The introduction to E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class (1963) contains a still much quoted passage:
I am seeking to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the ‘obsolete’ handloom weaver,the ‘utopian’ artisan and even the deluded follower of Joanna Southcott from the enormous condecension of posterity’
According to Patrick Maguire (Times 8th March) the passage needs to be updated to take account of more modern working class heroes like Keir Starmer
‘to rescue the toolmaker, the carer and kids in struggling comprehensives from the enormous condecension of politics’
Nothing wrong with that although one does wonder if Keir has mentioned it to Rachel Reeves, We might note however that social being determines consciousness and so Barrister & former DPP Starmer is not working class. His mission at best will be a Fabian top down affair whereas E P Thompson was firmly focused on history from below
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