Family and Politics

[Admiral Yi]

What's a mischling?

[derspiess]

What's a mischling?

Third Reich German term for Jew/Gentile mix.  Google & Wiki are our friends

[Admiral Yi]

Third Reich German term for Jew/Gentile mix.  Google & Wiki are our friends

Like you even had to look that up. 

[Razgovory]

My mother's side were Democrats from North Missouri.  Protestants who came in to the state capital because the got goverment jobs back in 1920's.  Farmer, rural types.  My Dad's side were more... colorful.  They were Catholics from the big city of St. Louis.  Lots of Union members among other things.  A lot of those other things weren't really that nice.  My dad left St. Louis to get away from that sort of thing.

[derspiess]

Third Reich German term for Jew/Gentile mix.  Google & Wiki are our friends

Like you even had to look that up. 

It's a pretty interesting subject.  The Reich had an interesting and often arbitrary system of determining what status a Mischling had.  Some got sent to camps, while others were trusted to serve in the Wehrmacht all the way up to rank of Field Marshal.

[Sheilbh]

Ten years ago, this thread would have read differently, I am sure.

Either we're all getting more centrist with age, or the fringes have turned even more idiotic than before.

My parents are odd. They're extremely anti-partisan, in that they absolutely hate the Tories.

So about ten years ago they were both firmly New Labour, though my mum liked Brown and my dad liked Blair. Since then they've been radicalised by moving to Tory heartlandshire. Now their politics are very left wing, but they'd definitely back Lord Mandelson outflanking the Tories from the right if it meant a non-Tory government

I was thinking a bit wider. I'm almost certain my granddad votes Ukip and I think if most of my aunties, uncles and cousins vote they'd probably be Ukippers too

[celedhring]

Being 25 years younger than my parents, I'm considerably to the left of them, in the same way they were socialists when they were my age, and communists when they were younger.

[Valmy]

Being 25 years younger than my parents, I'm considerably to the left of them, in the same way they were socialists when they were my age, and communists when they were younger.

Where you are from everybody who is young is a communist or socialist?  Wild.

[The Larch]

Being 25 years younger than my parents, I'm considerably to the left of them, in the same way they were socialists when they were my age, and communists when they were younger.

Where you are from everybody who is young is a communist or socialist?  Wild.

Not surprising in the Spain of that time.

[Sheilbh]

Where you are from everybody who is young is a communist or socialist?  Wild.

That's true of lots of our family friends in Liverpool. My dad used to be a Communist in the 70s (largely because he was expelled from Chile after Pinochet's takeover and apparently the CPGB had the best anti-Pinochet demonstrations). My mum now works in the nuclear industry but literally can't talk about her job with many of our family friends because they were, and many still are, Trots. Most of them were in Militant Faction back in the 70s and 80s.

Edit: Of course they're polite enough not to ask her about her work.

[Admiral Yi]

Better a well-mannered pinko than an ill-mannered one.

[celedhring]

Being 25 years younger than my parents, I'm considerably to the left of them, in the same way they were socialists when they were my age, and communists when they were younger.

Where you are from everybody who is young is a communist or socialist?  Wild.

In 70s Spain almost everybody who was young was a communist or socialist, it was the way to oppose Franco. The Socialist party got some massive majorities in the 80s until the shine wore off.

[Capetan Mihali]

Most of them were in Militant Faction back in the 70s and 80s.

Entryism.

[Sheilbh]

I've always felt they failed at the first opportunity choosing that name. Surely 'Moderate Faction' or something similar would be a better name for an entryist movement

Edit: Apparently in the UK it was 'militant tendency' which is a bit less threatening. 'I tend to militancy.'

[Capetan Mihali]

I've always felt they failed at the first opportunity choosing that name. Surely 'Moderate Faction' or something similar would be a better name for an entryist movement

  Yeah, "Labour As Usual Tendency" or "Same Old Labour Tendency" might have been a little more to the point.  But you need something for in-house consumption, I suppose.