In December 2019, the good people of Socialist Appeal based in London gathered at the Centre for a fun-filled, boozy Christmas social. Rob Sewell, who had unfortunately had too many beers prior to the event, was expected to give a lead-off at the beginning of the social, before an extended political discussion.
Rob stood to his feet, unsteady, cheeks flushed. He produced by rote all of the cultic cliches that by now had become the stock-in-trade of every good Bolshevik. One of the signs that something was wrong was when he drunkenly misspoke and talked of ‘sharp churns in the situation’. Oh dear.
The lead-off was on the situation following the disastrous election results of that sorry year, in which Corbyn was thoroughly trounced by Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party. We now had to scramble to reassure the comrades that in fact, everything was going according to plan. The fact that Rob was not able to give us this reassurance sober somewhat dampens whatever he was trying to tell us.
Poor Nelson Wan, who had been filming the whole sorry affair for the benefit of a visiting contact, groaned that he would have to delete most of the footage due to that sorry display of drunkenness. Hamid Alizadeh noted on his way into the building that he had witnessed Rob throwing up on his way home as he was walking to the station.
Poor man. And what a sad life these people lead. Truly an example of Bolshevik mental fortitude.