Re: Harry Newton
- From Laurens Otter:
‘Back in 1968, as I was leaving one of the big Vietnam demos (I worked as a copy-taker at the Guardian at the time and so worked on Sunday and went into work in the afternoon, so was going work before the demo had finished), I passed a group huddled by a porch, talking, and then, immediately after, came across someone who was obviously taping their conversation. I doubled back to tell them they were being taped and one of the group came with me to see who it was.He said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about him, that’s Harry Newton. He sees himself as a party commissar, he obviously suspects us of some deviation.’He told me the group were members of IMG; that Harry Newton was an eccentric who thought he was part of the leadership. So I took no more notice, except to recount the story as a funny joke, until Will Warren visited me soon afterwards. Will had come out of the Communist Party at the same time as Newton and told me that his divisional committee of the party had once devoted a whole meeting to discussing whether Harry Newton was or was not a police spy. The general view was, apparently, that he was so obviously one, that he couldn’t be one in fact.’
- From Eric Preston:
Eric Preston, mentioned in Donald Bateman’s piece on Newton in Lobster 28, rang me up and asked me if I was interested in a reply on the subject. Yes, indeed, said I. He sent me a long piece, over 5,000 words, on Newton’s political career, Bateman’s account (and the errors allegedly therein) and why he did not believe Newton had been an MI5 agent. Very interesting indeed. But he attached a condition: print intact, unedited, or not at all. So I sent it back. (I didn’t want to materially change it, just reduce it a bit.)However this difficulty has been overcome: Preston will send a copy of the entire piece (eight, A4 pages) to anyone who sends a stamped, addressed, A4 envelope to him at Independent Labour Publications (ILP), 49 Top Moor Side, Leeds, LS11 9LW.I strongly recommended this to anyone interested in the Harry Newton story.
Re: Class War
One of whose members wrote to upbraid me for my remark in Lobster 28 about Class War being ‘loose knit’. It is not so. Paul Marsh explains: ‘Class War membership is open to anyone who has been active in a Class War group for a minimum of 3 months and who agrees with our aims and principles. New members are introduced gradually into our activities.’
In his view it is the hierarchical, Trotskyist groups which are most open to penetration and manipulation by the state.
Re: Promises and Disappointments
In the previous Lobster I wrote a positive review of Kevin McClure’s latest journal, Promises and Disappointments – and omitted his address! It is:
42 Victoria Road,
St. Austell,
Pl25 4QD