A post that inspired me … well where do I start ? so many of the bloggers 101 have inspired me with their literary skills and the ability to string words together in a way that grips you, along with the everyday kind of life full of pain, recovery, idealism, love and happiness…it has been a monumental task to sift through them and decide which one has inspired me to write this post.
It will be about a part of my life which in turn, has prompted feelings and emotions (same thing I suppose) of ecstasy, passion, anger, and lately, despair and amazement at the short memories and greed of the working people of this once great nation. YES..you guessed it, it is an account of how I see the way my country is going in modern times, and what it is going to lose , if we are not careful, for ever. The post which inspired me to comment is from a series of five articles from a blog found here entitled the leftie Soap Box. As it’s name intimates, the commentary is to the left of centre of British politics. My own leanings are are that of an old school Socialist who favours a traditional Marxist view of Socialism. The Article which ‘stirred’ me up was basically, a critique of the current state of the Labour Party and commentary on what should be done to regain the ground lost at the last general Election…which in real terms (as a politician might say ) is a helluva lot !!
Since the Labour Parties Blair and Brown days when the (Labour) Party got rid of the OLD Clause IV of the Constitution .. (1995) (a link is provided so you see for yourself the vast difference and change in principal), the Party has moved inexorably to the centre/right of the political spectrum and has lost all its founding socialistic ideals. The Labour Party was spawned by the Trade Union movement in response to the need for the working class to be represented in Parliament…the Trade Unions were fought for because of the need to protect not only the interests of the 
workers but also their very lives. Mine and factory owners, back in the day, didn’t worry about the conditions people worked in…any safety work needed in the coal mines didn’t get done because the owners put profit before the lives of workers, so miners died at an alarming rate…no bother, they could be replaced at the drop of a hat. Any workers falling into a machine and getting minced didn’t really matter as they could be replaced and to instigate safety measure would detract from the profits…a vicious cycle of profit before lives. The Trade unions stopped that by organising and safe guarding their members (workers) … The upshot of all this was the founding principles of the Labour Party, the Party of the working class and since 1995 maybe a little before then, New Labour was born…with its core and target membership coming more from the middle classes, a distinct move to the right.
In the Thatcher years, the trade unions were broken, with the fragmentation and virtual death of the most powerful Trade Union, the National Union of Mineworkers…other Unions followed the same path, with vicious anti-Union legislation being passed. Until we get to the modern era where trade unions have no teeth and fewer members. The safeguards built up for the workers over the years are being eroded at every turn and it grieves me sorely to see Capitalism sweeping away the right of workers every day….more than that, it’s even worse to see working people deny their class and think they are something better, saying, “Up yours Jack, I’m alright.” and even worse…if it can get worse, is when the same class traitors vote TORY !!!! They vote for the very political party that has a proven track record of taking from the workers and giving to their mates who run big business. People have such short memories..The Tory party really is the ‘NASTY’ party
Its taken all these years since Labour lost power for me to write about my feelings … it has made me angry, desperately angry, … all from reading a post about the post mortem of the labour party….I’ll shut up now, it’s gone on for many more words than I intended and I feel my emotions are strangling my continuity and attempts at being a wordsmith….And I’ve not even started on the welfare state !!!….The Tories have though…PIRATES !!
If you have stuck it out to the end, I thank you for your patience…it has been a cathartic exercise for me at the very least…..happy blogging peeps…
steelcityman 