In “God, Greed and Homophobia” (January SR) John Newsinger writes, “the great Clement Attlee did send 20,000 British troops to Saigon in 1945 to fight alongside the French against the Communist resistance!” Not quite true. John has written some splendid denunciations of British imperialism, but here he is too kind to Attlee.
In November SR Sabby Sagall puts forward the left case for remain. This essentially consists of an argument that the EU supports “women’s and workers’ rights” and “upholds environmental protections and provides major support for the arts.” This argument might come as a surprise to the people of Greece who have seen in practice exactly what EU “support” does to the rights of women and workers, environmental protection and so on.
It was good to see the engagement in the letters pages of last month’s Socialist Review to my and Andy Ridley’s article about the turmoil in the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) which has followed from discontent over this year’s NHS pay deal (“A right royal crisis prods dormant unions to life”, November SR).
Thanks to Pete Sinclair for his clarifications and insights about the limitations of the deal and to Dave Lyddon for his informative comments about the historical evolution of the RCN.
Susan Rosenthal’s letter in December SR defines all professional workers as middle class because they are graduates who allegedly “stand between the capitalist class and the working class, taking orders from above them and giving orders to (or wielding power over) those below them”.
Pro-remain SWP members have no problem in identifying the official and mainstream leave campaigns as being led by utterly reactionary, racist, neoliberals who stand for and would like to see some sort of Thatcherite Nirvana.
But when it comes to the official and mainstream remain campaigns they often adopt the approach of “Yeah, but...”. “Yeah, they are led by warmongers, neoliberals and the EU is a bosses club responsible for the drowning of refugees and the hammering of Greece. But what about the environmental and workers’ protections and the freedom of movement?”
Re: “A right royal crisis prods dormant unions into life” (November SR). Nursing cannot be both an “all graduate profession” and also “a working-class job.”
Many people are confused about the role of the middle class and, therefore, who is middle class.
The report on the RCN (November SR) breaks new ground. But we have to understand its history better.
Most health unions, including the RCN, have both professional and trade union functions. Historically, the professional side came first: particularly the demand for a statutory register of practitioners (now regulated through, for example, the Health and Care Professions Council). For most, the professional side predominates.
I thought Mark Thomas and Andy Ridley’s piece on the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) deal (November SR) was a good one overall. But at one point it seems to misunderstand a key aspect of the deal — one which helped get it accepted — and which highlights a key aspect of both the employers’ and union officials’ strategies on pay and conditions.
John Newsinger is right to make links between Donald Trump and Lewis Carroll’s Alice books (October SR), but he has mixed up his queens. Both quotes he gives are from the befuddled White Queen. The Queen of Hearts representing petulant, blind fury comes out with the very Trump-like, “Off with their heads.”
Ken Olende
London
Ian Taylor in September’s SR and Shaun Doherty in the October issue remind us that Brexit has unleashed a major crisis for the British ruling class and the Tories, caused by the anti-establishment vote to leave the EU.
But it has also created a major problem for the left and the forces of European anti-racism.
The EU is an unelected bureaucracy largely committed to neoliberal policies such as privatisation. In 2015 it hammered Greece with the imposition of austerity. It colluded with European governments that allowed hundreds of migrants to drown in the Mediterranean.
