Comments on: Move on from the politics of class http://oulc.org/2009/11/move-on-from-the-politics-of-class/ Britain's largest university Labour Club Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:01:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Kieran Cunningham http://oulc.org/2009/11/move-on-from-the-politics-of-class/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Kieran Cunningham Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:01:41 +0000 http://oulc.org/?p=202#comment-14 I have to say I disagree. While the Crewe and Nantwich 'top hat' thing was damaging to the party, this is because it was a stupid stunt, when the government appeared to be doing a poor job. The amount of times, when out campaigning, someone has told me on their doorstep "of course I'm voting Labour, I'm poor" (or more depressingly "of course I'm voting BNP, I'm poor") would seem to dispute the idea that voters are no longer class-alligned. While I agree that issues of gender, race and sexuality now effect politics much more than they did in the past, and divide the parties, people do still vote according to their wealth and class. And while it may appear hypocritical to accuse the tories of being toffs while we have a fair few toffs on our front bench, this is not a reason to abandon the politics of class. Wouldn't it be much better to have a few more working class front benchers instead? The current problem is that Labour has in fact abandoned the politics of class, except when used to attack the tories. Had the tories been mocked in the same way as they were in Crewe and Nantwich, and the Labour party had consistently championed and supported the working class, instead of chasing the votes of middle England, then this would not appear so ridiculous. The few times I have met BNP supporters, their criticism has always been that "Labour has abandoned the working class", and this alienation has, in my opinion, pushed the poor into the path of extremists. I am not saying that Labour should pander to BNP voters, but had the Labour government, over the past 12 years, built more social housing and adopted more measures which clearly are in the interests of the poor, then we would have a leg to stand on, when criticisng the tories. It is not, in my opinion, a question of moving on from the politics of class, but one of putting some actual weight behind the politics of class, or stop throwing empty insults around. I have to say I disagree. While the Crewe and Nantwich ‘top hat’ thing was damaging to the party, this is because it was a stupid stunt, when the government appeared to be doing a poor job. The amount of times, when out campaigning, someone has told me on their doorstep “of course I’m voting Labour, I’m poor” (or more depressingly “of course I’m voting BNP, I’m poor”) would seem to dispute the idea that voters are no longer class-alligned. While I agree that issues of gender, race and sexuality now effect politics much more than they did in the past, and divide the parties, people do still vote according to their wealth and class. And while it may appear hypocritical to accuse the tories of being toffs while we have a fair few toffs on our front bench, this is not a reason to abandon the politics of class. Wouldn’t it be much better to have a few more working class front benchers instead?

The current problem is that Labour has in fact abandoned the politics of class, except when used to attack the tories. Had the tories been mocked in the same way as they were in Crewe and Nantwich, and the Labour party had consistently championed and supported the working class, instead of chasing the votes of middle England, then this would not appear so ridiculous. The few times I have met BNP supporters, their criticism has always been that “Labour has abandoned the working class”, and this alienation has, in my opinion, pushed the poor into the path of extremists. I am not saying that Labour should pander to BNP voters, but had the Labour government, over the past 12 years, built more social housing and adopted more measures which clearly are in the interests of the poor, then we would have a leg to stand on, when criticisng the tories. It is not, in my opinion, a question of moving on from the politics of class, but one of putting some actual weight behind the politics of class, or stop throwing empty insults around.

]]>