Has Spiked exposed its Marxist underbelly?

Niall McCrae & Roger Watson

An unprovoked attack on a controversial and courageous MP got critical thinkers asking: is spiked really on our side? Its crusade against ‘anti-vaxxers’ is hardly in keeping with the website’s mission of free speech. Deputy editor Fraser Myers may have had the backing of official narrative, but he is no match for Andrew Bridgen on the scientific evidence: the former having no more medical or pharmacological qualifications than Bill Gates, while the latter has a degree in biological sciences. Myers did not bother to read the 32 papers that Bridgen referenced in the House of Commons, relying on ad hominem slurs.

Spiked has since lost subscribers and followers on social media. While editor Tom Slater (dubbed ‘Tintin’ for his boyish appearance) and fellow writers circled the wagons in his defence, Myers seems to have performed an act of self-harm of similar magnitude to Gerald Ratner whose careless words destroyed his jewellery chain or, more recently, the transgender trolling of traditional drinkers by Bud Light.

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Spiked has done some brilliant work on Brexit, defending the white working class from metropolitan elite contempt, promoting free speech against woke puritanism, and advocating for ordinary people against the punitive policies of climate alarmism. With its slogan ‘humanity is underrated’, spiked has been an oasis of Enlightenment values. As we write, this is demonstrated by the site’s latest articles on the dangerous follies of white guilt and transgender extremism.

Although not the most trenchant opponent of the Covid-19 regime, spiked published some criticism of lockdown. But its regular writers got fully behind the vaccination programme. Articles went beyond general plaudits to pushing the jabs for pregnant women. One of its leading authors, Emma Whelan, made no secret on the spiked podcast of her own involvement, directly, as a volunteer vaccinator.

How can this apparent volte face from principles be explained? spiked is considered libertarian. More accurately, it has acted as a contrarian to the progressive establishment, yet on Covid-19 vaccines it has been hardly contrary at all; it has not even asked questions in relation to benefit versus harm. Perhaps the mass injection programme brought out a proclivity for statist collectivism, which could have been an egalitarian anti-elitist stance, but it did not stop at fair access to vaccines. Brendan O’Neill, most popular of spiked writers (and a Spectator columnist) promoted the ‘no jab no job’ law that led to 40,000 care workers losing their jobs. This did not make sense to many of his avid readers, and it contradicted his own identification as a ‘libertarian Marxist’).

In a panel discussion on GB News, former education editor Joanna Williams accused James Delingpole of peddling conspiracy theories for daring to talk about vaccine harm. For free speech campaigners to attack critics of the vaccine so vehemently suggested an underlying motive.

So, who are spiked, really? The online magazine was started in 2001 by members of Living Marxism. This organisation closed after losing a lawsuit to ITN for falsely accusing the news broadcaster of fabricating footage of genocide in Bosnia. Living Marxism emerged from the Trotskyite Revolutionary Communist Party, led by Hungarian scholar Frank Furedi, an influential sociologist at University of Kent. Furedi’s wife Ann is head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a British version of the mass abortion provider Planned Parenthood.

Unlike other independent media, spiked writers regularly appear on mainstream television. Are they really independent? Clare Fox, elevated to the House of Lords by a Conservative administration, has sought to deter Covid-19 sceptics from globalist conspiracy theories. spiked denounces ideas about the World Economic Forum taking over the world with its Great Reset, despite the clear influence on governments. spiked writers eschew the concept of Cultural Marxism, despite Furedi frequently criticising his compatriot George Soros for backing movements that fit the term precisely.

Running a website such as spiked is not lucrative, and it would not be surprising if financial inducements are a factor in editorial outlook. Follow the money. spiked has received copious funding from the Koch brothers, who could be regarded as socially conservative but economically globalist. Money was also given by Pfizer, although that was back in 2006. Was government funding received for Covid-19 propaganda, as given to newspapers and other media through major advertising contracts?

Left-wing critics of spiked claim that is has abandoned Marxism. But although it attacks the state on particular policies, it is not opposed to utilitarianist principles. You can take the person out of a Marxist organisation, but you can’t take Marxism out of the person.