http://aaronovitch.blogspot.com/2009/03/classic-from-oliver-kamm.html
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 04, 2009
Classic from Oliver Kamm
The noted obituarist and music critic writes:
One minor aspect of Hobsbawm's allegiance to British Communism that I have never understood is his authorship of the notorious Cambridge pamphlet supporting the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939-40. Hobsbawm wrote this with Raymond Williams, who later recorded (Politics and Letters, 1981, p. 43): "We were given the job as people who could write quickly, from historical materials supplied for us. You were often in there writing about topics you did not know very much about, as a professional with words."
A bit like a leader-writer for the Times then?
One minor aspect of Hobsbawm's allegiance to British Communism that I have never understood is his authorship of the notorious Cambridge pamphlet supporting the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939-40. Hobsbawm wrote this with Raymond Williams, who later recorded (Politics and Letters, 1981, p. 43): "We were given the job as people who could write quickly, from historical materials supplied for us. You were often in there writing about topics you did not know very much about, as a professional with words."
A bit like a leader-writer for the Times then?
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16 COMMENTS:
"Owing to the action of Mr de Valera ... the approaches and the Southern Irish ports and airfields could so easily have guarded were closed by the hostile aircraft and U-boats. This was indeed a deadly moment in our life, and if it had not been for the loyalty and friendship of Northern Ireland we would have been forced to come to close quarters with Mr de Valera or perish forever from the earth."
Finland, of course, lay athwart the approaches to Leningrad, which partly as a result endured one of the most horrible sieges in history.
Given Oliver's satisfied approval of area bombing and dropping the A-Bock, he should really indulge apologias for Stalin's attack on Finland a bit more.
[BTW, Dev's response to Churchill has been justly;y famous in Ireland ever since:
"It is indeed fortunate that Britain's necessity did not reach the point when Mr Churchill would have acted. All credit to him that he successfully resisted the temptation which I have no doubt many times assailed him in his difficulties and to which I freely admit many leaders might have succumbed. It is indeed hard for the strong to be just to the weak but acting justly always has its rewards".]
Re Churchill, de Valera and Ireland, I read that Churchill offered him 'a nation once again' after the war so long as de Valera allowed Britain wartime use of Eire's west coast facilities. De Valera didn't reply, thus confirming my suspicions that he, along with the bulk of Eire's rulers, didn't really want the Six Counties back.
Glad to see Ollie in such a forgiving mood re Hitlers allies, unless they are muslim of course.
Though at a pinch you could argue that Pakistan, Georgia, Russia and Lebanon are not strictly democracies.
mining a country's harbours is an act of war, regardless of whether its preceded by a formal declaration. Or an act of terrorism perhaps
Returning to the matter in hand, if OK is not OK about countries enthusiastically violating each others' neutrality, perhaps he'd care to comment on the plan to mine the Norwegian coast in 1940, and the actual invasion of Iceland in that year, both Churchill's babies.
[It was a pity that the Brits failed to violate neutrality when it might have made a difference, in Kra on Dec 6th 1941. D'oh.]
Chris Williams