by Bob Mitchell
tendon Bureau Chlel

As soon as Jim Glitz arrived carry-
ing the podium used by the Socialist
Party of Great Britain, a crowd
gathered and fired questions at him.

Someone asked when he would begin
speaking. “I’m not the speaker. I’m
not the speaker,” said Glitz. “He's
still in bed.”

The speaker, Lawrence wiedourg,
soon showed up. He mounted the
podium, surveyed the audience. and
began talking about the Socialist Par-
ty.
Another day of speeches, argumen-
tation, and heckling at Speakers' Cor»

member of the Socialist Party, who
first spoke at Speakers Corner in
1940,

Many speakers who are confronted
with a hostile member of the audience
respond in kind. One heckler proved
no match for Victor Raeburn. a
former Communist, who spoke in
defense of Israel.

“George Washington told the truth,
Richard Nixon didn’t know the truth,
and you don't know the diiierenoe. So
keep your mouth shut," Raeburn told
the heckler. The crowd cheered.

“Here you have an extremely
cynical, skeptical, and critical au-
dience,” said Young. “You've got
people who’ve been listening to

“George Washington told the truth,

Richard Nixon didn’t know the truth,

and you don’t know the difference.

So keep your mouth shut.”

her was underway.

Speakers congregate every Sunday
near Marble Arch in the northeast cor-
her of Hyde Park to debate, preach, or
entertain.

Some extol the virtues oi socialism
or anarchism. Some seek converts to
Christianity or defend Israel. Others
tell jokes or lead singralongs,

Since beginning in 1872, Speakers‘
Corner has become renowned as “one
of the major places in the world where
free speech may be practiced,” wrote
Hazel Thurston. ”As such it joins the
Tower of London and the Changing of
the Guard as a major tourist attrac-
tion, as well as providing a constant
source of free entertainment for Lan-
doners." _

Speakers frequently face competi»
tion for the attention of the audience
from hecklers. “There are a number
oi people who are professional
hecklers—and sometimes organized

groups,” said Harry Young, a

6

speakers for 30 years. They know
them all.“

Shortly after, Wiedburg, a 35-year
veteran of Speakers’ Corner, began to
lecture the audience about socialism.
A short, fat man with a copy of the
Sunday Observer tucked under his
arm made his way to the front of the
podium.

“Good morning, Lawrence.” he
said.

“It was a good morning until you ar-
rived," Wiedburg said.

“How can you afford two cars and
one motorbike and be a Socialist?” the
heckler asked.

“Even that’s a mistake, because I
have two motorbikes," Wiedburg
replied.

A voice from the audience asked
Wiedburg if he listened to Radio
Moscow.

“You are being utterly stupid,"
replied Wiedburg. “And the audience
can see you’re stupid even if you keep

Free speech at its finest

quiet,"

Another person asked how the
socialists planned to build houses if
they abolished money.

“How can we build houses without
money?” Wiedburg repeated. “The
answer is, with bricks! You know, the
stupidity of the working class is amaz-
ing. They think you’ve got to have
money before you can have bread,”

Wiedburg is “a very volatile
character,” Young said. “He is the
type of speaker the public likesﬁplen-
ty of fire,”

After Wiedburg finished, Young
stepped behind the podium and began
to speak The heckler interrupted
him.

“I'm against that,” the heckler said,
pointing to a sign on the podium say-
ing “Abolish the Wage System."

“Why?” Young asked,

“Because I'm well off!” the heckler
replied.

Young said later the heckler is a
friend who comes by to harass the
socialists in order to attract a larger
crowd.

“In some ways we don't mind
(heckling) as long as we get a chance
to answer,” Young said. “It‘s the con-
troversy which is interesting, the
debates,"

Despite the heckling, speakers find
they can make their point with
reasonable Clarity, Wiedburg said.
“Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it's
harder," he said “The trouble is, a
majority of the audience is here for
entertainment.“

Wiedburg says no one has joined the
Socialist Party as a result of its efforts
at Speakers’ Corner, But he and the
other party workers keep trying
because “there’s nothing else to do."

“There‘s no other way,” he said. “I
only live once, and I must do my best
to put the matter across.”

The character of Speakers‘ Corner
has changed since he started there, he
said. “There are fewer serious
meetings, There are more . . . self-
styled comedians."

But for the most part, Speakers’
Corner remains “a Valuable outlet for
passions" without being intlam-
matory, Thurston wrote. When the
debates get out of hand, Young said
the Socialism will “get down and pack
up or ask the police to remove some»
one,"

But “such police action is excepr
tional,” Thurston wrote. “Protests,
demonstrations and soapbox oratory
overlap, and do much to fill what
might otherwise be written off as a
dreary English Sunday afternoon."

Scarlet & Block,

 

