It's always Hitler, isn't it?
The latest variation on that theme is, "You wouldn't put up a statue of Hitler in Manchester, so why put up a statue of Engels?"
Well, Hitler never lived in Manchester. Engels did.
Many monstrous figures from this country's past are prominently remembered on its streets and in its public places, and why not?
There is no more argument against a statue of Engels in Manchester than there was for Rhodes Must Fall.
"Would we tolerate Nazi propaganda in Manchester?" We ought to be more concerned about Nazi propaganda in Ukraine, whence this statue has come.
The comparison with Engels is any case not Hitler, but Nietzsche, and there are certainly statues of him in the places with which he was associated.
The comparison with Hitler would presumably be Stalin, and there are at least two streets in Britain named after him, both of them falling under Conservative-led local authorities in the South of England.
I should have to check, but I very much doubt that either Chatham or Colchester has ever had so much as an old-fashioned right-wing Labour council.
Never mind a Soviet fellow-travelling one in the immediate post-War period when Colchester presumably erected its Stalin Road, and Chatham its Stalin Avenue.
Again, why not?
After all, we fought a war, we fought the War, not only with him, but essentially for him, and it was his army that actually won it.
No good purpose would be served, but many bad ones would be, if we were ever to forget those facts.
Or if we were ever to forget the connection between Engels and Britain in general, and Manchester in particular.
The latest variation on that theme is, "You wouldn't put up a statue of Hitler in Manchester, so why put up a statue of Engels?"
Well, Hitler never lived in Manchester. Engels did.
Many monstrous figures from this country's past are prominently remembered on its streets and in its public places, and why not?
There is no more argument against a statue of Engels in Manchester than there was for Rhodes Must Fall.
"Would we tolerate Nazi propaganda in Manchester?" We ought to be more concerned about Nazi propaganda in Ukraine, whence this statue has come.
The comparison with Engels is any case not Hitler, but Nietzsche, and there are certainly statues of him in the places with which he was associated.
The comparison with Hitler would presumably be Stalin, and there are at least two streets in Britain named after him, both of them falling under Conservative-led local authorities in the South of England.
I should have to check, but I very much doubt that either Chatham or Colchester has ever had so much as an old-fashioned right-wing Labour council.
Never mind a Soviet fellow-travelling one in the immediate post-War period when Colchester presumably erected its Stalin Road, and Chatham its Stalin Avenue.
Again, why not?
After all, we fought a war, we fought the War, not only with him, but essentially for him, and it was his army that actually won it.
No good purpose would be served, but many bad ones would be, if we were ever to forget those facts.
Or if we were ever to forget the connection between Engels and Britain in general, and Manchester in particular.
The cleverest Shadow Cabinet member we don't have.
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