A few extracts of Loach’s masterpiece documentary, The Spirit of ’45.
It’s absolutely necessary to understand what the construction of the Welfare State meant, to really understand what its dismantling means.
“Well, I think we were hijacked. The working class organisations were hijacked by the middle class, basically…Especially the Labour Party. The Labour party was a working-class organisation at one time. In no way, shape or form, can you call the Labour-party a working-class organisation any more. The working-class haven’t got any big organisations that can take the establishment on.”
“They don’t realise that strength they’ve got., do they? They don’t realise the power they’ve got. The working-class can change the whole history. As quick as….as quick as that. They just don’t realise. They haven’t grasped it.”
“I’m absolutely convinced that the older generation, rather than being a burden on society, has got an absolute duty to come forward and join with young people and talk to them and explain. I say the pensioners, turn off the television, take their plugs put of their ears, and start talking about what was the vision in 1945. What did we want? How did we see it progressing? What did it mean, “from the cradle to the grave?”What did it mean to have common ownership, and for sharing and communities? What does it mean?Start to rebuild that understanding of what sort of life we want.”
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