musical e..ablishment has ensured his obscurity outside jazz circles. A musical radical, he is also politically outspoken.
'We have oppression of black people, you in Britain have Ireland, it's the same thing — imperialism. Most people believe the '60s was an isolated period, but it wasn't. The USA will always produce Malcolm X's, WEB Du Bois, Marcus Garveys and Martin Luther Kings. Just as American society is very stubborn about preserving oppression, resistance keeps being generalea.
In the middle of his set at the recent Bracknell jazz festival Roach appeared on stage with only two drum sticks and a high-hat (footcymbal).
itself brought rapturous applause, was preceded by a lesson in politics and music history. Slavery 'This instrument was added to the traditional drum kit by Jonathan David Samuel Jones and if you figure how an American got a name like that you can begin to understand what slavery is all about.
'He was part of the legendary Count Basie band that took New York by storm all those yeurs ago with a music called whatever that is.
Earlier, before his set, we had been talking about the role of jazz, how each innovation of style was attacked only to be accepted years later - often after the leading innovators were THE attempts of the National rronto use lae mass unemnovment of the Midlands to spread their racist poison with their rusalobs tor kritish workers' march ended in fiasco on 17 August Aller danker Dans nao been imposed on five towns, Martin Webster announced that he and kwu yours reis would march through to the unemployment office in West Bromwich.
When he arrived in a red corlina ne was surrounded by waiting anti-fascists chanting 'No nazi scum in West Brom'. He was told ov the cher constanle of kirmingham that he would be arrested if he marched and had to leave to the cheers of the anti-fascists.
Anti-racists then broke the blanket ban and marched up the high street to the unemployment office. One arrest was I he main NF march, number co more læ so cook nace through Nuneaton under heavy police escort. It was constantly who had managed to get through the police road blocks Front were stoned and after a man produced a shotgun outside a Duu allu til catclica tue nas.
ANL secretary Paul Holborrow was among those arrested.
PM GRANT, London THE statement in Socialist Carence v v ano ne relaunching of a new-style SC was enthusiastically received by IMG members, supporters and occasional readers of the paper in our aica This was especially so afte the most popular comment was 'about time _come une naive •i the editorial board, and would like to put forward some of our His solo on the instrument, which Afro'swing' dead Revolutionary music that's right up own proposals which we feel would greatly improve the paper.
On language and communica. tion we would like to see a more sensible balance between very lecnnical sounding and high scor ing 'scrabble' words and ordinary spoken English.
This or full of working class snobbery to some comrades but we believe i lo oc a lundamenta error o • What's the use of spoiling some excellent articles them unintelligible to the readers?
lI we can't communicate with our readers through our paper we might as well sell the Beano halisiatta into coloe burea In general we feel that for the paper to be : used effectively as a gutine socialist baber to win trade union militants and others to revolutionary politics it has to break with the theoretical journal image.
We find that not all our considered errors can be attributed to the editorial board. Many SC supourselves included ale equally gullty or not sending reports, articles, and so on.
or comrades with very little previous expenence we pernaps tend to exaggerate SC's deficiencies. But we would certain! uke to near trom other branches or individuals on what they feel about our paper.
BOLSOVER IMG IN HIS article US Workers Need a Labour Party' (14 Aug), Ball makes several errors when he aescribes ine mistorical develop ment of the labour movement in this country.
Just cook aline ne-uo or forces at the 1900 Memorial Hall conference in London which saw lic cicallon oilse taDour Representatial Clammittee (the forerunner of the Labour Party) sows cicarly indianey were anything but the forces necessary *to build an independent class parThe platform comprised a valiy ul labour 'Jazz has always been under attack, from the days of Buddy Bolding, to today. Bolding because he improvised. In the '20s they had 'race' records and decent people weren't supposed to listen because the music came from by making Liberal MPs and their supporters in the TUC leadership, the Fabian Society, the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation (which pulled out of the LRC the following year), plus the trade union leaders of the new unions John would also have us believe that 'the leaders of the ¿laue onlon concress wanted us. til the last minute to form a political party' branch anachronise view dron correspondence to what took place al ine turn or the century.
Sections of the TUC leader. ship fought tooth and nail against ty' with prophecies more in keeping with the Old Testament than ine trade unions But this view was defeated not only at the TUC ycal perore me Memoria hal meeting, but at the meeting itself The main supporters of the move to found une Labou Representation Committee (which became the Labour Party in 1906) were the new ultions (Malch John makers, Shop Workers.
Workers, Dockers, Gas Workers), not the con spirators waiting for a last minute deal from Downing Street I certainly think it is valid and essential for us to generalise, to draw upon the periences or allerent working class movements internationally.
But I would urge John Ball and others who contribute to Socialist Challenge to be more correct in their historical representation. before Kid Ory, was criticised over the Word democracy.
This would but bears little financial policy per cent in November conference, the and f6.15 for a couple.
cent.
