An unusual perspective
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Billy has always had two facets - the clever lyricist of love and the student union political bore (although he would never wanted to be a student). From the perspective afforded him by moving well away from the inner cities to an area which is about as multicultural as Tehran, he lectures us all on our many failings. For Billy it's still workers versus bosses, white racists versus anyone non-white. He doesn't see that things have changed and now immigrants are racist towards other immigrants and workers have become bosses. The BNP are a small group of unpleasant idiots, we don't need to mobilise against them, yet Billy still believes that this country is ripe for a fascist takeover as he did all those years ago. Which is insulting the vast majority of us. He can be dry, he can be funny and he's written some great songs but this sort of book is not what he's good at. He's a self-educated man and like most he wants to show off. What he shows is that lack of scholastic rigour leads authors to write dull polemic.
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National Treasures Search for National Identity
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`The Progressive Patriot' is Billy Bragg's first book but I suspect it will not be his last. Following on from his previous album `England, Half English' he is continuing his theme of what is national identity in a multicultural society, fuelled by the far right BNP being elected onto the council of his native Barking and the realisation that the London suicide bombers were British Nationals, Billy is looking for an inclusive patriotism that welcomes all under the National Banners.
The contradictions of what is traditionally considered to be British Patriotism from the Whig histories and the fact that the mother of all democracies did not have universal suffrage until the twentieth century do not make this an easy subject and Billy attempts to bridge the gap of his own ancestry and experience and how although that it could alienate him from the English genius instead it shows how it can give us an inclusive citizenship. Billy leads us through his family history and fits this into the history of both Barking and the Nation. Coupled with this Billy shares with us his formative years and shows us how, somewhat bizarrely, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan informed his love of English folk music and The Clash informed not only his politics but also his internationalism.
The book is very timely and while the government considers such ludicrous suggestions as to introduce citizen tests and school children pledging allegiance to the Queen, Billy Bragg is taking the lead with realistic ideas that are not impositions but a realistic appreciation and inclusiveness.
Reading this book made me think of my own ideas on patriotism and my ancestry with a similar stand point to Billy Bragg with our both being lovers of George Orwell's `The Lion and the Unicorn' and having both being politicised by music. I brought to mind my Grandmother rushing home in the thirties to avoid Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts marching through Leeds. She got the heel of her shoe stuck in the tram lines and had to break it off to get away. History has never felt so relevant.
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A New England
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The Progressive Patriot is a brave attempt to mix politics, history and biog, in light of the BNP's recent emergence in Braggs hometown of Barking. The result is an ambitious but flawed book, which is crying out for guidance from a good editor/publisher.
While its is a joy to read of Bragg's first love of Simon and Garfunkle, it suddenly turns into a history of folk music, which is neither interesting or exciting.
The long drawn out history of Barking is so dull that I had to skip large parts of the book. When Bill gets excited the book suddenly springs to life, like the Clash, Rack against Racism and his family history. But all too quickly we're back to the lecture theatre, to listen to Bragg meander on about English history, lacking passion and investigation.
The main point of the book is, yes the BNP had won seat ins in Barking, and to be patriotic you should not be racist or vote BNP. This is an interesting point, but Bragg refuses to really accept why his people (white working class) are voting for these awful thugs in Barking, Oldham and Beckton. They were voting for them as a protest, as these people have been disenfranchised by the main parties. New Labour is as distant as the Tories, if anything they were betrayed by Blair and Brown. The problems they face on a daily basis are not being addressed by the main parties. Schools, hospitals, jobs, benefits and housing. While its fine for the political establishment to say everyone must be tolerant and enjoy the benefits of multi cultralism, there are flashpoints between cultures and races, and we can't talk about it as its racist and un PC. Remember many of those white working classes who the BNP are attracting are of the same stock who fought the Nazi's in Germany and fascists on Cable street. These are also the same people who danced to the Clash in Victoria Park, but lost their idealism during the 80's along with their homes and jobs.
I also happen to know I'm part of the problem I happily employ a polish cleaner, a Russian plumber and I marched with the Muslims during the stop the war marches ( and I ignored their anti Semitic banners) . I laughed as Little Britain taking the p**s out of the white working class chavs, and I hate sun readers, and white van drivers. This is Britain today, no wonder the BNP are winning seats.
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Nicely written, but an uneven mixture
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I only know Billy Bragg from a few of his songs (the terrific "A New England", of course, plus his lesser-known third album "Talking To The Taxman About Poetry"), and a vague idea about his political activism. So I had a few preconceptions about what this book (lent to me by a friend) would be about - the usual musician's story, supplemented by a side order of polemic. He'd thrown me off the scent by the end of the first chapter, which is a careful - even scholarly - account of the history of Barking (his birthplace). He follows that with a discussion about the Anglo-Saxons, the story of his ancestors' involvement in the London Docks strikes of 1889 and 1911 and the history of his family. It's not until the fourth chapter that he starts telling - in a very roundabout fashion - how he got interested in music.
So this isn't your standard musician's book, although he gives a very good account of the relationships between British and American folk music in the 60's (an early influence was Paul Simon, and BB makes the fascinating suggestion that "The Boxer" was inspired by a Essex fighter named Billy Walker) and the way he got swept along with the arrival of punk in 1976. In addition, he writes very well (he memorably describes the difference between writing a song and a book, comparing taking a photograph to "painting in oils on a twelve-by-twenty foot canvas"). He's clearly put a lot of work into this book (though I think the first name of the historian he calls Charles Babington MacCaulay was really Thomas), but the overall point he's trying to make remains obscure.
First, as others have pointed out, there seems to be a confusion about nationalism, patriotism and xenophobia, which get used interchangably. More crucially, he doesn't appear to draw a distinction between Britain, Great Britain, the United Kingdom and England, which is both a standard source of bewilderment for foreigners and a touchy subject for many inhabitants of these islands, although it should be handled carefully in a book which is supposed to be about national identity.
His proposals for how to go about setting up a Declaration Of Rights seem a little naive - indeed, his argument for why such a thing is needed (which includes the contention that it would be a great way to celebrate the anniversary of the 1707 Acts Of Union) is unconvincing. But, leaving his call to action aside, this is still a good book - well written, wide-ranging and (for the most part) stimulating.
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Not looking for a new England...
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It hurts to write a harshly critical review of Billy Bragg's work.
The Progressive Patriot is an awful piece of work.
That this piece has been written by a middle-aged man who was born, bred and until recently lived in a suburb of London is painfully obvious.
Billy confuses - far too often - the terms 'British' and 'English'; he has an almost naive understanding of the differentiation between the two nationalities and there is evidence in the book that he almost believes the two terms are interchangeable.
With logic this badly flawed Bragg is in no position to explore national identity - though he's undoubtedly well-placed to explore it from the perspective of a resident of Barking.
But Billy Bragg's understanding of what it is to be Scottish, Irish or even Welsh is nonexistent.
He also lacks understanding of what it is to be English from the perspective of a Cornish man (or woman), or a Sunderlander, a Liverpudlian, a Brummie or even a Mancunian.
Being English does not begin and end inside the M25.
Sadly Billy Bragg completely fails to grasp this fundamental rule.
Without understanding what it means to be English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh, Billy's attempt to explore 'Britishness' is on a one-way track to failure.
Because without this understanding he cannot fit it all together under the banner of 'Britishness'.
To be positive I find Billy's writing style enjoyable; he is a readable author. He is also eloquent and passionate.
But many of his thought-processes are muddled, his logical conclusions are flawed and his understanding is less than effective.
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