Thesis Chapters by Martin Kemp
Middle East Monitor, 2018
The article was published during a 'don't go' campaign initiated by the USA-Palestine Mental Heal... more The article was published during a 'don't go' campaign initiated by the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network in response to an IARPP decision to hold its annual conference in Israel. It looks at the nature of the discourse which makes collusion with human rights abuses acceptable, and resistance to such abuses 'impolite'. The use of routine and defensive arguments to justify collusion struck us as particularly unseemly in sight of the maiming and killing fields of Gaza. It suggests that in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS), Palestinians have offered us a chance to bring our values and actions into line, and to contribute to the decolonisation of historic Palestine.
New Associations (Newsletter of the British Psychoanalytic Council), 2021
The psychotherapy profession in general seemed to react positively to the global movement to addr... more The psychotherapy profession in general seemed to react positively to the global movement to address the racism entrenched in our culture and institutions. But did this reflect a serious change, or was it again simply reacting to a shift in public opinion? What will happen when the backlash comes?
Journal of the British Association of Psychotherapists, 1997
A report of the observation of the first nine months in a baby's life, undertaken as part of a ps... more A report of the observation of the first nine months in a baby's life, undertaken as part of a psychotherapy training.
2018 Note then original Summary
Martin Kemp
‘The Left and the Debate over Labour Party Policy, 1... more 2018 Note then original Summary
Martin Kemp
‘The Left and the Debate over Labour Party Policy, 1943-50’
PhD Thesis, submitted 1985
Explanatory Note, 2018
By the time I had completed this thesis I had a ticket booked for newly independent Zimbabwe, where I immersed myself in the study of African history – the subject I was to teach for the following two years in a ‘high density suburb’ of the capital, Harare. I had no headspace to respond to an enquiry from an Oxford publisher about preparing the thesis for publication. When, years later, I googled the title, I was pleasantly surprised to find Stephen Brooke, in the bibliographical essay that appended his 1995 book Reform and Reconstruction: Britain After the War 1945-51, describing the work as ‘important but regrettably unpublished.’
Many years have passed since, and it may well be of little interest today. Still, when I recently re-read the thesis, it seemed to me to have some interest given recent developments in Labour Party politics in the UK. The prevailing assumptions of British history in the 1980s were those with which the post-war generation had been raised. The ‘social problem’ had been solved. It was no longer meaningful to worry about the destructive, wasteful or socially divisive nature of capitalism, as developments in economic theory had transformed the prospects for a managed, socially inclusive, mixed economy. Those who were regarded as having been sceptical or reluctant to accept the new truths were dismissed as dinosaurs. History being on the side of the ‘revisionists’, the ‘Left’ were regarded askance in works such as Ben Pimlott’s Labour and the Left in the 1930s and Paul Addison’s The Road to 1945.
Yet, even while I was studying Labour and the Left in the 1940s, these assumptions were themselves already becoming history. This was the time of the defeat of the miners’ strike, a most dispiriting moment, and of Thatcherism and the wholesale rejection of Keynesian notions of economic management. The Left of the Labour Party attempted to construct a socialist alternative, but their ideas were denounced as extremist by the media, and defeated by a ‘centrist’ leadership which ultimately, in the absence of any more creative vision, embraced neo-liberalism and privatisation itself as the basis on which to reduce poverty and sustain public services. As we now emerge from the Blair years, amazed and heartened by the upsurge of radical energy that found its expression in the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, we witness another exciting attempt to challenge the thinking behind austerity. And to transform the party from an efficient electoral machine into a real movement of people and ideas. The era when progressives had to channel their energies into a range of single issue campaigns may be over. Ultimately, the Baloghs, Coles and Kaleckis may have more to say about the future than the Durbins and the Croslands.
The Left in the 1940s was stricken by the split between Labour and Communist Parties. The group I was interested in could be characterised, I felt, as opportunists in the best sense of the word, seeking to maximise the potential at any one time, given the international situation, the state of the economy and above all the public’s openness to radical ideas. It allowed them a flexibility and creativity that seemed denied the leaderships of the two main parties on the Left, neither of whom trusted or respected them.
I have reproduced the text exactly as it was submitted in 1985, except in one or two sentences which were really too ugly to allow through. For the most part this has been done by scanning each page onto a computer. It seems that the computer could read English and reproduce it in editable form, but that it had no idea of page set-up. I am not happy at the result – and apologise to readers who will quickly realise what I’m referring to – but not having the time to re-type the entire thesis, this will have to do.
Summary.
