Working class Guy Matthews contacted after Facebook post spotted
A groundbreaking – and outstandingly sweary – new pro-Labour video with a message to working-class people has gone viral, with over a million views in its first three days just on Twitter.
The video was made after Guy Matthews’ Facebook post was spotted by Simon Baker, a film-maker who has made some of Labour’s game-changing party political broadcasts (PPBs), with just a tiny bit of help from the SKWAWKBOX, which put the two in touch.
The brilliant result – intended to be the first of a series featuring genuine working-class voices talking to working-class people – is completely authentic and superbly constructed:
Film-maker Baker is looking for more working-class people with something they want to say.
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If we had had our own big screen in Huyton last Sunday, showing this, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, or S.L.Y. as I like to call him, would not have had the audience he had.
Keep it simple. Tell the Real story as this man has. In language people understand.
Some people who post here get quite angry when you reference the working class, like its a dirty word, or taking an unfair advantage, or being stuck in the past. Still, we don’t have holiday homes in the Caribbean so what would we know?
lundiel 25/05/2019 at 12:25 pm
I think you will find that the it is the context in which the expression is used that pisses them off.
I’ve always been puzzled by how ‘working class’ is defined. For instance is a teacher on £30k+ more or less middle class than a train driver on £60k+. Surely we should be concentrating on people’s social and political attitudes rather than obsessing about pigeon holing them into some arbitrary and subjective class.
There was a very substantial number of well educated, middle income people who voted for Labour in 2017. We wouldn’t have had the success that we did if they hadn’t. Although I’ve never understood their reasoning, it is an uncomfortable truth that there are a substantial number of the low paid working class who vote Tory
” it is the context in which the expression is used that pisses them off.”
It’s precisely that. Also, as you’ve pointed out, the lack of definition – so it just becomes empty sloganising which stupidly assumes that – however defined – being ‘working class’ is some mark of particular authenticity and/or virtue. It isn’t – it’s a term that has quite a range of definitions aimed at social description – a general commonality being less wealth – a situation which is entirely without virtue in and of itself (otherwise why would anyone back the Labour Party?)
As I’ve often said (and been constantly misinterpreted by those guilty of that sort of trope) – it’s just an empty prejudiced attitude – no different in essence from the public schoolboy who talks about ‘the plebs’ or (from a previous generation) the aspiring working class/middle class individuals who used the term ‘common’ to describe groups of people. Radicalism isn’t simply a case of turning the tropes of privilege and prejudice towards different objects.
All knee-jerk generalizations tend towards evil (see Farage).
The other point you make is also right – there are various ways of categorising social class – and it hasn’t got any simpler since I last looked at it in detail – but basically, it just underlines that simplification is just that – OK if you know what and why : thus we tend to fall back on the old Registrar General’s occupational definitions when we talk about ‘class’. But it doesn’t get away from the sort of marginal anomalies that you have highlighted – as well as the assumptions that just don’t hold good when you’re talking about anything other than roughly defined groups.
I suppose there’s another irritation – which is that social class structures today are held to reflect the society of 150 years ago. They don’t. The inter- and post-war years saw a significant shift in social structure, with a burgeoning of non-manual jobs – which is why many of we coffin dodgers have a connection with the working and the middle classes.
There are also issues in terms of individual biographies. I am clearly a member of the majority – the ‘middle class’. But I actually spent more time earning my corn in manual occupations than I did living off a grant in HE. I don’t think that’ particularly unusual – and in terms of security and income, our children’s experiences are clearly very varied and mixed.
I’ve laboured the point, because you can’t dodge the issue of ‘class’ – even if you have to struggle to define it clearly. In one of my previous existences, I did research, and the relationship of social class to life chances and experiences is (surprise, surprise) absolutely central.
But never, ever confuse the concepts with type-casting individual characteristics and prejudiced generalizations..
RH 25/05/2019 at 2:39 pm
A little off subject but not too far off.
