And with a large Catholic population. So, of course, North Rhine-Westphalia is the Social Democratic heartland whence has come the beginning of the popular revolt against European federalism. After all, the Attlee Government's reason for rejecting the European Coal and Steel Community as “the blueprint for a federal state” was that “the Durham miners would never wear it”. The real opposition has always and only come from the social democratic heartlands, often largely Catholic.
North Rhine-Westphalia was also where popular demand saved the grammar schools, just as they were restored by popular demand, as soon as the Berlin Wall came down, in what is still the very left-wing former East Germany. Again, of course. Ministerial defence of the grammar schools over here came from “Red Ellen” Wilkinson of the Jarrow Crusade, and from George Tomlinson. Their academic defence came from Sidney Webb, author of the old Clause IV, and from R H Tawney. Their vigorous practical defence, not least against Thatcher, came from Labour councillors and activists around the country, notably in Lancashire, and also in Kent, where their protection was long spearheaded by Eric Hammond.
Whereas it was Margaret Thatcher who, as Education Secretary, closed so many grammar schools that there were not enough left at the end for her record ever to be equalled. It was Margaret Thatcher, who, as Prime Minister, replaced O-levels with GCSEs, the one thing, above all others, for which my entire generation must never, ever forgive either her or her party. Between 1979 and 1997, not a single grammar school re-opened. Not one. And yes, I do mean the same Margaret Thatcher who signed the Single European Act, a key weapon in her war to ensure that no part of Britain could any longer be called “the Land of Coal and Steel”.
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Don't forget Laurent Fabius.
ReplyDeleteWho could? It was when half of the Socialist Party - not the Communist Party or other sectarians, and not the Right - took against the EU Constitution, that that document was defeated in a referendum.
ReplyDeleteAnd Westphalia was also one of the most anti-Nazi areas of Germany, along with "Red Berlin." And yet some people continue to claim that fascism is a working-class phenomenon! My guess is that they are largely the same people who also think monarchies are inherently fascist.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly are.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the more Catholic an area was, the less likely it was to vote Nazi, without any exception whatever.