Kmflett's Blog

E P THOMPSON & THE MAKING OF THE CHINESE WORKING CLASS

We are in another moment of enhanced Sinophobia so the opening paragraphs of a piece on the Making of the Chinese working class which uses, in part, E P Thompson’s 1963 as a frame of reference is worth reading. It appeared in a recent issue of New Left Review.

Thompson wrote in the Preface to the Making, ’causes that were lost in England might, in Asia or Africa, yet be won’. Discuss…

One way to understand the remarkable political and economic transformations of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to the present is to take Edward Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class as the starting point. Thompson’s classic study captures vividly the emergence of a working-class consciousness in England during the crucial years between 1780 and 1832, even as he places his narrative in a much longer history. As the paradigmatic proletariat in the initial stages of industrial capitalism in the West, the English working class offers an ideal lens for examining the emergence of another proletariat of global significance on the opposite edge of the Eurasian landmass, one that is in many respects emblematic of capitalism’s latest stage: the Chinese working class.footnote¹

While Thompson’s focus is the evolving class consciousness of the English worker, he frames his analysis in terms of the Enclosure Movement, dating to the late fifteenth century, which dispossessed peasants of their land and left them with no option but to sell their labour. In China, too, a dispossession of peasantry is occurring that is often referred to as a New Enclosure Movement (xin quandi yundong). However, the two differ notably in their temporal and spatial scope. Processes that took place over a period of several centuries in England are being telescoped into just three decades in China. What is more, they are taking place in the opposite order: the initial commodification of industrial labour in the 1990s that gave rise to China’s gleaming skylines was accompanied by a seemingly inexhaustible stream of migrant labourers into cities even without the large-scale commodification of rural land. Why, then, dispossess a peasantry that has already submitted to capital voluntarily—that is, under economic duress, obviating the need to resort to forcible dislocation?

New Left Review 151 Jan/Feb 2025

Teemu Ruskola, The Making of the Chinese Working Class, NLR 151, January–February 2025

2025 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Pre-Season. Easter Update: take care out there

16th April

Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has issued an Easter update after the 2025 Beard, Shorts and Sandals Pre-Season was declared open on 9^th April.

After a period of settled and sunny weather for most the Easter picture is more mixed. The Pre-Season will remain open with the advice to ‘take care out there’

The campaigners say that it is far from the earliest start to the pre-season in recent years. The 2016 pre-season opened on 13^th March

In the Pre-Season the framework of guidelines for appropriate Beard, Shorts and Sandals deportment are relaxed.

The decision to open the Pre-Season was taken after a careful review of the Met Office weather forecasts and will be reviewed again on Easter Monday.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the Beard, Shorts and Sandals season has been a major influence on summer fashions in recent times and we expect the 2025 season to be no different. Easter is a good time to flaunt the beard, shorts and sandals but due to a mixed weather picture we are urging a degree of caution

Liz Truss to launch new ‘free speech’ social network to counter suppression of her views (details on all media)

Liz Truss is reportedly launching a new ‘free speech’ network in the summer mirrored on the loss making mouthpiece of the Orange Man Trump Social.

Truss claims her views are being  ‘suppressed’ which is surprising as she appears regularly across a wide range of media. On Twitter on Monday she was to be found welcoming the idea of setting up Salvadoran torture gulags in Britain for example.

On Tuesday she had an opinion piece in the Telegraph

Its true her far right ideas are widely derided and ignored so its fair to say that her free speech channel while heavy on promoting Liz Truss ‘right about everything’ and a variety of conspiracy theories will rigorously block critics

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/15/liz-truss-to-launch-uncensored-social-network-to-counter-mainstream-media?CMP=share_btn_url

Beard Liberation Front

15^th April

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

Sir James Anderson, Bob Harris, Declan Rice & Michael Rosen face Beard Off Final vote for Beard of Spring 2025

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with two preliminary Close Shave rounds now complete the four contenders for Beard of Spring 2025 are now in place.