I came across this podcast today which explains the ‘Preston Model’ which John McDonnell is strongly championing as a template for LAs and along the way it also covers stuff like social and worker ownership (including Banks)
The first 16: minutes covers a variety of subjects including the rise of Farage, the Brexit party and the effects of neo-liberalism. The rest of the podcast from 16:30 minutes onwards covers the ‘Preston Model’, an up and working model of how a Labour LA with vision can actually make peoples lives better and all within the bounds of EU completion legislation. This is not LA-LA Land socialism but socialism in action, in a mixed economy, making a real and quantifiable difference.
https://youtu.be/0WPatM1r48w
The Taxcast: May 2019, Edition 89 The Preston Model
“We needed a new economic model. It was obvious that we needed something new and different and radical, based upon the economic crash of 2008 which affected us quite badly. That wealth extraction, that straight-jacket that we’re in, we want to tackle by offering an alternative…So, you’re getting that virtual cycle of keeping wealth in the community and democratising the wealth as well, and democratising the economy. We are actually bringing that democracy back. And let’s compete with the big banks. If people get educated I think we could create some kind of really strong movement.”
Preston City Council Leader Matthew Brown
”I think you will find that the it is the context in which the expression is used that pisses them off.”
I think it’s your prattling on about ‘virtue signalling’ and the rest of these buzz phrases continually used by the political classes and employed by those on here what try to tell us what working class is, is what pisses people off.
And I think you’ll find it’s being told we’re ‘scared’ of a 2nd referendum , rather than being pissed off to the point of having homicidal desires because of your lot dragging out brexit is pissing people off.
That includes working class and everyone else – even fellow remainers of any class.
Oh, and nobody here remotely gives a flying fuck about your oft stated middle-class status, rh.
What pisses people off is that other people – especially those what consider themslves working class – aren’t allowed to refer to themselves as so, or make any mention to; not without your condescencion.
You think your middle class status is some sort of a badge of honour and you wear it with an overblown sense of pride.
You believe people lower down the social scale from you shouldn’t be allowed the same ‘privilege’. It doesn’t matter how others refer to the working class, you’re ALWAYS there, giving everyone the ‘benefit’ of your sneering & invariably snide remarks, whether personal or generalising, perpetually demonstrating your contempt for anyone or anything referring to the lower classes.
You’re nowt but a conceited twunt.
Toffee : the only thing I ‘sneer’ at is your sort of wild fantasies expressed in a frothing chain of incoherent bile. Your rant bears absolutely *no* relationship to what I wrote.
To claim that you are representative of ‘the working class’ is the insult to anyone who might be so called. Accepting your claim to being representative would be to label the ‘working class’ as incredibly stupid, incoherent, unable to read, incapable of making an argument devoid of knuckle-dragging insult, and full of resentment
Which is not how it is – nor in the same universe as what I actually have written.
OK – if you are incapable of understanding what is in front of you, I’m sorry – but don’t claim that such obtuseness is a feature of a whole class of people. I don’t. The only hope I have for you is that *nobody* can really be that stupid.
Take , for instance, this tiny-brain rant :
“You think your middle class status is some sort of a badge of honour and you wear it with an overblown sense of pride.”
– the *precise opposite* of *all* I’ve said about class labels – including the term ‘working class’ : they have *no* fake virtue attached to them. They are descriptions.
For fuck’s sake, do *try* to keep up and stop charging at windmills. It’s not a good look.
There you go again, dicky, pontificating your mindnumbing shite.
Dictating to me what I do & don’t understand. Just WHO the fuck are you to call me stupid and then say if I consider meself representative the working class then THEY ARE stupid?
Say that to me face to face and you’ll look pretty fucking peculiar when you’re picking your teeth out of your shite with broken fingers, bollocks.
You’re fuck-all but a (self-confessed middle class) gobshite who has no semblance of understanding your own hubris and idiocy.
