‘The “dangerous class”, lumpenproletariat, the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society, may, here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarian revolution; its conditions of life, however, prepare it far more for the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue.’
– Karl Marx & Fredrick Engels

Images of lynching – white men, women and children celebrating in their thousands as if at a fun fair; all come to see the ‘dead nigger’ – make the visitor to Emory Douglas & the Art of Revolution wonder why the Black Panther Party for Self Defence didn’t come along sooner… and makes it easy to understand why white America would be so fearful of black people exercising their second amendment rights and standing up to police brutality.

The Black Panthers were about much more than guns and shooting back at police who tried to enter homes without a warrant. Key to their being were innovative social programmes, including breakfast for 10,000 children each day, free medical clinics and even emergency ambulances.

Speaking in Manchester last week Emory Douglas, the party’s former minister of culture, explained that some who came after them, notably founders of the Crips, looked to emulate the Black Panthers’ success in this arena. But a lack of political education, Douglas argued, meant they were always doomed to be overwhelmed by violent criminality. They were all about action and had no interest in political theory.

What made the Black Panther Party so interesting was its Marxist ideology and, in particular, the recognition that the black community was not working class, but had drifted into a culture of worklessness: they had become lumpenproletariat. Marx described the lumpenproletariat as scum and Trotsky accused them of supporting fascism, yet the Black Panther Party’s revolutionary singing group were called ‘The Lumpen’.

Marx should have minded his language, because by making ‘lumpen’ an insult from the start he ensured many people miss one of his key insights into the class system. In his totally uninsightful documentary on class, John Prescott met a young woman expelled from school for beating up her teacher. This young woman has never worked and seems to spend her days hurling abuse at passers-by from street corners: ‘I’m not working class ’cos I don’t work,’ she said. Prescott insisted she was working class, but no, she was lumpen as was the guy living on benefits with nine kids who had never had a job because, he claimed, he was too choosy.

Denying cultures of worklessness, pretending that the lumpen are working class, makes it impossible to achieve real social change.

As Dr Huey P Newton surveyed the plight of ghettoised blacks, he didn’t recoil at the idea that they had become lumpen, but instead set about preparing them to be swept along by proletarian revolution. At its best the Black Panther Party provided an ideological framework for America’s oppressed blacks and helped them gain education and achieve social mobility.

As minister for culture, Emory Douglas oversaw the creation of a genre of revolutionary imagery that not only explained the black American experience and charted the progress of the civil rights movement, but provided hope, motivation and a clear vision of a better future for all. The most important exhibition to hit Manchester in a long time, it also shows Urbis at its best.

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I couldn’t bring myself to stay up to the early hours to watch Barack Obama sweep to victory last night. For once I was with Daily Mail in expecting the election to descend into chaos, as previous presidential elections have done. People, especially poorer people and those from minority communities, had to queue for hours to vote and it looked like they’d run out of ballot papers.

It’s bizarre that the world’s first and only democratic superpower, a country dedicated to spreading democracy around the globe, cannot be trusted to organise an election. Fortunately, the scale of Obama’s victory has overcome all of this nonsense and America has, at last, a president whose victory cannot be disputed.

So farewell to George Bush, who failed everyone. Bush supporters had such high hopes eight years ago, believing that he would lead the USA to some kind of Conservative utopia. A heady Thatcherite mix of free markets and social conservatism would see abortion banned, gays put back in the closet and creationism taught as fact in every school. Fortunately for America, he failed on this.

Unfortunately for America, he also proved that markets need to be regulated and that while tyrants need to be toppled from time to time, if you’re serious about spreading democracy your own behaviour should be beyond reproach.

The change Obama promises is sometimes hard to define. His being the first black president is incredibly symbolic, given that blacks fighting for civil rights were being lynched less than fifty years ago. But that novelty will (hopefully) wear off quickly.

Many commentators point to current crises and say Obama’s hands are tied, but the opposite should be the case. Obama has a mandate for radical change and the bigger the crises, the more radical the solutions he may champion.

Obama can learn from New Labour too. Here people felt promises of change had been reneged upon as Labour was timid and too willing to compromise once in power. If bold words are not followed through with bold actions, people quickly become disenchanted. Let’s hope Obama has the balls to be bold.

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A comment from Billy Tomlinson on a four year old post, reminds me that UKIP was once worth blogging about. Over the last few years they’ve more or less dropped off the radar and must expect to lose all of their MEPs next year. Back in 2004, I got taken to task for attempting to tar UKIP with a BNP brush, but I’m is good company. Tory blogger Iain Dale has been reporting on UKIP/BNP co-operation for some time.

Not only do UKIP’s opponents liken them to the BNP, but the BNP recognises UKIP members as kindred spirits and has proposed an electoral pact. So insistent was the fascists’ envoy, the police were called.

UKIP leader, Nigel Farage complained to the BBC that: ‘there had been an attempt “over many months” to infiltrate and try to “demoralise” UKIP members into thinking there was no future without a deal with the BNP.’

Nigel Farage has always reminded me of Bertie Wooster. Definitely dim-witted; possibly nice, but dim. I suspect Jeeves would be tapping him on the shoulder now with the suggestion that he turn his back on UKIP and find another game to play. Perhaps Farage could defect to the Tories. It would be fun to watch him reopen some of their old wounds; trying to defend a lifeless UKIP from the circling BNP vultures can’t bring him any joy.

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Excitement all round as Ryanair is about to offer £8 flights to the USA…

…but still no word on how much it’ll costs to get back…

or how much you’ll pay for your luggage.

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