Veteran broadcaster ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and newly knighted cricketer Sir James Anderson won the first Close Shave vote. Broadcaster and Author Michael Rosen and Arsenal footballer Declan Ric won the second Close Shave round of voting

The list comprises a range of people who have worn a beard during the first quarter of the year, not necessarily full-time, and whose facial hair has had a positive public impact.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said,  we know there will be those who claim that some of the final four don’t have a beard. However they have all passed the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western test which distinguishes between stubble and a beard

There have been two Close Shave Rounds with the highest and second placed from both going to a Final Beard Off vote.  The winner will be announced on Easter Saturday.

Beard of Spring 2025 shortlist

Michael Rosen, author, broadcaster, Arsenal fan

Mikel Arteta, Arsenal manager

Declan Rice, Arsenal footballer

Richard Thompson, musician

Tommy Fleetwood, golfer

Daniel Norcross, cricket commentator

Bob Harris, broadcaster

Sir Jimmy Anderson, cricketer

Farage shows ignorance of Keir Hardie writing in the S*n

Nigel Farage had an opinion piece in the S*n on 15^th April. There is no evidence that Farage ever writes anything so its reasonable to assume that this is either the work of a Reform PR person or ghosted by a S*n journalist who has written down a series of one line comments Farage has made.

The real significance of the piece is not Farage’s blather but the fact that Murdoch clearly sees Reform as being an electoral runner and may well be considering backing it over the Tories

As for the blather Farage claims Keir Hardie would be turning in his grave at the Starmer Government. Hardie a pacifist will have been turning in his grave at every Labour Government one suspects.

Farage of course knows nothing about Keir Hardie (he may have noticed the beard). Hardie no doubt was keen to address working-class interests in the Midlands and North- mentioned because this is where Farage thinks he can win seats. In fact Hardie, a Scot, was MP for West Ham in London and then Merthyr in South Wales.

Farage of course was writing in the S*n on the anniversary of Hillsborough. Not a football person perhaps he didn’t know. More likely he did and the self styled man of the people just didn’t care.

Starmer’s government has hit the very communities across the Midlands and the North that Keir Hardie set out to serve.

Farage Sun 15^th April 2025

Karl Marx was in poor health for much of the later decades of his life. Advice was sought from Engels Manchester physician Dr Gumpert. Engels however offered his own views which essentially involved exercise.

While Marx did walk, Engels thought he should do more, and sent him the following guidelines at Easter 1870. After he retired and moved to North London Engels frequently walked on nearby Hampstead Heath and encouraged Marx to join him

In the meantime , I suggest you try taking  strenuous walk s — 3 – 4 h o u r s
together — for several consecutive days   and , WEATHER PERMITTING, walk
at least 1-2 hours daily, a d then every week such a long walk at
least 1-2 times

Engels to Marx 15th April 1870

There would be less violence in Britain’s prisons if Nayib Bukele was in charge

Liz Truss Twitter 22.40 UK Time 14th April 2025

Trump’s economic policy is from the gilded age (1870-1900s) when the US had tariffs and little tax. However in the last 112 years some things in the world economy have changed quite a bit…

Below is a brief memoir of the Craft 100 Beer Festival held as Easter 2016 (24-28^th March). It was held at then then Craft Beer pub near Clapham North station (the Craft Beer Co still has a number of excellent pubs across London).

The festival was held in the bar of the pub and in a Marquee at the back. Several points to note nine years on. Firstly there were 100 beers of which 80 were cask and 20 keg. I suspect that in 2025 there would be less cask and more keg, albeit a fair bit of that keykeg. Secondly a number of breweries focused on that festival such as Beavertown and Brixton are no longer independent(both owned by Heineken)

On Thursday Megan and myself ventured Sarf to Clapham. The Craft 100 was again running at the Craft in Clapham.

These are always well organised events and this year was no exception. It was busy but there was no issue getting served and the decision (at last) to serve in thirds (as well as halves and pints) made a huge difference.  Interesting beers could be sampled in greater numbers and in my view a third of Even More Jesus (cask 11.4%) is considerably more enjoyable than a half.

The range as always was exceptional and at the end of the night I realised I hadn’t sampled one keg beer. So is it right that more interesting beers are now more often to be found on keg than cask? Hmmm.