This dissertation traces the intellectual and political development of Labour's Left-wing during the 1940s, concentrating on the groups which produced the Tribune and the New Statesman.
The first section considers the 1930s. to 'establish the essential background to later debates, and to clarify the character of long-standing divisions in the Labour Party. The period 1939 to 1942 is considered briefly in the Prologue, on the basis that it constitutes an exceptional period for left-wing politics in Britain.
The end of 1942 is the point at which an
analysis of the Left's politics is resumed in more details. The Left's part in the discussion of post¬war reconstruction plans and future economic' policy is examined. Another chapter looks at the political atmosphere in the decade's middle years, and the state of relations between the Left and the rest of the Party and, briefly, in contrast', the outlook of Labour's Right wing. The Left's view of foreign affairs forms another part, and the last chapter dealing with this period examines the left's analysis of Government economic policy, both domestically and in relation to the outside world.
The last section of the thesis, covering 1948-50, is divided into two chapters. The first relates the political situation, foreign affairs and economic developments to the shifting aspirations of the Labour Left. The final chapter considers the role of the debate on Labour's future direction in the divisions that beset the Party from 1951.
Papers by Martin Kemp
Free Associations, 2023
I upload this as the criminal onslaught on the Palestinians proceeds, the focus of course on the ... more I upload this as the criminal onslaught on the Palestinians proceeds, the focus of course on the horrors visited upon the people of Gaza, while the 100-plus people killed in the West Bank go largely unnoticed. The paper is a response to an article, ironically entitled ‘Under Siege’, by Daniel Burston and Cary Nelson. ‘Under Siege’ is an attack on Lara Sheehi. The link will take you to the journal with this lead article and the various responses to it (by, among others, Carter J. Carter).
It concludes with Burston and Nelson answering their critics. They write in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on army bases and settlements around the Gaza perimeter. I note only this: that by the time of writing they would have been aware of the genocidal tone of the Israeli response: ‘Nazis’, ‘human animals’, the statement by the President of Israel denying any distinction between Hamas fighters and civilians. They acknowledge none of the background to the Hamas actions, obvious to any student of the region, as described by UN Secretary General António Guterres in his call for a ceasefire. Israel, fully supported by the USA, UK and EU (“Israel has the right to defend itself”), rejects this call: over 6,000 Palestinians have already died, the majority women and children.
I believe this supports the arguments presented in my paper, ‘Poisoning the Wells’.
For a free Palestine, from the river to the sea, in which the current settler colonial, apartheid regime is replaced by a democratic society, in which both national communities can equally enjoy justice, peace and security.
International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, Jul 8, 2023
Psychoanalytic discourse in relation to the situation in historic Palestine is subject to both id... more Psychoanalytic discourse in relation to the situation in historic Palestine is subject to both ideologically-based and anxiety-driven inhibitions and restrictions that conflict with the discipline’s claim to be able to “stay with” difficult issues, to “think the unthinkable”. This situation is understood as a social pathology, and its impacts are explored through a literature review (explaining the paper’s length). It considers works that directly seek to protect Zionism from its critics, and texts whose purpose is to demonstrate the relevance of psychoanalytic concepts to the study of social injustice. The qualities of this contemporary discourse are considered alongside Freud’s comments on the conditions for freedom of thought within psychoanalysis, and the example he provided in his comments on politics and society. Rather than a psychoanalytic contribution to understanding an issue of public concern, the paper attempts to describe aspects of psychoanalytic culture itself. It aims to facilitate deeper reflection amongst clinicians, on both an individual and collective level, regarding their contemporary engagement with coloniality and the social responsibilities of the psychoanalytic community.
Free Associations , 2021
Abstract
This article is written by a white psychotherapist about white institutions, and their ... more Abstract
This article is written by a white psychotherapist about white institutions, and their relationship to a contemporary colonial process that, while inflected by many unique features, nevertheless starkly reproduces the central characteristics of an apartheid society, with white-black relations as oppressive and destructive as this suggests. It takes as its starting point the post-Black Lives Matter ‘moment’ where, joining the worldwide mobilisation that followed the murder of George Floyd, Western institutions are seeking to address the ways in which racism has been reproduced in their internal practices. Such institutions, the paper argues, have a responsibility to include in their reflections the constructive exercise of their public influence both in general terms and particularly in regard to the subjugation of the Palestinian people. The integration of Israeli institutions into the international mental health community, and the specific request made by Palestinian civil society that external associations do not normalise their oppression, combine to make this a troubling but pressing issue for the profession.
