Сочинение: The life and work of the self-employed socialist intellectual, Humphrey McQueen

McQueenisanimpressive, colourfulandinterestingpublicspeaker. Givenanyaudience, he cantalkto themunderwater, so to speak. He prepareshismaterialcarefully, andpresentseloquently, withlotsofflourishes, andhisimpressive meetingmagisteriumissharpenedbyhisgreatheight (a bitlike GoughWhitlam). Inthe cut-and-thrustofdebate, he takesno prisoners. He isa prettyusefulbloke to have onyourside, anda difficultmanto argue withifyoudisagree withhim. He playsa crowdelegantlyandwithgreatverve.

McQueenhasallsortsofstringsto hisbow. He is, forinstance, anopera buff, andhe managesto earna fewdollars, fromtime to time, writingopera andculturalreviewsforTh e Bull e t i n , where hisandmyoldmate andsparringpartner, HallGreenland, isone ofthe sub-editors. Allinall, HumphreyMcQueenhasmade a majorintellectualcontributionto the preservationofa MarxistintellectualcurrentinAustralianlife, andthatisparticularlyimportantinthe currentdifficult, defensive frameworkinwhichsocialistsfindthemselvesatthe moment.

Atthe momentHumphreyMcQueenisengagedina newventure, beingone ofthe majoreditorsofa Marxistmagazine forthe SocialistAlliance, to be calledS eei ng R e d . McQueenandthe othereditorshave assembledsome goodarticles, andone not-so-goodarticle, forthe firstissue, butthe stumblingblockseemsto be, asitalwaysisinsocialistpublishing, scrapingtogetherthe moneyto produce the kindofelegantsocialistmagazine thatMcQueenfavours. Inthisera ofthe net, producing, financinganddistributinghard-copysocialistmagazinesisevenharderthanthe past, because a lotofthe potentialaudience anddemandseemsto be satisfiedbythe internet.

I have beenacquaintedwithHumphreyMcQueenfora verylarge partofmypoliticallife. To be frank, I tookthe initiative inputtingupseveralofhissignificantarticlesonOzleftaspartofthe ongoingpoliticalargumentbetweenmyself, him, andotherssuchasthe DSPleadership, onlabourmovementhistoryandtactics. Inthe course ofdoingthis, however, itbeganto forciblystrike me thatHumphreyMcQueenisa prettyunusualpoliticalsurvivor. Some ofthe politicalcontemporarieswho we share, who have made pastcontributionsto socialistagitationandMarxistintellectualactivity, have shiftedoverto the politicalright. These include some ofMcQueen'searlyassociatesinthe Maoistmovement (AlbertLanger, etc) andsuchpeople asKeithWindschuttle andBobCatley. Others, suchasStuartMcIntyre, Humphrey'sassociate inthe critique ofthe OldLefthistorians, have shiftedoverto the SocialDemocraticcentre. Inthiscontext, itistherefore prettyimportantthatMcQueenhascontinued, inhisownindependentway, the projectofdevelopingMarxisttheoryinAustralia innewconditions, andhiscontinuingintellectualenergyandactivityisprettyimpressive ina manof 60 orthereabouts.

He haspublishedmore booksnon-fictionbooksonlabourandsocialhistory, sociologyandarthistorythananyotherAustralianMarxistintellectual, andhe'sstillhardatit, andthat'sanimportantachievementinitself.

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