The techniques of coordinated political manipulation in which Marxist agitators were so expert – the packing of meetings, the intimidation of the silent majority at public gatherings, the shutting down of argument and the repetition of “big lies”– cannot be dismissed as a trivial aberration. It is too easy to mutter: “Just a handful of hotheads”. This is the serious business of full-time militancy, and it is going to come into play at every major public forum where real power is in the balance if the legitimate leadership on all sides is not supremely vigilant.