Options
Why aren't the British middle-classes staging a revolution?
A truly astounding article
"Words you probably never thought you’d read in the Telegraph. Words which, as a Gladstonian Liberal, I never thought I’d write. But seriously, why aren’t we seeing scenes reminiscent of Paris in 1968? Moscow in 1917? Boston in 1773"?
This article is actually a furious attack on the financiers who bought the Phones4U company, loaded it up with massive debts, walked away with 320 million whilst putting thousands out of work. It then attacks the wider system that makes this possible.
"This sort of utterly amoral screw-everyone capitalism has become much more prevalent in the last 15 years. Our financial elite is now totally out of control. They learned nothing from the crisis, except that the rest of us were stupid enough to give them a second chance. And, now, having plucked all the “low hanging fruit,” they’re destroying the middle classes for profit."
"Our current problems have their roots in the early 80s. While much of what Reagan and Thatcher did was necessary, the trouble is that they set a deregulatory train in motion which, over the last couple of decades has dismantled so much of the legal framework that protected us from greedy scuzzballs".
Apart from "While much of what Reagan and Thatcher did was necessary", I agree with the rest of that statement.
Finally
" It was Troksky who originally said that all revolutions were impossible until they became inevitable and I think is the position we’re in right now. Everyone keeps telling us that scandals like Phones4U are just the way things are and that, sorry, you can’t have a pay rise this year. You’re used to it. But if we continue like this, there will come a point when the middle classes really do snap.
We had a foretaste of this with London riots, a howl of anguish from those who enjoy no share in London’s much vaunted wealth. At the time, the middle classes were mostly safely locked in their homes. But I know people - nice, well-educated, well-spoken people - who weren’t entirely unsympathetic to the rioters. And its when the middle classes start identifying downwards, rather than upwards that when elites really need to start watching their backs".
Is this real? The Telegraph quoting Leon Trotsky?
Article can be found here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11109845/Why-arent-the-British-middle-classes-staging-a-revolution.html
That's right THE TELEGRAPH! If they are warning of a severe breakdown of law and order something must have rattled them.
Is this the same newspaper that 18 months ago printed this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10000902/The-monument-to-herlife-is-this-country.html
"The same can be said for Lady Thatcher. Whatever else is done to commemorate her achievements, her real monument is the country in which we are fortunate to live".
The fortunate "we" who aren't "all in this together" perhaps.
This article would be equally at home in Socialist Worker or the Morning Star.
"Words you probably never thought you’d read in the Telegraph. Words which, as a Gladstonian Liberal, I never thought I’d write. But seriously, why aren’t we seeing scenes reminiscent of Paris in 1968? Moscow in 1917? Boston in 1773"?
This article is actually a furious attack on the financiers who bought the Phones4U company, loaded it up with massive debts, walked away with 320 million whilst putting thousands out of work. It then attacks the wider system that makes this possible.
"This sort of utterly amoral screw-everyone capitalism has become much more prevalent in the last 15 years. Our financial elite is now totally out of control. They learned nothing from the crisis, except that the rest of us were stupid enough to give them a second chance. And, now, having plucked all the “low hanging fruit,” they’re destroying the middle classes for profit."
"Our current problems have their roots in the early 80s. While much of what Reagan and Thatcher did was necessary, the trouble is that they set a deregulatory train in motion which, over the last couple of decades has dismantled so much of the legal framework that protected us from greedy scuzzballs".
Apart from "While much of what Reagan and Thatcher did was necessary", I agree with the rest of that statement.
Finally
" It was Troksky who originally said that all revolutions were impossible until they became inevitable and I think is the position we’re in right now. Everyone keeps telling us that scandals like Phones4U are just the way things are and that, sorry, you can’t have a pay rise this year. You’re used to it. But if we continue like this, there will come a point when the middle classes really do snap.
We had a foretaste of this with London riots, a howl of anguish from those who enjoy no share in London’s much vaunted wealth. At the time, the middle classes were mostly safely locked in their homes. But I know people - nice, well-educated, well-spoken people - who weren’t entirely unsympathetic to the rioters. And its when the middle classes start identifying downwards, rather than upwards that when elites really need to start watching their backs".
Is this real? The Telegraph quoting Leon Trotsky?
Article can be found here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11109845/Why-arent-the-British-middle-classes-staging-a-revolution.html
That's right THE TELEGRAPH! If they are warning of a severe breakdown of law and order something must have rattled them.