‘Charging at windmills’ doesn’t make you some sort of literary genius nor eloquent in any way. Makes you look a cunt, incapable of any mastery of any subject.
Now fuck off and die screaming. Sanctimonious knobhead.
The Toffee (597) 26/05/2019 at 12:46 pm
Do you not feel that you may have some anger management issues. To be fair we’ve all had a couple of days of welcome respite because you’ve managed to keep a grip on your issues and you should be congratulated for managing to exert so much self control.
Unfortunately today you seem to be losing control of your emotions again. This is evidenced by your posts getting more and more erratic to such an extent that even you must recognise that things are getting out of hand for you.
I am getting more and more concerned for your welfare, you really should try and get some help.
🙄
Toffee –
I was going to leave it at the rolled eyes, having briefly scanned the latest rant-fest – and yawned.
But then I clocked these remarks :
“Say that to me face to face and you’ll look pretty fucking peculiar when you’re picking your teeth out of your shite with broken fingers, bollocks. …
Now fuck off and die screaming.”
None of that barminess matches any characteristics of a sane or serious Labour Party supporter or member arguing about politics.
It *would* match the profile of a Faragist troll trying to to take the piss and create a satirical profile of a Labour supporter.
(In which case – you’re confirmed sussed)
Or – you really do need to get a grip on yourself. Seriously.
I will leave it at that.
Past caring what you two imbeciles think.
You’re already aware you’ll get a rise out of me and continue to do so – especially when you’re losing the argument – and refuse to admit your shortcomings when they’ve been demonstrated and proven ad nauseam.
So fuck you, and fuck your ‘hard-won’ moral high ground. It hasn’t won you anything and won’t.
We’re leaving the eu and I hope it fucking buries the pair of yous. If we end up remaining and there’s violence resulting, I hope you’re on the receiving end because you’ll fucking well deserve it seeing as you refused to listen or consider or concede anything.
It’s EXACTLY the attitudes like what the pair of you hold that made people vote leave, but you’re too much of a pair of pig-headed arsewipes to see it.
So you can fucking burn for all’s I care.
The Toffee (597) 26/05/2019 at 3:24 pm
I rest my case.
Maybe we need to create a new class,
We could call it Those who care
There’s no need for protracted, overblown justification, we know exactly where you are coming from…planet LibDem
😩🥱
🤖😴
RH , I reccon his video pretty much sums up IMO what and who the working class are , as someone myself coming from a 2 gen welsh mining family I’d say he’s spot on , and respectfully no in depth over complex analysis by you or others holds any sway with me on this point .Re the train driver /teacher and the pay scales , that reflects the levels of responsibility , one can kill 100s by any screw up the other doesn’t , and to me both are WC , they ain’t Lords or millionaires who live off rent , but actually have a job and work for it .
rob 25/05/2019 at 10:19 pm
Dan’s definition, below, has both clarity and simplicity.
https://skwawkbox.org/2019/05/25/groundbreaking-new-labour-video-goes-viral/#comment-107024
Now that we’ve established that nearly everyone is ‘working class’ and therefor the terminology is redundant perhaps we should look at people’s social and political attitudes instead of attempting to alienate the substantial proportion of our voters who’s salaries are in the mid-range..
SteveH thanks, but maybe we should mute this debate over who or what WC is , it’s a distraction really. What is more important IMO is the content of the video and the message it conveys re the policies of what Labour can do . If like me you want /need a Corbyn lead Labour DS Govt, then whether you are WC or not is less important than looking at the policies and asking the question ” are they good for me” ?
If yes then you vote Labour ,, simple analysis to me really.
My real concern is what that bastard Farrage and the Brexit party turn up on the results today of the EU elections , very worrying. We all need to keep re-enforcing the message that only Labour and it’s policies can help the many , and not some multimillionaire stock broker and his fascist mates Yaxley Lennon.
rob –
This side debate was actually kicked off by another truly brain-dead zombie assertion about what has been previously expressed here – in the area of “whatever you say, that black is white”. My response was just an attempt at clarification about this bandying about of descriptive labels as empty slogans.
