An article in The Guardian today examines the reason behind working class support for the right in the US almost as if it were discovering something new. But of course the notion of hegemonic control is as old as the hills.
Imperial hegemony, where the control of states within your Empire was maintained by taking control over their culture was seen as a far more efficient and cost effective way of subjugating states than relying on military force.
The Marxist philosopher Gramsci applied the notion of class to the theory hegemonic control, using the term to denote the predominance of one social class over others. This represents not only political and economic control, but also the ability of the dominant class to project its own way of seeing the world so that those who are subordinated by it accept it as ‘common sense’ and ‘natural’.
Persuading the serfs that it is not only the right order of things for them to be serfs and their masters to be masters, but that it is also in their own class interest is the greatest conjuring trick of the ruling elites.
Just saying….
I don’t really think that your implied comparison of Brit attitudes to the Jubilee and US working-class support for the Tea Party really stands up.
British (if not Irish) politics has been exclusively about class since at least 1945, and mostly about class for a good few generations before that. American politics has always been different. First, the uprooting and loss 0f identity caused by emigration to a culture which had self-consciously ripped up its roots led to widespread anomie thus creating the conditions in which successive waves of Christian evangelism might flourish in a way they never could in Europe (or in British colonies). Millenarian evangelism is, to put it mildly, hostile to all forms of progressive ideas.
And then there is the race issue. When LBJ signed the Civil rights Act he remarked that he had just lost the South to his Party for a generation. He underestimated. Race is the most powerful of all forms of political cleavage – we can change our class position, or our class identification. We can convert from one religion to another, or abandon religion altogether. But the colour of our skin, and or native tongue: these are immutables. And they drive American politics more fiercely than class and religion put together. As, indeed, they are beginning to drive ours.
Doubt it Gerald.
The USA was built on freemasonary set up big time for a British withdrawal (after being defeated by the French). This left behind a 50/50 split of pro British/Colonist led by the slave owning freemason Washington.
The drive of the Brit….ahem, the Americans was to push forward with anglo saxon protestantism and thus a determined effort to wipe out Germans and Chinese who could easily become majorities.
Oh, yeah, I see wotcha’ mean, Counc’llor, like one lot in charge bossin’ all the uvvers abart, like, you know, the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Venzuela and all those Commie countries like wot that Gramsci supports.
Cor, you’re really, really brilliant!
Chavez repeatedly elected… how many times has Lizzy The German been elected?
Racism?
Really? Germans are a different race to us? Since when?
Maybe we should promote a Republic, vote in Ed Balls and have a Union Flag put in every classroom in the Country.
Could you imagine the joy at State occassions as our children are schooled into putting one hand across the chest every morning, to acclaim Ed?
Elsby, you are so unbelievably thick. If people voted for the head of state they wanted, if old Liz Saxe Coburg is so popular, she would win easily. But, if we take your childish suggestion even vaguely seriously, it would mean, as you say… People had voted for Ed Balls as their Head of State. Your second paragraph is just more Elsby gibberish.
Grow up, get over it.
Or how fired up and enthusiastic the ‘Toms’ would be to go off to war for ‘President Prescott’!
Yes, it must be so much more fun to get your legs blown off for a filthy rich old age pensioner. Although I suppose President Murdoch would be more to the liking of bobpiperf our political soul mate, the congenital idiot Elsby.
Long live our gracious Ed,
Long live our gracious Ed,
God save our Ed…….
The Jubilee celebrations put Republicanism and their ilk into quick lime for another Century.
Get over it.
Could you imagine one thousand boats rowing up the Thames to take a salute from Lord Peter Mandelson?
Would you stand erect and blow kisses to President Mandelson, on behalf of the Nation, Bob?
Elsby, these juvenile remarks simply go to prove that the NEC got it absolutely right. Grow up.
Bob; I hope that you will understand the torment and agony that I must be going through in attempting to write this APOLOGY to your good self, Lord Mandelson, Tristram Hunt M.P. and the Labour Party National Executive(circa 2010). The indigestion caused by the massive amount of humble pie Iv’e had to consume just to get these few words onto the blog is excruciatingly painful. Having read the posts that your resident village idiot aka Gary Elsby has put on here for the pure delight of yourself and the rest of your bloggers about the preposterous Jubilee events over the weekend(Btw am I the only one who thought McCartney made Ken Dodd look young and carefree and not a line or crease on his boatrace) and his soulmate Duff. Do these two clowns not realise that if anybody can decipher the load of b******s they post, that it is nothing but cliches,twaddle,in Duffs case, from the early days of the cold war that ended 20 years ago, and pure gibberish from Stokes wouldbe great parliamentarian; as my old Irish grandmother used to say”God help and pity the poor creatur’s”. When I have just followed what they have posted, and the events of the weekend, and their reactions to the despicable treatment of those unemployed people blackmailed into working for nothing and the deplorable conditions they were supposed to rest in and change for work, I say roll on the day we become a republic
Oona King.
