She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter

Do you know what the most energising aspect in the wake of Thatcher's death has been - whether it's overly-vocal protests (guilty on Facebook I know) or discreet and well deployed grumbles - that anyone who was there and lived through the toxic politics and nuclear threat of the Thatcher era, still hasn't forgotten the spiteful, pig-headed, bully boy backstabbing and squalid hypocrisy of her and the shape-shifting collection of corrupt cronies supporting: homophobia and racism/apartheid, the Hillsborough cover up, poll tax, selling off nationalised industries (diverting public money in to private pockets), choking the unions and union representation, US missiles at British bases, Northern Ireland, pit closures, inner city riots, the managed decline of northern towns.

When the Sun , the Mail,  right wing sympathisers and Tories wave the Broken Britain flag - never forget who broke it... 

Or how for all the current Tory soft-soaping, backsliding, historical repositioning and rewriting, glorification and chin-stroking - it was her own party, who after twelve years of an increasingly throttling clench on the country and the Cabinet - were the ones who gathered together to eject her Caesar style in 91. That, is her legacy

There'll be no retrospective tune echoing my thoughts on the most poisonous of British politicians - instead I'll direct you to the Thee Faction's new single Better Than Wages - and some smartly considered reasoning. The full post is here...

A rabid class warrior has died. The struggle continues. We don’t take moral exception to the celebrations. We just note that her death will do little, if anything, to loosen up the grip of bourgeois hegemony. In fact, if the hagiographical tributes the TV news is showing us are anything to go by, it’s a splendid opportunity for the ruling class to reinstall her as the postergirl of British capitalism. Which is very disappointing. So we need to redouble our efforts. 

We celebrate everyone who stood up to her. Those who refused to believe the lies about apartheid, the lies about trades’ unions, the lies about ‘freedom’, the lies about selling off our industry and our housing stock. Those who told her she was wrong in her careful imbalancing of the tax system – whether income or community. We also honour her victims: those who didn’t make it, and those who weren’t strong enough for the new robust liberal individualism she forced on us all. Many of us retreated into traditional ties of solidarity, but any project designed to atomize society is going to leave a lot of people isolated. That’s the point, of course. United we stand, and they knew that. 

Thatcher’s gone. But not forgotten. Let’s focus on what we’re fighting for. Onward.