But yes – it did get in the way of the video, which is a good, succinct statement, and you are right when you say :
“whether you are WC or not is less important than looking at the policies.”
… because the Labour Party is a coalition that is not (and never was) based in a single class, even when society was more clearly defined.
Does that statement matter? Yes – because the Labour Party can’t succeed by living in a fantasy world belonging to the 19th century. The *actual* challenges are far too great for that sort of indulgence, and elections are more serious than playground games.
Get in touch please i have a few videos
You can email Steve at Skwawkbox
complaints@skwawkbox.com
Hope this helps.
Well said, Comrade Guy Matthews! We need change and the change must not include vote for the Tories or any of the neo or ultra Right! The Right wingers who continue to infest the Labour Party, especially those in the PLP need to take note as well!
As far as I’m concerned, if you’re working and need that job to pay for your house, car, bills, holidays etc, then you’re working class. End of. If you have hundreds of thousands of pounds in the bank and don’t need to work, you’re not working class, clues in the name…
Seems pretty reasonable to me Dan , but maybe that those who do have hundreds of thousands of pounds in the bank might still like the policies of Labour and vote for them all the same .
Like I said to Steve H above , if the policies are good for you then you’d vote for them , snag is we have twats like watson who again in the MSM today is pissing on the party leadership and not doing his job as DL and his statement that he’d support Corbyn is total bollocks , he continues in muddying the waters in his deliberate efforts to stop a DS Corbyn Govt .
The problem is that Labour increasingly projects itself as the party of the status quo. For instance former left-winger John McDonnell’s apoplexy over a No Deal Brexit on TV today cheerfully disregarded that “No Deal” is actually the only way for a Corbyn-led Labour government to regain real freedom over public ownership and industrial spending, and freedom to reverse the marketization of economic sectors protected by EU law.
And Labour’s hopes of a programme of anti-austerity will be dashed if corporations and wealthy individuals are able instantly take their money out of the country under the EU Free Movement of Capital, destabilising the Labour government and prompting a Syriza-style capitulation. The right of the well-to-do to the Free Movement of Capital drives a coach and horses through any programme of massive public works and anti-austerity, whether Keynesian, socialist or something in between.
The drift towards Labour and moreover the Labour Left accepting capitalism is not matched by any theoretical justification for why this would be a good thing – unlike in the 1950s with the work of Tony Crosland and other ‘revisionists’. Indeed the Banking Crisis 2007-8 and ensuing decade of austerity provide very good reasons for the Labour Left to reject relegating itself to the management of capitalism.
Yet the Jeremy fan club, diminishing somewhat but as uncritical as ever, doesn’t seem aware (or doesn’t care) that Labour is increasingly coming across as the party which doesn’t actually want to change anything very much. This serves to make our Party much the same as the others – not least from the perspective of working class voters.
Danny 26/05/2019 at 2:52 pm
Labour is increasingly coming across as the party which doesn’t actually want to change anything very much.
On the contrary the 2017 GE Manifesto was very well received by both the members and voters.
Did you support the 2017 manifesto?
Let’s condense that.
What matters isn’t moving forward in terms of progressive politics, or even getting beyond the dead end sell-out navigated by Blair.
What matters is preserving in aspic a definition of ‘leftism’ that is a gift to the Tories and avoids any chance of Labour having to face the dilemmas of actual power – because it has no chance of creating the necessary electoral assent.
”What matters is preserving in aspic a definition of ‘leftism’ that is a gift to the Tories and avoids any chance of Labour having to face the dilemmas of actual power – because it has no chance of creating the necessary electoral assent.”
Typical fucking backsliding bliarite.
Only in the last week or so since you were asking: ‘Since when did kowtowing to the right do any good?’