She is the ultimate Labour member and has done everything bar read the 9 o’clock news (second thoughts…)
John Cruddas….cert, surely.
I think that article, in a British context at least, is total bollocks. His central thesis seems to be based on the idea that the majority of ordinary, working-class people in both the U.S. and the U.K. lean towards right-wing parties. Given that Labour won a healthy majority of the votes of our poorest citizens even in the absolute nadir of 2010, this obviously isn’t the case
A healthy majority of votes for Labour?
Check out the drastic freefall that is 2012.
And believe me, Elsby knows all about free fall.
Tristram Hunt (Parachuted Labour) 12,605
Mad Gary Elsby (Independent) 399
Pretty damned bad result for Stoke’s working class hero who promised to ‘run Labour all the way’. Now that’s what I call free fall.
Labour increase Coucillors in 2012 by hundreds, if not thousands across Great Britain.
Truth is, that Labour lost 2% of the popular vote.
Conclusion: Tories didn’t vote Tory and Liberal didn’t vote Liberal (both did not vote Labour).
Why?
Because Tories believe they are not acting austere enough and want out of Liberal coalition and Liberals don’t like themselves for being in coalition with mad Tories.
End conclusion: Labour not in position to win 2015 General Election.
Certainly not with Wallace and Gromit cartoons running the show.
Wallace and Gromit isn’t a cartoon
And that, dear readers, is why the boy got a 1st class honours degree!
Wallace and Grommit are stop motion characters which won Nick Park an Oscar.
Ed Miliband is a cartoon wishing to be Prime Minister.
Big difference, granted.
Says the man who lost a council election to the BNP. Bloody hell, I bet Miliband is sick that he wasn’t a big success like you.
Envy isn’t a positive characteristic, Elsby… give it up.
But….but..it is Ed Miliband who makes the comparison…
….not us who like cartoons.
I’m not surprised, you were clearly a Mickey Mouse candidate, and boy, didn’t the electorate spot it!
I got 800 votes in the last local election, pipped by Labour.
The plan is moving forward.
Sounds like a village with 800 village idiots.
I see a definition of Internet trolling in The Guardian yesterday said:
With the exception about any attempt to convey humour, I would say they’ve got Elsby the Troll down to a tee.
Typical of you Bob to translate much difference between the Guardian’s version of events and your own.
Apparantly, a troll hides behind a pseudonym and is an ‘idiot’ for not agreeing with the blog owners ramblings.
Believe it or not, this is actually my own name and I thoroughly disagree with your ramblings on occasion (especially after closing time).
This still makes me an idiot, according to the Guardian’s rules, but their case falls down on two seperate points:
1. It is my real name.
2. Most of the Labour Party disagrees with your views (or they are perpetual liars).
Are all members of the Labour Party (who have a DD to prove it) trolls?
Pay to agree with Trident?
Pay to do sweet F*** all when the pits were shutting?
Did the same F*** all when a continuous election victory over two decades could have re-opened them, halving my electric bill?
Bankrupted the Country!
Made the biggest historical record on homelessness and unable to buy?
A troll is someone who says it is all Cameron/Clegg’s fault.
I, on the other hand, am famed by Andrew Gilligan for internetting a million hits with:
“The only good Tory is a dead Tory”.
…….and the Abbey ward is famed for such pearlers as: “The NEC got it right”.
nb. for those not conservant with what the NEC got right, they orchestrated a selection vote by banning sure winners in favour of a two-times loser.
I have some sympathies with this tactic, as how on earth are losers ever going to win in the first place?
Labour lost the General Election after bad publicity over vote rigging in 2010.
I didn’t come up for air during that election.
Hey… I wound up the Troll!!!
A “”sure fire winner”… with a record of losing! You couldn’t make him up.
Yes, as far as I’m aware Tristram Hunt – for better or for worse – won Stoke-on-Trent Central in 2010. For the purposes of contrast, and because I like empirical evidence, let’s take a closer look at Gary’s record:
2007: Gary loses the Abbey Green ward to the BNP
2008: Gary loses the Abbey Green ward to the BNP – again!