Is this the same newspaper that 18 months ago printed this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/10000902/The-monument-to-herlife-is-this-country.html
"The same can be said for Lady Thatcher. Whatever else is done to commemorate her achievements, her real monument is the country in which we are fortunate to live".
The fortunate "we" who aren't "all in this together" perhaps.
This article would be equally at home in Socialist Worker or the Morning Star.
0
Comments
You are right though, there should have been a revolution a little while ago.
The Tories are doing just about enough to protect their core voters so they would still stand to lose a lot more if they 'took to the streets'.
40 years ago I would have been one of their core voters. Not now, for years the only (feeble) alternative was Labour but Blair ended that.
I'm terrible, I keep forgetting to give all my stuff to lazy Socialists who don’t like the minor inconvenience of working for a living.
Not an easy option in this country of zero hour and short term temporary contracts.
Assuming you can find a job anywhere?
Maybe I should have become an investment banker....
35 years perhaps?
Same, really.
Heck I would have even voted for Cameron in 2007 if Brown had called an election. I was a bit more conservative then.
The last 5-6 years have been politically eye opening.
What a load of crap..
They would rather someone else was done down rather than they themselves were raised up
It's the perfect country to be a part of the ruling class in........the population are desperate to keep each other down
Here is an idea, they should get a better job.
I assume you read this bit
"It was Troksky who originally said that all revolutions were impossible until they became inevitable and I think is the position we’re in right now. Everyone keeps telling us that scandals like Phones4U are just the way things are and that, sorry, you can’t have a pay rise this year. You’re used to it. But if we continue like this, there will come a point when the middle classes really do snap".
Do you still think another 5 years of austerity is a good idea?
Here's another idea, you should stop deluding yourself that there are even enough jobs to go round, let alone enough for people to be choosy about which jobs they take.
If getting a "better job" is that easy, please tell where these "better jobs" are?
Or are you Ian Duncan Smith?
If everybody could just 'get a better job' then why do you think people do such shitty jobs?
There won't be a revolution as long as the middle class and most of the working class are more concerned with doing down the people at the bottom, ie the unemployed, the underclass, people on benefits........than they are with bettering themselves
at the expense of the people at the top
You do get the impression that most people would rather benefits were cut for the poor than have a pay rise themselves
We appear to live in a country where doing down other people is preferred to bettering yourself
*round of applause for this post*
the point is that "bettering yourself" has become impossible for nearly everyone (unless you have very good connections.
I thought the telegraph article is saying that the middles class need a revolution against the ruling class to better themselves because the 'normal' routes of bettering yourself have been cut off
What I'm saying is that they are not really interested in bettering themselves......they are more interested in doing down the people below them
To quote from the article......."And its when the middle classes start identifying downwards, rather than upwards that when elites really need to start watching their backs"
The middle classes and most of the working class might be looking downwards but they're not looking to identify they're looking to crush
The upper class are safe........
Why do you say that? I don't think the majority are interested in "doing down the people below them". Huge numbers of people give to charity and volunteer in various roles. I'm nor looking to do anyone down.
They're safe until the middle classes lose their lick up, kick down mentality.
come on........the whole dog whistle politics thing, right wing popular press and the general zeitgeist is all about hatred of people on benefits, poor asylum seekers, women with a lot of children, the disabled who ought to damn well get a job, ......generally the people at the bottom of society
Do you not read the threads on here ?
They shouldn't get this, they shouldn't get that, they shouldn't have these rights or those rights, they shouldn't be here, it's ridiculous how they live in luxury on benefits, prisoners living the life of riley and so on and so on..........
It just appears to be a fact that most people in Britain would rather do down someone below them than raise themselves up.........and the politicians exploit this and play up to it and make doing people down 'the issue'...........political parties compete to see who can be most beastly to the poor........lots of votes in that !
Which is my point. We will all be at the bottom of society and that's when the worms will turn. Even the DT have woken up to this even if you haven't.
obviously there cant ever be a scenario where one person owns the whole of Britain
it's just a matter of waiting for the tipping point.
A couple of years ago I worked for an organisation intended to help the unemployed back to work. Yes we did get our share of "deadlegs", those happy to drink cans of lager and watch Jeremy Kyle all day - about 5% of the clients.
The vast majority DID want to work. What was alarming was seeing highly trained and educated people, teachers, engineers, and other people with very marketable skills who had been thrown on the scrapheap because they were "too expensive" We now have a government that thinks these people should be grateful for 16 hours a week on minimum wage stacking shelves for Tesco.
There is trouble ahead.
But if they don't then they probably don't want to