disabled people were deliberately “lying” about their limitations – as a means to secure endless benefit payments and preferential treatment throughout British society. The Zionist-inspired “Little Britain” (look-up the odious opinions of “Matt Lucas”) would lead this Hitlerite attack upon Britain’s disabled population – disguising this damaging and debilitating rhetoric as “humour” (“Little Britain” would be deleted from Netflix and BBC iplayer in 2020 for its blatantly “racist” content – which saw both actors “black-up” whilst often presenting misogynistic characters.
Another disgusting “comedy” by these two clowns [Matt Lucas David Walliams] entitled “Come Fly with Me” is typical of the type of “humour” found on Zionist TV [now also removed from the BBC iplayer and Netflix] – with Matt Lucas “blacking-up” as an African-Caribbean woman whilst pretending all such women are “liars” and are “lazy” – but perhaps most disturbing and disgusting example of this Hitlerist attitude saw the anti-Palestinian “Matt Lucas” browning-up and pretending to be a “devious” British Muslim!) All this New Labour treachery laid the foundation for the murdering of over 120,000 people with disabilities (between 2010-2015) by a combined fascistic effort perpetuated by the Lib-Dems and the Tories (as confirmed by the UN)! Thank goodness the BBC and the efforts of the now deceased Paul Darrow (Avon) have culminated in the First Series of Blake’s 7 being released on Bluray! Perhaps something of the “leftist” spirit of those times (the late 1970s) can be gleamed from these excellent stories of ordinary people standing-up to State tyranny! ACW (7.1.2025)
I watched the BBC SciFi series entitled “Blake’s 7” when it was first broadcast between 1978-1981. Like many, I was sad when the series ended. It grew out of Dr Who (Terry Nation) and reflected a left-wing uprising against a right-wing Fascist State. The late 1970s was the last time a left-wing Labour Party was in power. The British workers united and rose-up to secure their rights with strikes, mass demonstrations, and marches. During the 1970s, and as a reaction to the left-leaning Hippy movement of the 1960s, The British “National Front” (NF) was on the march with its rampant message of misogyny, racism, and wanton violence. This led to the defeat of the workers at the ballot box (that’s liberal democracy for you) and the advent of the fascistic Margaret Thatcher – a working class Tory who had benefited from the free milk given to school children, free healthcare, free education, subsidised social housing, and welfare support, etc. During her ten-year tenure – Thatcher took all this away from the British people!
The bourgeois retrospectives now portray the fight of the workers for their rights during the late 1970s as a “dark” and “disastrous” time for the British people – and the rise of Thatcher and her right-wing cronies as being the “saviours” of the British nation. This is a classic inversion of reality which saw the Revolutionary spirit of Blake’s 7 being “cancelled” by the BBC – by order of their Tory masters in 1981. However, as the years went by, and new generations discovered Blake’s 7 (I introduced this drama to Gee – my partner – who had never heard of it), there have been numerous calls for a reboot, a re-imagining, or even some type of prequel. The original four series have been released on VHS (tape), DVD, and most recently – Bluray. If the British government was to “ban” a subversive series – even a purely fictional one – Blake’s 7 would be a prime candidate.
Meanwhile, Paul Darrow (1941-2019) – who played the character “Kerr Avon” in the show – purchased the rights to Blake’s 7 during the mid to late 1990s and attempted to re-launch the show, but with limited success. The BBC, as a compromise, re-edited the soundtracks to the original series and created audiobooks broadcasted on BBC Radio 4 in 1998 (presumably with Paul Darrow’s knowledge and consent). This 20th anniversary edition possessed the advantage of retaining ALL orignal cast members (some of whom had regrettably passed away). As the internet came into being – an invention Blake’s 7 predicted – a slew of audio editions of Blake’s 7 have emerged from a number of production entities. Perhaps as many as a hundred or more. In this respect, Blake’s 7 still speaks to a new generation and I suspect it is far more than mere SciFi entertainment.
Things were not perfect (even the then left-wing Daily Mirror would run racist articles opposing Mao Zedong’s China) – but the general and pervading feeling was that the UK was on the verge of a Marxist-Leninist Revolution and that this was an inevitable (dialectical) outcome! No force on earth could stop this progression – or so we thought – and SciFi series like Dr Who, Space 1999, and Blake’s 7 reflected this underlying idea – even though many involved may not have been fully aware of what their actions represented, or what the characters they bought to life truly meant to the rest of us! As for the latter storylines contained in the post-Thatcher era audio adventures of Blake’s 7 – the US-inspired Cold War anti-intellectualism remains thankfully sparse even if it does occasionally raise its head (the Federation, in a 2018 storyline, is accused of “oppressing religion” – just as the US falsely accuses all Socialist regimes of doing) – but by and large the underlying Revolutionary spirit of Blake’s 7 is kept alive! The Federation, of course, represents the world of fascistic, capitalist thuggery – whilst Blake and his Comrades – represent an anti-fascist “United Front” – the sort the far-right today hate, maligne, and misrepresent!
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 