Class Follow

Last week I explored how divisions over the question of revolution led to the break up of the First International.

Inequality is alive and well in Britain, as a new government report has admitted. But although politicians and the media will accept that inequality exists, few acknowledge that class is the basis for that inequality.

Supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) and the British National Party (BNP) laid siege to Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, last Saturday.

In a way John Denham’s statements are an advance on previous New Labour positions, in that he emphasises the need to look at racial disadvantage in class terms.

Gordon Brown has crushed any lingering belief that Labour is going to run an election campaign that addresses the needs of working class people.

Letters

The session on the industrial response to the economic crisis saw a productive discussion about encouraging working class resistance.

The credit crunch, the economic crisis, and now the deep recession have ravaged working class people’s lives. But importantly, resistance during the recession has shown the power of workers to fight back.

Karl Marx’s ideas have seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years. Most mainstream commentators, however, concentrate on Marx’s economic theories and tend to ignore the other fundamental aspect of his politics – his belief in the ability of the working class to liberate itself.

There is a tendency to portray the British ruling class as a somewhat buffoonish collection of toffs, removed from the realities of life.

The news that Britain has not escaped recession brought a deep sense of gloom to big business. It also exposed deep rifts within the ruling class over what to do next.

Around 250 people attended a conference on "The crisis in working class representation" sponsored by the RMT transport union last Saturday in London.