From actor Michael Caine's autobiography, "What's It All About?" (1992):
Politics entered into my life [in my late teens] in an unusual and exciting way. Coming out of the club one evening [in the early 1950s] I was surprised to find myself surrounded by a bevy of very attractive . . . older women, about twenty or twenty-two years old. They were offering leaflets. I took one and one of the girls said mysteriously: "Read it and let us know if you're interested. We'll be back tomorrow night." What exciting proposition could this be, I thought as I walked home reading the leaflet.
From what I could make out I was being asked to join something called Young Communists. I knew it was a political party, I also knew that they were very keen on it in Russia and that it had been invented by someone called Marx. I knew the Marx Brothers from the movies so at least, I thought, it might be amusing. The leaflet went on to something really interesting: there was going to be a redistribution of wealth. I could not believe my luck! If they were going to do that, my family and I would have to come out ahead. The clincher for me, was that Communists believed in free love. I couldn't credit that I'd found a political party that offered wealth and love: my two absorbing passions.
I couldn't wait to get out of the club the next evening to meet the group of girls. I had a good look at them and picked the one that I wanted to have free love with the most. "I want to join," I said. "Wonderful," she replied and dragged me off to a small dingy office a couple of streets away. "He wants to join," she announced and then she disappeared. I was left standing in a room with four men, all doing smile impersonations.
I was instantly suspicious. Remembering what my father had told me about spotting untrustworthy men, I had hit the jackpot here. Two of them had beards, one was wearing sandals and another one had a bow tie. The only thing missing were the two-toned shoes. The object of my free love had disappeared and here I was with a group of guys who obviously so far had not done very well in the redistribution of wealth by the look of them. One of them put a form on the desk in front of me and told me to sign it and pay over my subscription of five shillings. I saw at once what a mistake I had made: the distribution of wealth was to be mine to them, not the other way around. I fled—and a lingering suspicion of Communism has remained planted in my mind forever.
Oct 29, 2011 @ 12:19:50
