their money on the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and don’t pay tax - I think that’s an unfair society, and what we stand for is fairness.”
“If the trade union movement doesn’t stand by the young people in the front line of the ConDem attack on jobs and services we will witness a re- run of the Thatcher government’s cynical dumping of a whole generation to the scrap heap. This ideological government of millionaires, backed by big business, could not care less for those who get trampled in their dash to drive a bulldozer through our communities.”
“The deficit wasn’t caused by the trade union movement. This financial crisis was created by the recklessness and greed of the spivs and speculators from the banks and business sector. Why can’t we identify all these people that are hiding their money off-shore. Rather than running around housing estates taking money off single mothers, why not go to Jersey or the Isle of Man and get those big rich business men and women who are earning their revenue in this country but using tax avoidance to get away with not paying their dues”
Crow is a consummate showman. His appeal to many in working classes is boosted by fire-brand speeches that resonate with an audience who are naturally hostile to a Conservative government.
He may have swapped the railways for dinner parties at the Ritz but he knows how to engage a section of population who have long craved for a socialist society. His proposals for cutting the debt are warmly received, “why have we got to work to 66 years of age? How can that be? If there’s not enough work for us, then why are they asking people to work longer. If you’re asking someone to work from 65 to 66 then you’re stopping an 18 year old coming in to work. And if there isn’t enough work to go around rather than increasing the 35hr working week why not give us a 4 day 32hr week instead. The public needs to stop going along with what the media says. They keep going on about ‘we can’t afford it anymore’ - of course we can. If the top 10% in society paid an extra 2% tax we’d wipe £78bn of the national deficit.”
Bob Crow is a man of contradictions as sharp as the differing perceptions of him held by his supporters and ‘haters’. His firey approach has won him a growing membership and reputation for successfully improving the conditions of his members. The question however is whether his appeal to an audience of a few hundred thousand simply isolates them and will ultimately evolve to render them surplus to requirements as they struggle to cling to an ideology that no longer fits in the modern global economy.
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