2010: Gary flounces out of the Labour Party and secures a whopping 399 votes in the General Election
2011: Gary comes 9th out of 16 candidates in Baddeley, Milton & Norton
Why do you bother?
You forgot to mention who the 16 candidates were in 2011.
How many are ‘expelled’ Labour members?
How many Labour Council Leaders, ‘expelled’.
Why so many expelled former Labour members?
He didn’t fail to mention that Elsby G. finished… 9th!!!
By the way John, does your ‘empirical evidence’ offer a causal link between famous Labour TV personalities and safe labour seats in labour strong-holds around the Country with no links between any of the variables?
Add a cheat into the equation and you get a cheat winning a rigged selelction with no background whatsoever speaking up for the ‘working classes’.
If only.
Bitter, him! No,never!
Bitter at being knocked back in a working class party by two Lords for a Lord’s son?
No.
Labour, “A Party for the working classes”?
No.
“I am not old Labour and not new Labour, I am dinasour Labour”.
Edited to:
“I am not old Labour, not new Labour, just Labour”.
Which should all read:
“I bow and scrape to their Lordships wishes for I know them to be representative of me and my class” Tristram of Sandwell, we salute you.
Cut and paste that bit to the top right hand corner of this screen Bob.
You know it makes sense.
Calm down, calm down!
It really doesn’t do for the Troll to get all frothy at the mouth himself.
Who mentioned Norman Tebbit?
That’s more like it. You’ve reverted to the more normal Elsby drivel.
” I agree with Norman Tebbit”, Bob Piper.
Personally, and I can only speak for Socialists everywhere, I’ve never agreed with him on anything at all.
Slit my wrists first.
Every cloud…eh?
Strangely, lots of socialists everywhere are coming to agree with his view that the European Union is fundamentally flawed, that it’s single currency was destined to fail from the outset because a currency with over 20 Chancellors cannot work, and that the British people have never been consulted about joining the European Union, the Maastrict Treaty, the Single European Act nor the Lisbon Treaty, despite all of these acts ceding sovereignty from the British Parliament.
But don’t worry, I can wait for racist ‘socialists’ like you who think Iranians are congenitally stupid to catch up.
Er, Bob, we had a referendum in 1975. We decided to stay in. And when, in response to Maastrict, Lisbon etc the Irish held referenda, if they voted “no” the Establishment just held another one!
Mike, I hope you were being ironic about the referendum in 1975. That was a referendum about staying in the EEC, which bears not the slightest resemblance to the EU as currently constituted. In fact, Maastricht established the EU of which the EEC was only one part of it, the rest was about creating what is effectively a Federal Europe. I don’t believe we should cede any constitutional powers from this country to another body which is unaccountable to the electorate without first seeking the consent of the people.
I wasn’t actually. I think the argument that “EEC” was a staging post to economic and political union was rehearsed in 1975. Anyway, it was a long time ago and all I really remember about it is that I was going to vote “no” until Heath rang rings round Barbara Castle in a TV debate the previous Sunday, so I decided to abstain. Oh yes, it comes back to me now – I was a presiding officer (paid twice, jolly dee) and some people asked me which way to vote!
I am, however, clearly a good deal more suspicious than you are of referenda as a way of settling political problems.
Gee up Bob, Norman sure as hell has done a good job on you.
“We’ll keep the blue flag flying here”.
Troll watch. As the Guardian piece said, you’re a prick with a keyboard.
Mike, your memory is playing tricks on you. Not even economic integration was discussed in 1975, let alone political integration.
And I’m not talking about referenda to decide political issues, but constitutional issues. But then, if you don’t trust the electorate you might just as well do away with the universal franchise altogether, you old cynic.
Bob, have you ever thought of joining the Conservative Party or Ukip?
People would admire you much more if you actually did come out and defend the reasons behind your willingness to collapse European human rights issues (sack workers/promote rich) and all that sort of stuff.
Simpleton. The EU is a rich man’s club not some sort of socialist dream shop, you thick sod. What evidence have you got that the EU has damaged the wealthy in any respect whatsoever. Workers rights come from workers struggles against employers and the state, not as gifts and baubles handed down by unelected bureaucrats. If you accept that, as you and the right wing elements of the trade union leadership do, then the EU can give you freedoms…and take them away, with no recourse to the electorate. Stupid boy.
………then how come all Countries sign up to these human rights and…….according to you, more and more socialists want rid?
Is this typical Sandwell politicis or ypical Bob Piper?
