PFR
No intention in getting involved in this thread while somewhat disturbing abuse is the only response to criticisms of the Labour leader
If you think a worried young woman sitting on a bus surrounded by a crowd of estate lads has anything to do with her being a socialist thinker, I suggest you might get out more
I lived on one of the roughest overspill estates in Britain - Kirkby; for several years bus drivers refused to drive ot there after nine o clock at night because of the behaviour of the estate lads
I would rather try to hitch home up the East Lancs coming home from the pictures rather than risk the twenty minutes bus journey and I was working on the docks - that a young woman travelling alone might be disturbed is hardly contempt for the working class
Putting this behaviour down to Socialist thinkers really does seem to take you a step even further than "Santa, the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy"

One of my first involvements in active politics (even before I became involved in Folk Song) was to spend a week at a summer school in Hastings listening to magnificent tutors such as Ranji Palme Dutt, E P THomson and Raphael Samuels, alongside trades unionionists like Jimmy Reid
They turned out to be great drinking companions for an apprentice electrician, after the days work was over

This anti-intellectualism has proved the main stumbling block to workers progress -
My merchant Seaman grandfather knew that as a young sailor when he helped set up branches of The Workers Education Association on the ships he worked on
His favourite saying was "Why should the well off have all the knowledge"
I still cringe when I hear people I respect and like say "I've never read a book in my life and it never did me any harm" - it's that type of attitude which keeps us where we are

Back to pleasanter territory, I think
Jim
Jim