Middle East Monitor, 2021
The author reviews the explanations given by the UK's leading children's rights charity for conti... more The author reviews the explanations given by the UK's leading children's rights charity for continuing to accept donations from a corporation profiting from state crime in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in home demolitions that cause severe and ongoing harm to Palestinian children.
Psychoanalytic Activist , 2018
British Journal of Psychotherapy , 2011
Following his participation in a visit by health professionals to Israel/Palestine, the author re... more Following his participation in a visit by health professionals to Israel/Palestine, the author reflects on the sense of apprehension that accompanied his intention to share his impressions on his return. In this paper he turns to psychoanalysis and the analysis of large group phenomena to discuss socio-psychological factors that seem to determine the context for discourse in the West relating to the Israel/Palestine conflict. He argues that psychoanalytic theories concerning the unconscious element in inter-communal conflicts are a useful starting point in understanding large-group psychological responses to the dehumanization of both Jews and Palestinians. He seeks to understand the anxiety and inhibition that seems to attend reflection on Israel/Palestine in public space in particular, and within the psychoanalytic community. He argues that 'neutrality', the proper stance of the clinician in the consulting room, has come to inhibit the profession in its non-clinical thinking. He proposes that 'universalism', the philosophical basis of the extension of the human rights agenda in the years since 1945, provides the appropriate moral underpinning for psychotherapeutic practice.
Journal of the British Association of Psychotherapists, 2006
Work that involves close engagement with severely damaged young people will provoke powerful and ... more Work that involves close engagement with severely damaged young people will provoke powerful and sometimes counter-productive emotional reactions in professionals. A number of therapeutic encounters with young patients who have experienced violence in family life are described to highlight some of the experiential and technical aspects involved, and the varied ways in which the theme of domestic violence may, or may not, resonate in the transference. In some instances therapy takes place against a background of continuing abuse; in another the therapist's reaction is complicated by emotions generated in the political and social domain.
Uploads
Thesis Chapters by Martin Kemp
Martin Kemp
‘The Left and the Debate over Labour Party Policy, 1943-50’
PhD Thesis, submitted 1985
Explanatory Note, 2018
By the time I had completed this thesis I had a ticket booked for newly independent Zimbabwe, where I immersed myself in the study of African history – the subject I was to teach for the following two years in a ‘high density suburb’ of the capital, Harare. I had no headspace to respond to an enquiry from an Oxford publisher about preparing the thesis for publication. When, years later, I googled the title, I was pleasantly surprised to find Stephen Brooke, in the bibliographical essay that appended his 1995 book Reform and Reconstruction: Britain After the War 1945-51, describing the work as ‘important but regrettably unpublished.’
Many years have passed since, and it may well be of little interest today. Still, when I recently re-read the thesis, it seemed to me to have some interest given recent developments in Labour Party politics in the UK. The prevailing assumptions of British history in the 1980s were those with which the post-war generation had been raised. The ‘social problem’ had been solved. It was no longer meaningful to worry about the destructive, wasteful or socially divisive nature of capitalism, as developments in economic theory had transformed the prospects for a managed, socially inclusive, mixed economy. Those who were regarded as having been sceptical or reluctant to accept the new truths were dismissed as dinosaurs. History being on the side of the ‘revisionists’, the ‘Left’ were regarded askance in works such as Ben Pimlott’s Labour and the Left in the 1930s and Paul Addison’s The Road to 1945.
Yet, even while I was studying Labour and the Left in the 1940s, these assumptions were themselves already becoming history. This was the time of the defeat of the miners’ strike, a most dispiriting moment, and of Thatcherism and the wholesale rejection of Keynesian notions of economic management. The Left of the Labour Party attempted to construct a socialist alternative, but their ideas were denounced as extremist by the media, and defeated by a ‘centrist’ leadership which ultimately, in the absence of any more creative vision, embraced neo-liberalism and privatisation itself as the basis on which to reduce poverty and sustain public services. As we now emerge from the Blair years, amazed and heartened by the upsurge of radical energy that found its expression in the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, we witness another exciting attempt to challenge the thinking behind austerity. And to transform the party from an efficient electoral machine into a real movement of people and ideas. The era when progressives had to channel their energies into a range of single issue campaigns may be over. Ultimately, the Baloghs, Coles and Kaleckis may have more to say about the future than the Durbins and the Croslands.
The Left in the 1940s was stricken by the split between Labour and Communist Parties. The group I was interested in could be characterised, I felt, as opportunists in the best sense of the word, seeking to maximise the potential at any one time, given the international situation, the state of the economy and above all the public’s openness to radical ideas. It allowed them a flexibility and creativity that seemed denied the leaderships of the two main parties on the Left, neither of whom trusted or respected them.
