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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Ruskin’s vision
NICK MATTHEWS welcomes the Communist Party of Britain’s commitment to culture and suggests that the Victorian critic points the way toward combining social function with beauty
RUSKIN’S VISION: The social housing complex Alt-Erlaa, 1970s, by architect Harry Gluck  in Vienna, Austria is centered on the welfare of the residents and includes saunas, indoor and outdoor (roof-top) swimming pools, gyms and other exquisite communal areas [Jussi Toivanen/flickr/CC]

RECENTLY I have been delighted to see the Communist Party take the issue of culture more seriously.

Raymond Williams argued that “the Labour Party and the unions had failed throughout even to see the cultural struggle as a major element in all political and economic struggles.” 

There is much for Marxists to consider. The founders of Western Marxism, Gyorgy Lukacs and Antonio Gramsci, made huge contributions in this space as did our own Christopher Caudwell. 

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