Keith Flett (born 31 October 1956) is a British socialist historian and a prolific letter writer in the British press.

Activities

Letters from "Keith Flett, London N17" are regularly published in the press, literary and political journals, advancing his favoured causes of

socialism 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 ...

and the Beard Liberation Front. Flett's contributions (sometimes termed "fletters") appear in the letters pages of the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review ...

'', ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism ...

'', ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'', '' The Morning Star'', ''

What's Brewing The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is the ...

'' and ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

''. Flett has claimed that his first published letter was in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', criticising an article by

Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. A life-long Marxist, his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work. ...

on Soviet history. Flett has written and edited a number of history books. He has also written for the left-wing newspaper the ''

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several far-left newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since ...

'' and is an active supporter of the Socialist Workers Party. He is convenor of the

London Socialist Historians Group London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

and the president of the Haringey Trades Council. Flett is the 'organiser' of the Beard Liberation Front (which campaigns against the trend of New Labour politicians removing their facial hair to show a more moderate, presentable, image to the public). He is also associated with Campaign for Real Conkers. In this, Flett forms part of a British satirical tradition of using tongue-in-cheek flippancy to make more serious political points. Flett is a

real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

enthusiast and has been a member of

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is ...

since 1974.

Philosophy of activism

Flett has emphasised the importance of being involved in the affairs of one's homeland. In August 2010 he wrote: :In the age of Twitter, Facebook, blogs, texts and YouTube, why bother to write a letter to the editor? I use all the above formats, but it is only when I have a letter published in a national paper that people stop me to say: "I saw your letter". They hardly ever say "I saw your tweet" or "I saw your post on Facebook". :The reason is obvious: a letter in the Guardian or Independent will reach many thousands of people. Other, newer media will reach hundreds if you are lucky. Letters to the editor deliver impact – one of the reasons why those of us who are politically active want to impart our thoughts to a wider audience in the first place.''''Putting Pen to Paper Still Gives You Power'', 23 August 2010
/ref> In June 2015, Flett endorsed

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the pol ...

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed * Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * B ...

in the Labour Party leadership election.

Publications

*''The Twentieth Century: A Century of Wars and Revolutions'' (ed. with David Renton). Rivers Oram Press, 2000. . *''New Approaches to Socialist History'' (ed. with David Renton). New Clarion Press, 2003. . *''Chartism After 1848 : The Working Class and the Politics of Radical Education'' (Chartist Studies series). Merlin Press, 2005. . *''1956 and All That'' (editor). Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007. *''A History of Riots'' (editor). Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015.

References and sources

;References ;Sources *Routledge, Paul, ''Bumper Book of British Lefties'', 2003, Politicos ()
BBC: Pupils wear goggles for conkers, 4/10/2004
*Flett, Keith. ''My kind of decade'' in ''The Pink Paper'', 14 November 1997, issue 507, p. 21 qv *
BBC reports on Beard Liberation Front awards
by Keith Flett

External links

kmflett.wordpress.com
– Flett's blog
@kmflett
– Flett's Twitter account {{DEFAULTSORT:Flett, Keith 1956 births British Marxists British Trotskyists Living people British Marxist historians Socialist Workers Party (UK) members