Helpful votes received on reviews:
60% (5,912 of 9,841)
Location: London United Kingdom
In My Own Words:
Medical librarian, member of the University and College Union; father of four, grandfather of one. Author: The EU - bad for Britain; Britain, Italy, Germany and the Spanish civil war; Reg Birch - engineer, trade unionist, communist.
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Pringle and Clarke have written a very useful survey of trade union activity in Russia, China and Vietnam. They show how the workers of those countries, are organising to fight for better pay and conditions. They note, "under Stalin ... soviet workers' resistance to arbitrary, incompetent or unjust management remained constant and pervasive ... strikes ... were usually settled in the traditional soviet way, with immediate concessions designed to placate and isolate the striking workers ..." The authors observe, "Although the principal barrier to effective trade union representation in all three countries is the weakness of primary organisations and their close… Read more
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
This fascinating survey is based on a two-and-a-half year research project, based at London University's Institute of Historical Research. It looks at history as taught in 20th-century England's state schools, involving the history of education and the history of culture. History as a subject has often suffered at the hands of our rulers. For example, Blair told the US Congress, "There has never been a time when ... a study of history provides so little instruction for our present day." This was true of himself. Kenneth Clarke abandoned Baker's commitment to ensure history was compulsory till the age of 16. `Clarke's deeply unfortunate decision' wrecked the plan of an… Read more
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
This excellent book looks at how huge and growing inequality affects Britain's economy. It complements Richard Wilkinson's splendid The spirit level, which looks at inequality's moral and social effects. Since 1980, Britain has had three recessions, 1980-81, 1990-91 and 2008-09, in which output fell by 4.7 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 6.4 per cent. These crises resulted from worsening relations between the classes: Thatcher's attack on the working class cut wages, causing a fall in demand. Inequality is not the cause of the crisis: it is an effect of the current state of the class struggle. As two IMF economists, Michael Kumhof and Romain Rancière,… Read more
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