Ross MP:
, Transport and value of the couple.' (Hansard, 29 July)
wealth of ex usual. The delay will save the government £65m, but it will ficant call • worse off. In other words, penBlack people who weren't "civilised"' 'It was an outlet to protest at the indignities Jaced by black people. Now it frees people all 'Politically I see jazz as the natural music of European classical music is the music of imperialism - a conductor and a A FEW weeks ago, Socialist Challenge drew attention to the Tory government's attack on children and young people. But Thatcher and her crew do not discriminate on grounas or age when it comes to attacking the Old age pensioners a song to ve lara ml as a direct result of deliberate goverment quite apart from sharing in the hardships causea by culs in wellare anc social services, hospitals, etc.
In his last budget, the Tory earners. Chancellor announced that pensions would be increased by 16.5 - an increase of £3.85 for a single person • lilaliva is currently running at 21 per What does this actually mean?
Reg Prentice gave the answer in reply to a question from Ernie 'On the basis of maments line relal brice in under threat. dex from Dec "79 to June '80, the pension has fallen by 11 per cent from £23.30 to £20.99 Ior a single person, and iron £37.30 to £33.61 for a married But this is not all. This year pensioners will receive their an- elderly poor. nual micrease two weeks later than •ocusioner beg t 4d sioners will be contributing that the Count Basie Band in the '30s. establishment.
This 1950s album Garvey.' after that piece 'bonus' of £10. Even Scrooge relented during the festive season!
Last year, when pension in. creases were linked to either prices or wages (wnichever was ine greater), the Treasury underestimated the annual ingovernment realised this, despite a Words fail me wen une moral obligation to make good the shorttall of 50p a week t couples and 35p a week to single persons, they cold-bloodedly decided not to do so Government policy to break the link with earnings and to relate pensions only to prices will tion (see result in an ever-increasing gap between pensioners and wage Supplementary pensions will drop to tne basic pension rate Single pensioners will lose 40p per week and couples 50p. Lump sum payments and launary adounons are to be reduced and it will be more difficult to claim them ale value or lne week in validity Pension will be reduced and now the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act wilch oro vides for help to the disabled, is Local authorities are now permitted to charge pensioners on suppiementary benents for nome helps. Several Tory councils (e.g Barnet and Redbridge) are already them impostig tnese charges, wnich constitute a brutal attack on the Tory immigration laws make it harder for elderly dependents to join their families in Britain while the Social Securitv Ac makes it an offence for an elderly dependent to claim the noncontributory benefits. The resull Socialist Challenge 'Leonard Feather (guru of the white critics) attacked Billie Holiday's last album "Lady in Satin" (1958) because he said she didn't sound like she did when she was 21 and playing with But I love that album, it tells about her life, her loves, her emotional ups and downs, her feelings. Jazz allows you to sound 50 when you're 50. When you are 19 you should sound 19. Jazz allows you to tell the truth — be who you are' By most standards Roach should be rich and famous today. Along with Parker, Dizzie Gillespie and others whom non-jazz fame has eluded, Roach innovated 'Be-Bop'. White imitators of the style can be found regularly on Parkinson and other late night TV shows. But Roach not only kept innovating but he also made the link with Africa and his stand for civil rights too obvious to be ignored by the musical Down Beat magazine praised the music of Garvey's Ghost as being 'heroic and grandiose,' but insisted this was 'oddly at variance with what is known of His remarkable album, made with singer Abbey Lincoln, We Insist, The Freedom Now Suite, recorded in 1961, contrasted American slavery with the emerging independent nations of Africa. The black civil rights party, The Freedom Now Party, is said to have been named 'This music that always challenges the music, challenges society.' is poverty and starvation and is anomer campic or lne racism which is implicit in Tory philosophy.
Charlie Van Gelderen, London NW11 As Valerie Coultas knows perfectly well, I did NOT say in Beyond Fragments that I was opposed paign being a national organisa Socialist Challenge 27 Aug). I never have been In giving an historical account of the debates which occured in Essex Road Women's Centre ir 1975 1 wrote that many women were suspicious of national struc was a problem for us:
Feminists often felt that any Hallulla campaleung structure gave women in left groups an ad over them, in terms of determining policy, as they were more experienced in that form of centrally organised politics.
I did not say • wilar Iny own Dos on was ne denare ! described was clearly around problems of working in national , not about te impor tance or otherwise of building 1 all genuinely snocked anc disgusted by Valerie's distortion and misquotation Not only was Ins a personal allack, ll was also an attempt to discredit the whole 'Fragments' event by a jourHansul manucuvre reminiscent oi the columns of Woodrow Wyatt.
Words fail me.
Lynne Segal, London
3 September 1980 Page 15
Socialist Challenge FOUR HUNDRED people lobbied the TUC Congress as itopenWales, BirmShipbuilders, sector soaring, This recently VicCorddell
----- pull-quotes -----
Front's West Brom fiasco
SC - about time for a change?
Historical misrepresen- tation
Tories Hit Pensioners