London – Page 2 – Commodity Fetishism

Karl Marx in Soho, 1851

A dozen sheets of paper, printed with double-spacing. It’s easier to read. It is a collection of streets in Soho, and Dean Street in particular. A list of dates of buildings and their uses, trades and occupations and the details of the 1851 census. At number 28 Dean Street is recorded Charles Mark, his wifeContinue reading “Karl Marx in Soho, 1851”

In the Court of King Capital

The Canary Wharf development on the Isle of Dogs is one of several excellent places to study Marxism. The key ingredients of the recipe to cook up ‘Capital’ are all easily found. The exploitation of labour, the bringing together of large quantities of raw materials, money, and the division of society into two main classesContinue reading “In the Court of King Capital”

The last train to paradise

Waking up too early with the flickering remnants of a cinematic dream. A replication of an earlier version. Dreams become part of our memories and like all memories are deeply within our conscious and unconscious mind. I have experienced this particular dream many times before. It’s about loss. It always has the same ending. TheContinue reading “The last train to paradise”

Memory of a London Radical Book Fair

Nature has had enough. There’s been plenty of warnings but the endless line of SUVs never stops, the dumping of waste in the sea, the smoke-stack chimney chemicals into the air, plastics everywhere, in the deepest parts of the oceans, in the highest part of the mountains, in the food, in the bodies of theContinue reading “Memory of a London Radical Book Fair”

The Domination of Capitalist Relations of Production over the Spontaneous Possibilities of Life

Did London once feel like a more proletarian city? There are still many proletarians. But where is the new working class in the new proletarian city? There are no large organised industries in manufacturing or warehousing. The public sector retains some union organisation, universities too; and transport. But there is little sign of organisation orContinue reading “The Domination of Capitalist Relations of Production over the Spontaneous Possibilities of Life”

Refugees on the Train

There were refugees on the train. They’re coming from everywhere. They looked tired. The air of exhaustion that living on the road for months creates. Towns and villages bombed. No one can remember when the war started or where. Was it British jets bombing farms and factories in Libya or the United States carpet bombingContinue reading “Refugees on the Train”

Rich Mlk the Poor

There is a powerful memory of Lisson Grove in 1981. And walking along the Edgware Road having just bought the 12″ version of Joy Division’s Atmosphere. There was some inexplicable urge to repeat that walk this afternoon. Leaving work, travelling under London on Crossrail, immersed in the city, a mixture of cinematography, the inner lifeContinue reading “Rich Mlk the Poor”

The Progressive Office Tower

I was thinking of a reference for Guy Debord in Paris in, I think 1957. It runs along the lines of ‘he tried to organise a walk, it rained, no-one turned up, he left, and didn’t try to do this again for perhaps a decade’. Where had I read this? I was thinking of itContinue reading “The Progressive Office Tower”

The incidental dominance of exchange-value

A journey from reading the Grundrisse at 6am to a shopping centre and then EC1 at night. I spent a lot of time in a department store just watching the high definition televisions on display. It is as if the world is now a background which can be enhanced with film editing software, made brighter,Continue reading “The incidental dominance of exchange-value”

The Archeology of the Hidden Transcripts

I am closely studying maps. Maps of a small area of London. Tudor Street in particular. From Tudor Street I walk along John Carpenter Street. The security guards at JP Morgan are suspicious. They are not in any sense an enemy. They are low paid and daily told what to do. I am waiting forContinue reading “The Archeology of the Hidden Transcripts”