I have reproduced the text exactly as it was submitted in 1985, except in one or two sentences which were really too ugly to allow through. For the most part this has been done by scanning each page onto a computer. It seems that the computer could read English and reproduce it in editable form, but that it had no idea of page set-up. I am not happy at the result – and apologise to readers who will quickly realise what I’m referring to – but not having the time to re-type the entire thesis, this will have to do.
Summary.
This dissertation traces the intellectual and political development of Labour's Left-wing during the 1940s, concentrating on the groups which produced the Tribune and the New Statesman.
The first section considers the 1930s. to 'establish the essential background to later debates, and to clarify the character of long-standing divisions in the Labour Party. The period 1939 to 1942 is considered briefly in the Prologue, on the basis that it constitutes an exceptional period for left-wing politics in Britain.
The end of 1942 is the point at which an
analysis of the Left's politics is resumed in more details. The Left's part in the discussion of post¬war reconstruction plans and future economic' policy is examined. Another chapter looks at the political atmosphere in the decade's middle years, and the state of relations between the Left and the rest of the Party and, briefly, in contrast', the outlook of Labour's Right wing. The Left's view of foreign affairs forms another part, and the last chapter dealing with this period examines the left's analysis of Government economic policy, both domestically and in relation to the outside world.
The last section of the thesis, covering 1948-50, is divided into two chapters. The first relates the political situation, foreign affairs and economic developments to the shifting aspirations of the Labour Left. The final chapter considers the role of the debate on Labour's future direction in the divisions that beset the Party from 1951.
Papers by Martin Kemp
It concludes with Burston and Nelson answering their critics. They write in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on army bases and settlements around the Gaza perimeter. I note only this: that by the time of writing they would have been aware of the genocidal tone of the Israeli response: ‘Nazis’, ‘human animals’, the statement by the President of Israel denying any distinction between Hamas fighters and civilians. They acknowledge none of the background to the Hamas actions, obvious to any student of the region, as described by UN Secretary General António Guterres in his call for a ceasefire. Israel, fully supported by the USA, UK and EU (“Israel has the right to defend itself”), rejects this call: over 6,000 Palestinians have already died, the majority women and children.
I believe this supports the arguments presented in my paper, ‘Poisoning the Wells’.
For a free Palestine, from the river to the sea, in which the current settler colonial, apartheid regime is replaced by a democratic society, in which both national communities can equally enjoy justice, peace and security.
This article is written by a white psychotherapist about white institutions, and their relationship to a contemporary colonial process that, while inflected by many unique features, nevertheless starkly reproduces the central characteristics of an apartheid society, with white-black relations as oppressive and destructive as this suggests. It takes as its starting point the post-Black Lives Matter ‘moment’ where, joining the worldwide mobilisation that followed the murder of George Floyd, Western institutions are seeking to address the ways in which racism has been reproduced in their internal practices. Such institutions, the paper argues, have a responsibility to include in their reflections the constructive exercise of their public influence both in general terms and particularly in regard to the subjugation of the Palestinian people. The integration of Israeli institutions into the international mental health community, and the specific request made by Palestinian civil society that external associations do not normalise their oppression, combine to make this a troubling but pressing issue for the profession.
Martin Kemp
‘The Left and the Debate over Labour Party Policy, 1943-50’
PhD Thesis, submitted 1985
Explanatory Note, 2018
By the time I had completed this thesis I had a ticket booked for newly independent Zimbabwe, where I immersed myself in the study of African history – the subject I was to teach for the following two years in a ‘high density suburb’ of the capital, Harare. I had no headspace to respond to an enquiry from an Oxford publisher about preparing the thesis for publication. When, years later, I googled the title, I was pleasantly surprised to find Stephen Brooke, in the bibliographical essay that appended his 1995 book Reform and Reconstruction: Britain After the War 1945-51, describing the work as ‘important but regrettably unpublished.’
Many years have passed since, and it may well be of little interest today. Still, when I recently re-read the thesis, it seemed to me to have some interest given recent developments in Labour Party politics in the UK. The prevailing assumptions of British history in the 1980s were those with which the post-war generation had been raised. The ‘social problem’ had been solved. It was no longer meaningful to worry about the destructive, wasteful or socially divisive nature of capitalism, as developments in economic theory had transformed the prospects for a managed, socially inclusive, mixed economy. Those who were regarded as having been sceptical or reluctant to accept the new truths were dismissed as dinosaurs. History being on the side of the ‘revisionists’, the ‘Left’ were regarded askance in works such as Ben Pimlott’s Labour and the Left in the 1930s and Paul Addison’s The Road to 1945.
