Jerusalem - The unofficial anthem of SOCIALISM.

And did those feet in ancient time, 
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,

Shine forth upon our clouded hills? 
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England's green and pleasant Land.

 Fifty eight years go I had a marvellous history teacher. A bluff Yorkshireman by the name of Joe Curtis. Amongst other things that I fondly remember about him was one day when  he walked into the classroom, with his flowing gown and shouted out "Question for you laddies (it was a boys only ancient English grammar school) - who in here is working class". One other and myself, out of thirty two boys, slowly, and with an embarrassed look around to see how many other were doing it, raised our hands. He wasn't interested in us two but went about the business of demolishing the other thirty by picking on them one by one and saying "Does your father work boy" - there was usually a response such as, "Yes sir" to which Joe immediately replied "Well then stick your hand up laddie - Your father works".

One boy said that his father was a lawyer and that they were  not working class. So Joe said "Does he sit on his backside all day, doing nothing Boy?.  "No sir he works hard".  "Ah I see, but you do agree that he works" -- "Yes sir", was the response. "Then raise your hand boy he works" barked Joe who by now was in fine form taking on everybody who didn't raise their hands.

 On another occasion we were studying William Blake and he swiftly moved onto discussing "Jerusalem". "Anyone of the opinion that this is a hymn? Most of the class raise their hands. "Yes a lot of people would agree with that, and I'm not saying that you are wrong". However, some clergy in the Church of England, according to the BBC TV programme Jerusalem: An Anthem for England, have said that the song is not technically a hymn as it is not a prayer to God (which they claim hymns always are, though many counter-examples appear in any hymnal).^] Consequently, it is not sung in some churches in England
"The line about "these dark Satanic mills" interests me, Anyone in class know what they are*. This was my big chance so I plucked up the courage, fearing a considerable put down from Joe would embarrass me, " Yes I do sir. When my mother was a girl starting at fourteen years of age she worked in Bliss's tweed mill in Chipping Norton (which as an aside are now luxury flats) 

By Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12494290

 I have photographs of her working in the mill somewhere, and she worked long hours, for little pay in unsafe conditions with looms whirring and the air full of fibre dust." I was taken aback when Joe replied,"You'll do alright laddie(he was wrong) admitting to being working class and having a mother and father who are workers. At least you are honest and not ashamed off where you have come from."

 Unfortunately he was wrong again because having tried to be honest and truthful, all of my life, like others before me, it does get you into BIG trouble because a lot of people do not want to know the truth. But thanks Joe you rescued me from oblivion and became my mentor and ever since because of him politics and history have been my passions. He also used a truth that is oh so obvious today when he once said, "History is not only a record of the past but a blueprint of the future"

 And here and now, almost 100 years from when my dear mother worked in the mill AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Workers in the UNITED KINGDOM are still being low paid and working long hours on zero hours contracts in rotten conditions. Whether it be in an Amazon warehouse, delivering parcels, working in a decaying public sector where our services have been privatised and all the work is contracted out to low paid staff working for multi nationals in the neoliberal economy. Neo liberalism is the latest ISM to destroy lives, but unlike the others has crept up on us surreptitiously at the touch of the masters hands. And the best definition of neoliberalism that I have seen was written by Seamus Clarke who wrote:-

“The essence of neoliberalism can be reduced to the following: government should be used exclusively to help big business and the wealthy with tax cuts, subsidies, privatizations, anti-labour laws, etc., while all government programs that help working and poor people should be eliminated. It’s really that simple.”

 Why has a whole generation allowed this? Have they forgotten about TRADE UNIONS, and the protection that they provide, for heavens sake?  I have written previously about the hardships of going on strike.

 Anyway back to the song Jerusalem (the city of is another sad story which is being played out in front of us and the British government and those Labour MP's  who voted to  bomb Iraq and Libya are sat on their arses and doing nothing to sort out the terrible situation there where the Israelis are grabbing Palestinian land and calling it their capital, in contravention of UN resolutions). Words by

Blake and music written by an ardent socialist HOLST make a heady mixture and I cringe when I hear it played at showbiz extravaganzas held by the Saxe Coburg variety act. It was used as a campaign slogan by the Labour Party in the 1945 general election; Clement Attleesaid they would build "a new Jerusalem". And it is sung annually at The Labour Party conference. With a Corbyn government we shall be a bloody sight nearer to building THE JERUSALEM that has so far eluded us all.

I include the Boult version as he  knew Holst and was disposed toward the left.

*
Extract from wiki: The phrase "dark Satanic Mills", which entered the English language from this poem, is often interpreted as referring to the early Industrial Revolutionand its destruction of nature and human relationships.This view has been linked to the fate of the Albion Flour Millsin Southwark, the first major factory in London. This rotary steam-powered flour mill by Matthew Boulton and James Wattcould produce 6,000 bushelsof flour per week.
The factory could have driven independent traditional millers out of business, but it was destroyed in 1791 by fire, perhaps deliberately. London's independent millers celebrated with placards reading, "Success to the mills of Albionbut no Albion Mills." Opponents referred to the factory as satanic, and accused its owners of adulterating flour and using cheap imports at the expense of British producers. A contemporary illustration of the fire shows a devilsquatting on the building. The mills were a short distance from Blake's home.
Blake's phrase resonates with a broader theme in his works, what he envisioned as a physically and spiritually repressiveideology based on a quantified reality. Blake saw the cotton millsand collieriesof the period as a mechanism for the enslavement of millions, but the concepts underpinning the works had a wider application