The inability of the left to take ownership over the campaign against the European Union compared to the situation in the mid-1970s – when even Tony Benn at times veered perilously close to Powellite nativism – was obvious. For all the importance of the second-wave feminist and anti-racist critiques of the archetypal socialist agent as cloth cap-wearing miners or steelworkers, it is now clear that the trade union ‘Broad Left’ of the postwar decades was a vital defensive bulwark of the working class whose absence is sorely felt. Ultimately for the workplace organiser the fluffy distractions of party politics and the latest fad issues of the day do not matter. Into the eighties, Sivanandan became concerned by the co-optation of legitimate identity-based claims away from socialist coalitional politics and into individualised and culturalist cul-de-sacs.

The petty bourgeoisie — the insecure class between the working class and the bourgeoisie — is hugely significant within global politics. State-authorised multiculturalism was accompanied by imperialist warmongering and intensifying state racism, but political elites were quick to blame enduring societal discontent on excessive ‘tolerance’, and the failings of ‘progressive’ neoliberalism were ascribed to the left. Evans does a terrific job of helping us break out of classic class schemas that are either too abstract to help practical political interventions or have not kept up to date with the evolving and complex developments in the formation of classes in Britain. Evans himself mentions (though he disagrees with it) that a majority of people in Britain identify themselves as working class.Evans believes the left should revisit classical libertarian concern for individual freedoms, like free speech, and ditch the politics of privilege he suggests has produced ‘unhinged modes of human interaction’. How dedicated to the slow building of a workplace union would a NPB member be if they really believe they will only be working at that cafe temporarily, that a better job (that they are qualified for) is awaiting them?

A brilliant examination of the life and ideology of the petty bourgeoisie, the silent majority of ‘normal people’ whose safe, suburban, newbuild lifestyle belies their huge political influence and violent history. As always, just don’t consider it in isolation — it must be synthesized with other, more globally minded paradigms. I suspect that Evans does not delve into issues of nationality because of his stated hostility toward identity politics - a fair stance given liberalism’s successful co-optation of potential sources of genuine radicalism (race in particular) into toothless, individualized points of interpersonal grievance. In this way, top-down nationalisation of industries is not satisfactory, and neither is a retreat to isolated self-employment.A deep and vital look at who and what constitutes the 'middle classes', what makes them different to the proletariat and bourgeoisie, and how they've become one of the most powerful blocs in modern British politics. To be sure, “the left” is used loosely in common parlance, on the assumption that any audience on social media or in person is likely to understand what we mean.

The old working-class habitus with its strong associational cultures of industrial labour has been hollowed out. Drawing on a mixture of political theory and personal experiences from his hometown of Porthcawl, he carefully traces their historical development since the Industrial Revolution, discusses their key features and behaviours, and finally compares their differing positions with regards to the case study areas of education and housing. Over the course of the book, he gradually reveals that – despite some major differences – the two petty bourgeoisies are in fact remarkably similar. Perhaps that isn’t surprising, particularly in the context of the eclipse of the 20 th century workers’ movement.Thankfully, there are aspects of the IWW’s organising model that are suited to some of the issues raised. Class is all too often viewed in solely cultural and aesthetic terms, such as having a regional accent or having a great-grandparent who worked in a mine. Downplaying the challenges posed by neoliberal class segmentation, Wood contended that white-collar workers are, by virtue of their waged-labour, straightforwardly part of a diversified proletariat.