Mick Hartley

The Spring 2008 Democratiya is now online.

I’ve only read one piece so far: Simon Cottee’s review of Andrew Anthony’s book “The Fall-Out: How a Guilty Liberal Lost His Innocence“.

To speak very generally, there are two kinds of left apostate: there are those who break with the left in order to move elsewhere (usually to the right, though not always) and there are those who repudiate certain beliefs or modes of thinking within the left in order to strengthen other competing traditions within the left, which they see as more authentic and valuable. Among the former, one can instance Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, Paul Johnson and, more recently, Christopher Hitchens. Among the latter, Rosa Luxemburg, Victor Serge, Arthur Koestler, C.L.R. James, and George Orwell are prominent. Since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the ranks of this latter group have swelled markedly….

That strikes me as a strange assessment of Christopher Hitchens. I’d have thought he was a prime example of the other kind of left apostate: those who “repudiate certain beliefs or modes of thinking within the left in order to strengthen other competing traditions within the left”. Still, minor point I suppose. Otherwise it’s a good review (in both senses: it’s a positive review, and it’ll give you a clear idea of what the book’s about if you haven’t read it).