Communicating Power
Dear Editors
I read Mike Foster’s article, ‘Proper Gander — Grander Designs’, which appeared in the July edition of the Socialist Standard with interest. The point about Chatsworth House being built to ‘communicate power’ resonates with me as Derbyshire County Council’s libraries have been used to deliver a dubiously named ‘community membership pass’, which promises free entry for two adults and six children.
As a library assistant for Derbyshire Libraries, I can’t help but feel that we’ve been used in a publicity stunt to maintain the duke’s prestige at his ducal seat. The booking and issuing of the tickets, managing waiting lists, taking numerous enquiries and calls each day have fallen on us when we’re already stretched thin. The bureaucracy that this one scheme has created is staggering.
Derbyshire has some affluent areas, but there are a lot of economically deprived areas. I find it hard to act as a ticketing agent for a rich duke whilst many of the people who use my library are finding it difficult to survive in the current system. I’ve served families with children who are struggling with reading at school, and it’s a joy to see them thrive after getting hooked by the right book. Another customer is living in mould-riddled rental housing and relies on using our free PCs to find a better place whilst having a sympathetic ear to talk to. That is the bread and butter of my job — not ticket admin for a duke.
On 17th July, I read on BBC News that schools and libraries will facilitate Queen Camilla’s birthday book giveaway. Not right away, of course, but at Christmas. We can never expect a queen or a duke to understand the day to day lives of ordinary, working people. Nor will they act in our interests because that would clash with their interests as the upper class. Their paltry attempts at championing literacy are purely for public relations purposes. It’s an insult.
We’re meant to doff our caps like serfs when nobles and royals offer us scraps whilst offloading the admin on to overstretched public services. I won’t wax lyrical about libraries being used to soften the image of aristocrats who maintain the status quo. It’s all about communicating and maintaining power over the working class. It was working class labour that built Chatsworth House and its gardens, therefore we should be free to visit it at all times. The only way a true community membership can come to fruition is by having common ownership in a socialist society.
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