They don’t have a choice…you muppet. And they are not ‘human rights’ they are EU directives. I don’t think Sandwell has a policy on the EU… ypical or otherwise.
For a man who has written wanting to restrict “mass immigration” i would expect you to oppose the EU, it must be a bit of a paradox for you EU supporting racists, although I suppose they are the right colour for you at least.
Also, you are reverting to Elsby Trollism again, go and join your mates at Guido’s place, they are more your kind.
Tut tut Bob.
Mass immigration needs to be restricted to what suits this Country best regarding those beyond the borders of the EU.
The EU is best sserved with an open market and rules to suit all workers in all Countries.
I know you to believe this to be an act of ‘racism’ but I’m afraid us socialists do have pressing responsibilities, if we are to be taken seriously.
Your friend Normandoesn’t like the bit that protects British workers like other EU workers take for granted.
Your friend Norman, also has views on immigrants too.
I paid my DD to the Labour Party in contrast to your minority views.
Why not ask Ed to drop the whole shooting match and sign up to you?
As I thought, some ‘mass immigrants’ are more desirable than others. Farewell, troll
Got to admit this post keeps running and running, it’s pure comedy gold; I don’t know what the technical details/terms are for this Bob, but if you have the copyright to this post publish it, broadcast it even you-tube it, you will be able to retire rich(if you haven’t already, or can’t up to press) on what you will garner from this discussion/debate/fiasco between the oracle from Stoke and the sage of Sandwell; I haven’t laughed so much at something like this since the early days of “Have I Got News For You” and “Only Fools and Horses” the one positive note about this is that for a rare occasion Elsby has sounded more positive than that horses rectum Duffers(relatively)
To try and be fair to Elsby, amid the volumes of drivel he did bring to notice the practice of parachuting, of which he was fortunately, a victim.While this sort of conduct has gone on in one form or another over the years, New Labour have not only got it off to a fine art, they have mass produced it. Our area has suffered from it particularly, Doncaster M.B.C. has Caoline Flint(all socialistsshould never forget her part in the attempted, but fortunately, unsuccessful coup against Gordon Brown) in Don Valley, and while he is a good constituency M.P. and certainly the best Labour Party leader in many years Ed Milliband was parachuted in, along with Rosie Winterton M.P. for Doncaster Central, so that’s not a bad result for any town or city, three M.P.s parachuted in to a borough by Blairs and Mandelsons party machine. So Gary while you think you may have suffered and Stoke Central lost a working class hero and gained one of Blairs charmed circle, Doncaster ended up with two ultra Blairites and personally I think Stoke ended up the better in parliamentary representation.
.
Just for you Gerald, a sample of the love of Stoke to Mandelson’s friend (and office boy). which appeared in the press yesterday.
“I AM in total agreement with Alan Lear’s letter criticising Tristram Hunt MP about his ‘stupid and easily fielded question’ in the Commons.
It beggars belief that an MP who trades on his education could not bring up a better question than the PM and Murdoch, already well aired and being investigated.
There are enough problems in Stoke-on-Trent to swamp the Prime Minister, never mind the UK in general.
What a wimp. Can we not have an MP with guts in our city?”
Gary; I hope that you will accept that whileI am not fully conversant with all of Tristram Hunts constituency and parliamentary activities, and I wasn’t aware that he was Lord Mandelsons office boy, to be fair I think he will make a far greater impression on Stoke Central and Westminster than that during his tenure of that constituency.What you may not have grasped in all your years of activity in Stoke is that your region, the West Midlands, over my time i.e. the last 50 years has always been a bastion of reactionary rightwing Labour politics(there are many other regions in the country that have similarities, but the Birmingham area has always been in the vanguard in that political area) producing such luminaries as Roy Jenkins, Roy Hattersley,Brian Walden; and in the present crop, nightmares such as John Spellar, Liam Byrne etc. Even when your area produces a good socialist that slips through the Transport House/Millbank/ Tamany Hall network like Bomber Short, it ends in disaster from a socialist point of view. So really Gary by comparison Tristram isn’t too bad and if the constituency party is anything like it will be able to keep him on the straight and narrow, so to speak, and help him to be a beacon of progress and social justice in your area, after all it brought you to the attention of the nation, and ourselves.
Btw; don’t you think it was fantastic seeing the Bullingdon Boy, Cameron, squirming like a trapped rat when asked wether he would condemn Gary Barlow(I believe he’s a Tory from your neck of the woods, isn’t he?) in the same vein as Jimmy Carr over tax avoidance schemes.