Reforms and

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A review of 'Coming Out-Homosexual politics in Britain, from the nineteenth century to the present by Jeffrey Weeks, MOENS,- 93 SIMENS NINTELIE COATIN 200,000 join march against Anita Bryant and for gay rights in San Francisco.

Ten years ago, the Sexual Offences Act legalised homosexual activity between males over 21. But since the passing of this 'liberal' act, there has been an increase in prosecution of homosexuals.

'Queer-bashing', police barrassment and the sacking of gays who 'come out' accompany the day-to-day deprivations and restrictions experienced by gay women and men alike.

The recent prosecution of Gay News for blashphemy followed the press witch-hunt of Thorpe, and in the US, Anita Bryant has launched ithe campaign against homosexuality in the name oi decency'.

Localised If we see them separated from real historical developments, there seems to nothing new about such attempts to. repress homosexuality.

Homosexual behaviour has been present throughout history, and the reaction of different societies has ranged from total acceptance to the most vicious repression.

But the existence of specific homosexual social groupings and sub cultures has been far more localised.

In the advanced capitalist nations of the late 19th century the growth of such a community was deeply rooted in the massive trans"nomentinan of anninter mhinh ¡ronnauons or socitty were produced by the ¡Industrial Revolution.

Crucial

Urbanisation, and above all the changes in the structure and function C of the family were crucial in si laping this gores.

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A major form of self defence was the creation of the homosexual reform movements. Over the last century, these have fallen into three distinct phases.

The first emerged in the last quarter of the 19th century and - was closely bound up with both the growing terrorist movement and the beginnings of scientific study of sexuality. Thorpe Particularly in Germany, where the movement was at iTS strongest, homosexual organisations also formed close links with socialist movements.

From 1897 until the split ==**æer reformists and revo...CaRes. the German SE Democracy consis=.2: ==ed the repeal of ease iegislation. and the =-Es: Party continued - =a0000 05 10 1930.

The senatonal movedes dares almost totally *celeras milered on the :9305. a tea betrayals or Labu the The second phase was very different in character-slowly coalescing during the long boom, it was thoroughly reformist in its politics and generally conservativeespecially so in Britain, where its activity centred on lobbying the establishment with discretion and decorum.

This polite relationship was rudely shattered in 1969 by the eruption of the Gay Liberation Movement with the Stonewall riot in New York.

Increasingly associated with the counter-culture and 'the Movement' ', Gay Liberation emerged along with the 'New Left' and the Women's Liberation Movement, placing a heavy emphasis on youth, bravado and individual liberty.

Chaos

Typically petty-bourgeois its politics were at once utopian and reformist.

The Gay Liberation Movement has been in a state of political and organisational chaos for several years now, and Coming Out is very closely a product of that crisis.

Increasing numbers of gays have recognised that attempting to reform capitalist society is no way to resolve their demands.

They have turned in varying degrees, towards revolutionary socialism, and as a member of the Gay Left collective, Weeks represents part of this new orientation.

Partial story

In Coming Out he attempts to provide a history of 'Homosexual Politics in Britain, from the Nineteenth Century to the Present' , but, as he comments himself, the Gay Rights rally in Seattle last June. book tells only partial story' It is not so clear that he recognises why the story is 'partial' in a way that makes it at least as frustrating as it is informative.

Material basis

The homosexual reform movements cannot be understood without analysing both the material basis from which they have sprung and the wider range of political responses and activity which developed alongside them.

Weeks partially recognises this necessity, and surrounds his accounts of the movements with a framework which connects them to wider social and political developments.

But this framework is none too robust in itself, and provides only occassional and flimsy support for the central structure.

However enticingly Vilitant/Kar Bermann garnished, the book remains a collection of essays on related themes in social history.

What Weeks has not recognised is the contradiction which is fundamental to the attempt to present a history of the reform movements by concentrating heavily on the movements themselves.

Basic failing

They simply do not possess sufficient autonomous existence or continuity of tradition for this to be a viable approach.

Such basic failing accurately parallels the p poltical weakness of the revolutionary ' elements in the gay liberation movement who insist on autonomous political organisation.

This position has its origins as much in the attitudes of supposed revolutionary socialists in the recent past, as in the internal history of the gay organisations.

Weeks points out that the support of socialists for the demands of homosexuals has been almost exclusively on the basis of support for legal reform.

The inadequacy of such a position was sharply characterised by Lenin:

'He who forgets his obligation to be in advance of everybody in bringing up, sharpening and solving every general democratic problem is not a social democrat'.

What is To Be Done This level of support was expressed clearly enough in 1917 when the Bolsheviks repealed all the repressive legislation of the Tsarist autocracy, and only coercive sexual behaviour remained punishable.

But a democratic legal code does not ensure freement of socialism.

Hampered But in different societies these forms of repression are present to different degrees, and the task of the dictatorship of the proletariat is to socialise domestic life and replace the bourgeois family unit.

Advances were undoubtedly made in this direction by the Russian Revolution, but they were severely hampered by the economic and political problems facing the revolution.

Even these limited gains were ruthlessly and inevitably swept away by the Stalinist bureaucracy: in 1934 homosexuality once more became a criminal offence, with heavy penalties.

Opportunities

The lessons of the Revolution and Stalinist degenerations in Russia must be fully integrated in developing a thorough Marxist analysis of sexuality and sexism.

The opportunities to make such an advance are far greater today than they were for the Bolsheviks.

The bitter experience of the restoration of the family in the Soviet Union must be used to enrich our political understanding of sexual oppression.

In developing and putting into practice such an analysis investigations bourgeois science (particularly psychology and anthropology) cannot be completely ignored.

Insights

They also need be employed alongside the insights provided by the feminist movement in recent years.

Coming Out in no way completes that vital project. But in bringing together his own research with previously scattered information, Weeks has provided a useful source.

The homosexual reform movements do form a significant area of 20th century politics, and at present there is no fuller account of their history in Britain.

The book cannot be recommended for its analysis (or its price), but comrades will find its information a valuable contribution.

By DAVID WHITFIELD Militant/Lou Howort