Hello, Comrades!

A few people I’ve spoken to (in real life) have laughed at the use of our use of the word “comrades” to refer to each other.

“why can’t you just say mates” someone said.

Well it’s because we aren’t mates, mates are people you go the pub with, or watch footy with. Not that we don’t do those things, but the reason we came together was through shared political views and a shared goal. We might not have met otherwise.

We could call ourselves colleagues, but they’re people who work in the same place. While we work together, we don’t get paid.

We could call ourselves partners, but that sounds like we own a business together, or that we have some kind of strange mixed marriage.

We could call ourselves associates, but that would make us sound like gangsters.

Someone else said that it makes us sound like Wolfie Smith, from the 70s BBC sitcom Citizen Smith.

Ironically his Tooting Popular Front was just a group of mates. The show is media propaganda to portray socialists as jobless layabouts who never get anything done.

Now we haven’t done as much as Lenin or Guevara, but our writing project is a start and is the reason we came together.

So we will still call each other Comrade.

Chris Haws

September 2025