 Staying Red: why I remain a socialist by Norman Harding 300 pages with pictures; paperback £12.99 + £2.50 p&p (UK) ISBN 1-871518-25-3  Norman Harding has written a
humane and
often humorous
account of a lifetime struggling for principles and for socialism. As a
national serviceman in postwar Germany he found friendships with
working-class
Germans with whom he had much more in common than with the British
officers.
He joined the Trotskyist ‘Group’ in the Labour Party in the early
1950s.
As a trade unionist in the Leeds clothing industry he fought for wages,
conditions, principles, and the right for working people to enjoy the
Yorkshire Symphony
Orchestra
concerts. As a tenants’ leader he campaigned for improved conditions
and
the demolition of slums. In the 1970s and 1980s, as a full-time worker for the Socialist Labour League, later the Workers Revolutionary Party, Norman’s work was mostly behind the scenes. But Party members recall that in a regime known for its harshness and ‘discipline’ Norman always treated them fairly and had a kind word, even after sleepless days and nights printing or dispatching the party’s publications. Norman explains his evolution as a Trotskyist, standing up for socialism against the betrayals of Stalinism. These experiences meant that in 1985 he had no hesitation in standing against corruption and abuse in the heart of the party to which he had given the best years of his life. His account is the only one written by a participant in the explosion that expelled Party leader Gerry Healy from the WRP in 1985. What little there is on the internet and elsewhere in print is inaccurate and fails to grasp both what the party achieved and how its members dealt with the corruption. Today Norman Harding is again participating in the tenants’ movement in Yorkshire, and his vision of a socialist society shines through everything he says and does as he passes on his knowledge of the movement to younger generations.
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