London Clarion 1894 members...

Fellow Clarionites and socialists/communists/anarchists, how many of you can I interest in a cycling trip to La Fête de l'Humanité? I have been to this two years running and I can tell you that it is an awesome experience. It is run by the various local communist chapters in France. It is awesome for many reasons:

• There are still active, healthy local communist chapters all over France. Britain doesn't even have healthy socialist parties.
  
• Amazing food. Each region has several tents providing regional specialities and there are also tents from countries across the world.
  
• Amazing booze. Well, naturally. If you are a cider fanatic, the Breton tents are particularly recommended.
  
• Great music. In 2012 Patti Smith headlined. In 2013 it was Asian Dub Foundation. Many other bands worth seeing.
  
• Cultural events. Book fair and library, craft workshops, too many different things to mention.
  
• Atmosphere. Awesome.
  
• Solidarity and hope. You are all British socialists (or something close). You know how lonely that feels in this forsaken country. In France, particularly at this festival, you find yourself surrounded by tens of thousands of like-minded people. It's an amazing feeling.
  
• Paris. I love Paris.
  
• France is great to cycle through.
  
  
  
  

There are more awesome reasons, but those are plenty of awesome reasons. It runs from September 12th to 14th this year; who is with me? I would ideally ride all the way from London to Paris, but I'm up for compromises which involve some trains.