Robert Clough

short so doesn't fully argue all its points - understandable given it's giving a history of 100 years of the Labour party and British imperialism - so i imagine a lot of people would be unconvinced but i think it says a lot of important stuff and would at the very least make people think more deeply about their assumptions of what the Labour party is and does. i found the stuff about the earlier (pre ww2) history of the Labour party really interesting because it's not something that's ever talked about now- the racism is horrifying and their absolute contempt for the majority of the working class is unreal. also tries to explain the serious problems Labour have getting elected using a class basis. probably the biggest thing i think people would have trouble with here is the stuff about the privileged section of the working class - a lot of people seem to see this concept as inherently absurd and the book doesn't do a good job arguing for it so if you don't agree with it you're not going to like the book. personally it makes sense to me but I'd have appreciated more detail on it in this book. but it does show convincingly how the post war consensus was completely funded by colonial imperialist exploitation. honestly it reminds me of settlers a bit in its willingness to explode conventional labour movement mythology. would have been great if it was longer, will have to check the 2nd edition sometime. also really want to check out more RCG stuff… (más)