Well said, Susan, the third paragraph especially. But you had a leg-up in recognising them as human beings; partly through your own socially mixed background, and partly no doubt because of your calling.

Now I wonder, how many of the so-called Democrats in the US, or even those further left of them, or how many of the so-called socialists or Labourites in the UK would agree with all of that at anything other than an intellectual level...

Logic says that these people are as you say. But it's heart that accepts them as such.