Monday, September 09, 2013

Today's middle class feel oppressed in the same way as Marx’s 19th-century working class...

It’s not often that you see the Daily Mail and The Spectator talking about revolution, but that’s what happened last week. Both right-wing rags praised Karl Marx in articles about the death of the middle class. I was stunned to see a big photo of Marx on the Mail’s website, better known for its photos of celebrities no one has heard of wearing bikinis. It seems the middle class are feeling oppressed in rather the same way that Marx’s 19th-century working class felt oppressed. And the Mail was attacking the rich and defending the new poor, the middle classes who can no longer afford school fees, foreign holidays, meals in restaurants and all the rest.

The author of the piece said that Marx predicted that the small tradespeople would sink down the social ladder, and then went on to paraphrase Marx. “Society, he thought, would inexorably be divided into haves and have-nots, and the tension would turn inevitably to violent revolution.”

The tone was no less inflammatory in The Spectator. Its editor, Fraser Nelson, complained that “the lifestyle that the average earner had half a century ago – reasonably sized house, dependable healthcare, a decent education for the children and a reliable pension – is becoming the preserve of the rich”. Full story...

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  3. British families want out as more seek relaxed life abroad...
  4. Queen Elizabeth gets bumper pay raise of 20%, raising salary to...
  5. More people seeking food handouts in Britain...
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