Ranters of ‘68

This chapter looks at the tumultuous years of 1968–69: events in CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia and the Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact’s military actions in Prague and how they intersected with domestic debates about class-based politics, identity politics, youth movementsYouth movements, multiparty democracy, and the fragmentation of the Left. In the heated debates, Morton provided some authoritative support and encouragement for the CPGBCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) Executive Committee’s decision not to offer unconditional support for Moscow. Other events of the time are also covered, such as Morton’s response to Enoch PowellPowell, Enoch’s “Rivers of Blood” speechMorton, Arthur LeslieEnoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech (1968), reaction to and his ongoing publishing activities (e.g., a William MorrisMorris, William collection). But the focus on the rest of the chapter is on The World of the RantersMorton, Arthur LeslieBooks and pamphlets: (1970) (1970) as it functioned not just as a history of seventeenth-century radicalism but also as a conversation with the post-1968 world. The chapter looks at Morton’s editorial additions to older essays and the emphases in the new ones to show how he (like others) both embraced the significance of antinomian figures but made sure that those deemed more admirable were prevented from moving too close to anarchismAnarchism or the like by their (Communist-style) cultured interests, self-discipline, or bureaucratic realism.