Yet, even while I was studying Labour and the Left in the 1940s, these assumptions were themselves already becoming history. This was the time of the defeat of the miners’ strike, a most dispiriting moment, and of Thatcherism and the wholesale rejection of Keynesian notions of economic management. The Left of the Labour Party attempted to construct a socialist alternative, but their ideas were denounced as extremist by the media, and defeated by a ‘centrist’ leadership which ultimately, in the absence of any more creative vision, embraced neo-liberalism and privatisation itself as the basis on which to reduce poverty and sustain public services. As we now emerge from the Blair years, amazed and heartened by the upsurge of radical energy that found its expression in the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, we witness another exciting attempt to challenge the thinking behind austerity. And to transform the party from an efficient electoral machine into a real movement of people and ideas. The era when progressives had to channel their energies into a range of single issue campaigns may be over. Ultimately, the Baloghs, Coles and Kaleckis may have more to say about the future than the Durbins and the Croslands.
The Left in the 1940s was stricken by the split between Labour and Communist Parties. The group I was interested in could be characterised, I felt, as opportunists in the best sense of the word, seeking to maximise the potential at any one time, given the international situation, the state of the economy and above all the public’s openness to radical ideas. It allowed them a flexibility and creativity that seemed denied the leaderships of the two main parties on the Left, neither of whom trusted or respected them.
I have reproduced the text exactly as it was submitted in 1985, except in one or two sentences which were really too ugly to allow through. For the most part this has been done by scanning each page onto a computer. It seems that the computer could read English and reproduce it in editable form, but that it had no idea of page set-up. I am not happy at the result – and apologise to readers who will quickly realise what I’m referring to – but not having the time to re-type the entire thesis, this will have to do.
Summary.
This dissertation traces the intellectual and political development of Labour's Left-wing during the 1940s, concentrating on the groups which produced the Tribune and the New Statesman.
The first section considers the 1930s. to 'establish the essential background to later debates, and to clarify the character of long-standing divisions in the Labour Party. The period 1939 to 1942 is considered briefly in the Prologue, on the basis that it constitutes an exceptional period for left-wing politics in Britain.
The end of 1942 is the point at which an
analysis of the Left's politics is resumed in more details. The Left's part in the discussion of post¬war reconstruction plans and future economic' policy is examined. Another chapter looks at the political atmosphere in the decade's middle years, and the state of relations between the Left and the rest of the Party and, briefly, in contrast', the outlook of Labour's Right wing. The Left's view of foreign affairs forms another part, and the last chapter dealing with this period examines the left's analysis of Government economic policy, both domestically and in relation to the outside world.
The last section of the thesis, covering 1948-50, is divided into two chapters. The first relates the political situation, foreign affairs and economic developments to the shifting aspirations of the Labour Left. The final chapter considers the role of the debate on Labour's future direction in the divisions that beset the Party from 1951.
It concludes with Burston and Nelson answering their critics. They write in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on army bases and settlements around the Gaza perimeter. I note only this: that by the time of writing they would have been aware of the genocidal tone of the Israeli response: ‘Nazis’, ‘human animals’, the statement by the President of Israel denying any distinction between Hamas fighters and civilians. They acknowledge none of the background to the Hamas actions, obvious to any student of the region, as described by UN Secretary General António Guterres in his call for a ceasefire. Israel, fully supported by the USA, UK and EU (“Israel has the right to defend itself”), rejects this call: over 6,000 Palestinians have already died, the majority women and children.
I believe this supports the arguments presented in my paper, ‘Poisoning the Wells’.
For a free Palestine, from the river to the sea, in which the current settler colonial, apartheid regime is replaced by a democratic society, in which both national communities can equally enjoy justice, peace and security.
This article is written by a white psychotherapist about white institutions, and their relationship to a contemporary colonial process that, while inflected by many unique features, nevertheless starkly reproduces the central characteristics of an apartheid society, with white-black relations as oppressive and destructive as this suggests. It takes as its starting point the post-Black Lives Matter ‘moment’ where, joining the worldwide mobilisation that followed the murder of George Floyd, Western institutions are seeking to address the ways in which racism has been reproduced in their internal practices. Such institutions, the paper argues, have a responsibility to include in their reflections the constructive exercise of their public influence both in general terms and particularly in regard to the subjugation of the Palestinian people. The integration of Israeli institutions into the international mental health community, and the specific request made by Palestinian civil society that external associations do not normalise their oppression, combine to make this a troubling but pressing issue for the profession.