Keir Starmer has said that those who are on sickness benefit should be looking for work. Its the 190th anniversary of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act that gave us the Workhouse. Here people who were unable to provide for themselves were given somewhere to stay and basic food in return for routine work. The Act was passed not by a Tory Government but by a Whig (later Liberal) one.
Starmer’s comments appear to be in the same area. There is dignity in labour, a long held labour movement perspective. At work you can join a union, organise and start to change things. However if you are unable health wise to work-think long COVID- that just doesnt work.
The Chartists in the 1830s and 1840s had a slogan for the rich who lived well,often not from their own labour but from exploiting others, while those who worked could not afford to eat.
It came from the New Testament but it resonates in the world of Keir Starmer still:
‘he that does not work, neither shall he eat’
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