A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petite Bourgeoisie

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And as Sheila Rowbotham’s memoirs highlight, it was not at all the case that the militant class struggles of the 1960s–70s were entirely cut off from the new social movements. The social base of Corbynism was the young, down-and-out graduates whose social mobility towards the PMC they they were promised during the Blair bubble had been popped and then terminated by austerity. For Evans, Corbynism was so thoroughly imbued with the narrow parti pris of the new petty bourgeoisie that it can be conceptualised ‘as part of the process of [inter-class] distinction, rather than as a genuine socialism or fundamental polarisation towards the working class. Even the working class in the imperial core *does* have something to lose — the massive privilege and power that simply being a part of the empire affords us. The idea was that, in an era of industrial working class retreat, an alliance must be brokered between the trade unions – the major force neglected in Evans’ account of Corbynism – and intermediate social classes.

Though the project unfortunately derailed, for reasons that can be found in this piece by FW Pete Davies, it is a model that could be adapted and practiced in different circumstances. 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. An intriguing, very political, and unexpectedly personal book for those who are obsessed with class and the global failures of the left. Evans’ schema is both too neat and impressionistic, but it captures the essence of the post-Blairite reality.

The concerns of locals, more frequently than gentrification or rent hikes, were about ‘anti-social behaviour’ – that punitive canard introduced by Blair. It shows how the rise of home ownership, small landlordism and radical changes to the world of work have increasingly inculcated values of petite-bourgeois individualism; how popular culture has promoted and reproduced values of aspiration and conspicuous consumption that militate against socialist organizing; and, most importantly, what the unstoppable rise of the petit-bourgeoisie means for the left. Also I think it overstates the role education (especially as something like 40% of youngsters go on to university) and of older folks and trades owning (or having a mortgage on) a house.

In the early twentieth century, the petit bourgeoisie was supplemented by new “clerical white collar” workers, created to manage the increasingly globalised capitalism and to work in the State bureaucracy.

While very much targeted at the social democratic left who have seemingly abandoned the working class, it is still informative and eye-opening for those on the more revolutionary side of left politics. Corbyn himself was justly critical of the EU’s ‘failed neoliberal policies’, but in the 2019 general election prioritised a sham party unity at the expense of both his own principles and political credibility. The North America-based IWW Freelance Journalists Union is a similar project aiming to unite isolated workers, and there are conversations in UK and Ireland to form an organisation by and for freelance artists. The author recommends that the new petty bourgeoisie abandon social mobility, to dispense with its obsessive focus on climbing the career ladder, to embrace and accept downward social mobility, to realise one can have an identity and meaning without a "career", and that there is nothing wrong with staying rooted and not leaving your small town. The historic ties in question refer, of course, to colonialism, and in lieu of addressing unequal exchange, the pamphlet in some senses anticipated the Tories’ post-Brexit economic fantasy of ‘Empire 2.