In the former German Democratic Republic, or so I’m told, there was - in theory at least - a choice of what you ate. There were, apparently, branded goods. The rather excellent film, Goodbye Lenin, talked about Mocha Fix Gold, Globo Beans, and Spreewald pickles. Apparently, they also used to have ‘adverts’ on GDR television. Well, they really wern’t adverts, just a list of surplus goods and what prices they were.
If nothing else, the appearance - even if it was somewhat limited - of rival goods at least projected an image of choice in East German life, even if it meant diddly squat to ordinary Ossies. Even though everyone in East Germany knew that all foodstuffs came from the same factories, and the only difference was on the packaging, it allowed the East German bureaucracy to say; “Look, we have choice!”
Today, I got my ballot paper for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. And I get a proper vote, too, as a paid up member. But since Brown will get his coronation, the real race is for the deputy leadership.
The floor on the inside of my front door has been flooded with promotional gumph from the contenders. Blears told me about how life was tough growing up in Salford (no, Hazel, no it wasn’t), Hain telling me about how he helped set up the Anti Nazi League (hang on, wasn’t that Paul Horobrow and the SWP?), Cruddas sent me a postcard (”In electoral oblivion for being too left wing. Wish you were here. Love, Cruddy.”) and I think there was some other stuff, but I read my post on the loo, and usually, I have other pressing matters to be thinking of.
The point is this; there is very little choice between the lot of them. The real contest that I wanted to see - McDonnell vs Brown - has been taken away from me. And, in terms of policy, there is very little to seperate the deputy leadership candidates - well, maybe a Rizla, but that’s it.
Cruddas voted for the war (though he thinks this was a mistake). He’s also seemingly in favour of cutting the union block vote at Labour conference - one of the very few methods of obtaining a workers’ voice in politics these days, sadly. He’s crap, basically. Well, he would be, if he were actually left wing, but because the left/right balance is so skewed these days - none so more in the Labour Party itself - he’s seen as left wing.
I fear that if I don’t vote, then the Labour right will see it as vindication. I think, on this occation, vote Cruddas - but I’ll be publically choaking and spewing about it, and helping organise the biggest, fuck-off fightback ever.
The Left seriously needs to get it’s act together.
Apparently, they also used to have ‘adverts’ on GDR television. Well, they really wern’t adverts, just a list of surplus goods and what prices they were.
Indeed they did have adverts on GDR television. For a while, in the early years of the Honecker-era. Of course, they weren’t ‘adverts’, but short-ish programmes known as (I think) ‘Information about products’ - think a Eastern Bloc version of the “Abdominizer” or any other 10-minute-long advert disgused as a programme, but with less hammy acting. Some were more akin to the British public service information films (”wash fruit before you eat it”, “get injected”), but in general, the things were far more than lists of surplus goods and their prices, these were proper ads - for cars (hardly surplus!), department stores, hifis, all kind of things. But that was the main problem with them - they helped increase demand for products that weren’t generally or easily (or without a 20 year wait) available to buy. So that was the end of GDR television advertising. For the same reason, home shopping catalogues were abolished, and innovations such as telephoning your shopping list to the supermarket so they could have your basket ready for you when you turned up after work went out of the window (as the basket would have often not included half of the stuff you wanted).
Youtube has a small selection of the adverts- search for “ddr werbung” - but not all of them are genuine…