''The Black Dwarf'' was a political and cultural newspaper published between May 1968 and 1972 by a collective of

socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is often identified with

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

who edited and published the newspaper until 1970, when the editorial board split between

Leninist Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishm ...

and non-Leninist currents. ''Black Dwarf'' took its name from the 19th-century radical paper of that name which was first published in 1817. The editorial and production group included Ali, Clive Goodwin,

Robin Fior Robin Fior (27 January 1935 – 29 September 2012) was a designer closely associated with radical and libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that uphold ...

, David Mercer, Mo Teitlebaum, Douglas Gill,

Adrian Mitchell Adrian Mitchell FRSL (24 October 1932 – 20 December 2008) was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's C ...

Sheila Rowbotham Sheila Rowbotham (born 27 February 1943) is a British socialist feminist theorist and historian. Early life Rowbotham was born on 27 February 1943 in Leeds (in present-day West Yorkshire), the daughter of a salesman for an engineering company a ...

, Bob Rowthorn, D. A. N. Jones, Sean Thompson, Neil Lyndon, Roger Tyrrell and

Fred Halliday Simon Frederick Peter Halliday (22 February 1946 – 26 April 2010) was an Irish writer and academic specialising in International Relations and the Middle East, with particular reference to the Cold War, Iran, and the Arabian peninsula. Biog ...

. The Leninists, including Ali and other members of the

International Marxist Group :''See also the International Marxist Group (Germany). The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and suppor ...

, went on to found the ''Red Mole''. ''The Black Dwarf'' newspaper published a special edition in autumn 1968 devoted entirely to the '' Bolivian Diaries'' of

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quot ...

, in a translation first published by '' Ramparts'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It included an introduction by Fidel Castro. This edition appeared to be in response to a version of the diaries put out by "some publishers in league with those who murdered Che".Ali 2018, pp. 286-7. John Hoyland and the musician

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

had an exchange of letters in the newspaper regarding Lennon's supposed bourgeois values. Hoyland in "An Open Letter to John Lennon", ostensibly a review of the Beatles recent eponymous white album, wrote that Lennon's song "

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

" was no more revolutionary than ''

Mrs Dale's Diary ''Mrs Dale's Diary'' was the first significant BBC radio serial drama. It was first broadcast on 5 January 1948 on the BBC Light Programme, later BBC Radio 2; it ran until 25 April 1969. A new episode was broadcast each weekday afternoon, wit ...

'' and that "In order to change the world we've got to understand what's wrong with the world then destroy it ruthlessly.... There's no such thing as a polite revolution." Lennon replied, writing: "...You're obviously on a destruction kick. I'll tell you what's wrong with the world – people, so do you want to destroy them? Ruthlessly? Until we change your/our heads – there's no chance...". Lennon's wrote in a postscript: "You smash it – I'll build around it".

Notes

References

External links

*John Hoyland
"Power to the People"
''The Guardian'', 15 March 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Dwarf, The International Marxist Group Publications established in 1968 Socialist newspapers published in the United Kingdom Underground press