• RedClouds@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    2 months ago

    We’re a frugal people, only recently arrived at wealth, and then mostly in the southeast of England

    Not from England here, but this reads as either a completely disingenuous, or a real testament to how terrible colonialism and capitalism really is.

    You’re telling me that the foremost experts on colonialism, the ones that have stolen the most from the world throughout history ( Okay, the United States has taken so much that they’ve probably surpassed England hand-over-fist by now, but you know what I mean) Was considered a poor nation up until like 60 years ago?

    I know the whole article is about not rinsing your soapy dishes, but I just can’t get off of this idea that either people in England think that they are actually modest, or all their colonialism and Imperialism did fuck all for so many people, that why are they not all communists by observing the overwhelming evidence by now?

    This is more confusing than anything.

    • OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml
      0·
      2 months ago

      Two things.

      1. Think of the colonial UK as an early model for the US. Yes, a small number of people got fantastically wealthy but they did so at the expense of the entire world, including most of the people in the UK. However, it was much more lopsided than the US. There was no boomer phase where everyone assumed it was their birth right to have a large house with a garden. Country poverty and city slums were normal. Colonialism has always been about sending your poor to die in wars, as part of oppressing other countries.
      2. World war ii wiped out the UK finances. The empire collapsed, and it dropped from being a declining world super power to the “sick man of Europe”.

      Even before WWII, where do you think Marx lived when he was writing? For much of his life he was in London, and the poverty around him informed his writing.