The revolution betrayed

Old soldiers never die. Nor, apparently, do class warriors. To think that we saw Jack Straw, our Home Secretary turned Foreign Secretary, as a slightly dour politician, a man of many words but little passion. And all that time he, it now emerges, has been brooding on an ancient battle.

Old soldiers never die. Nor, apparently, do class warriors. To think that we saw Jack Straw, our Home Secretary turned Foreign Secretary, as a slightly dour politician, a man of many words but little passion. And all that time he, it now emerges, has been brooding on an ancient battle.

This emerged only after one of our writers mistakenly referred to Mr Straw as an old Trot. Never, replied the Foreign Secretary, in a witty letter; he had been a communist, red and true, a pure Leninist in mind and spirit, not a follower of a romantic brute who met an unfortunate death in Mexico.

Obviously, we offer sincere apologies for this case of mistaken identity. And after a spot of re-education, we can see the error of our ways. Thousands killed in the interests of toppling a regime, a propaganda that invents report and rumour to magnify threats and force obedience, laws that can be set aside in the interests of the greater good - these are the marks of a true Leninist. The real communist knows how to seek power within the party, to use faction to promote himself, to show loyalty to the leader while plotting his overthrow. Yes, we can see it makes sense now.