White Poppy - End All Wars!

UK: Armistice Day – Popping-Out for Abit! (11.11.2025)

Of course, workers and peasants have periodically fought for their rights over hundreds or thousands of years, with the movements varying in size and strength. From rioting in the town square to full on and widespread uprisings. The historians of the feudal or bourgeois state, however, will have none of this, and will try to force you to remember only those wars and conflicts which reflect the will of the reactionary State. This is what Poppy Day in the UK is all about – and explains why we try to co-opt it for our own working class ends. We are shifting the onus away from middle class hypocrisy and toward working class practicality. That is all there is to it. No only this, but we are fighting Trotskyism and all working class reaction that wants to see all Socialism ended in the UK – rather than repaired, extended, and strengthened. Fighting the enemies lurking within the working class is as important as fighting the enemies outside the working class. Perhaps Chairman Mao had a thing or two to say about this.

WWII "Drifting" Mine!

WWII: D-Day 81st Anniversary [1944-2025] – Remembering Arthur Gibson and the HMS Beaumaris Castle (FY 992) – of the “Royal Navy Patrol Service” [RNPS] ! (5.6.2025)

A “moored” mine (or “Naval” mine) is a single mine anchored to the seabed by a length of metal chain or rope – operating at a depth decided by the length of mooring tether. These mines were deadly as they often hid below the waterline and the line of sight – waiting for the hull of a ship to strike it in passing. A “drifting” sea mine was a device (sometimes “magnetic” but also “non-magnetic” or “contact” detonated) that floated about on the surface of the sea according to the tide. These mines could travel hundreds of miles and bob and weave their way up estuaries and into harbours. From what I gather according to the stories I was told, it was these “drifting” mines my grandfather was responsible for destroying. Obviously, a “U-Boat” was a Nazi German “Unterseeboot” or “Under Water Boat” – whilst an E-Boat referred to a Nazi German fast-attack “Enemy Boat” – usually carrying torpedoes. 

Arthur Gibson - RNPS

WWII: 1939 Founding of the Royal Navy Patrol Service [RNPS]! (26.5.2025)

I think the Royal Navy and RNPS acted in parallel around the UK – as I remember two Royal Navy ships working at exactly the same time during WWII – both holding exactly the same name of “HMS Beaumaris Castle” (but with different registration numbers). The point was that the war with Nazi Germany caught the UK government by surprise and there was not enough time (nor was there the resources) for the government to build proper military-grade mine-sweepers. Fishing vessels were acquired and thousands of volunteers called for to immediately defend the UK coastline. Those men who volunteered were permitted to “choose” to serve in the RNPS – rather than being placed wherever the government most needed men. The above extract sheds light on how the RNPS was first formed in 1939.

The Red Flag Flies Over Red Square!

Russia: May 9th “Victory Over Fascism” – 80th [1945-2025] Commemoration! (9.5.2025)

From 1942-1945 he fought everyday in the North Atlantic. Recently, the “Russian Arctic Convoy Museum” – voted to remove the word “Russian” from its title – can you believe that? I stood with Veterans of these fine and brave men at the Soviet War Memorial in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum – and everyone of them had a positive viewpoint of the USSR and Russia. Like my grandfather (Arthur Gibson) these brave men were not permitted to march at the London Cenotaph (primarily by the Royal British Legion) due to their association with the Soviet Union. Ironically, the Soviet War Memorial was unveiled in 1999 – when “New” Labour was still pretending to be “left-wing”! Finally, all those loyal British military Veterans who had fought alongside our Soviet allies during WWII – were permitted a spot where they could finally parade and carry their flags with honour and dignity!

WWII: My Tribute to the Excellent British ‘Home Guard’ (LDVF) and Some of My Published Work! (6.10.2023)

My maternal (‘Gibson’) family used to live in Lewisham, East London – until they were bombed-out by Hitler during the Blitz of September 1940 (the Blitz would go on to kill 70,000 British people between 1940-1941 – with 40,000 deaths in London alone). The Gibson family were then evacuated to the ‘Forest Hill’ area of Oxfordshire – due to them having a ‘nephew’ living in the area. In 1983, a book focusing on local history was commissioned entitled ‘Forest Hill with Shotover – A Portrait (1983)’. This was published by the ‘Forest Hill Women’s Association’. The Story of my grandfather – Arthur Gibson – and his family arriving in the area is recorded on Pages 28-29

Email: Russian Arctic Convoy Museum – SEAMAN ARTHUR JAMES GIBSON [1911-1997] – ROYAL NAVY PATROL SERVICE (NO: JX381363) – HMS Beaumaris Castle! (5.8.2023)

‘Seaman Arthur Gibson joined the Royal Navy Patrol Service (RNPS) in late 1941, and was soon aboard the Minesweeper – HMS Beaumaris Castle – stationed in the North Atlantic. His job was to keep the shipping lanes free of Nazi German mines (by shooting to sink them or explode with using mounted Lewis Machine Guns, or WWI 303 Lee Enfield or MK III Ross [303] Rifles), so that the Russian Arctic Convoys could deliver vital aid to the UK’s ally – the Soviet Union! As Arthur Gibson saw frontline service nearly everyday of his four-year service – this fact alone triggered a cascade of medals for time-served in the face of the enemy! I contacted the MOD recently to acquire an official letter confirming his medal entitlement. He would have been proud of his two granddaughters – Mei-An and Kai-Lin living in Sutton and helping me research his glorious past! Arthur Gibson was finally granted his medals on the 19th of September, 1950 – some five-years after the end of WWII – and after other conflicts were well under way around the world!’

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