OPINION: You know the establishment is rattled when the right-wing press start rolling out the classic ‘reds under the bed’ hit pieces aimed at (and they absolutely must be described as such) the ‘militant union barons’ whose ultimate aim is nothing short of the establishment of a Soviet-style workers paradise right here in dear old Blighty.

What a leap from ‘we need a pay rise so we can heat our homes this winter’ to ‘let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution’ - but not if you are to believe some of the more excitable pieces surrounding the new winter of discontent gripping the nation.

While some of the more hardline union leaders may veer towards the caricature of the communist bogeyman of popular imagination, it’s an awful lot harder to portray our over-worked and under-paid nurses as the shock troops of the worldwide socialist revolution.

Polling reveals a nation divided on the rights and wrongs of the various bouts of industrial action set to disrupt life across the country this winter. But while a slim majority of respondents are against forthcoming rail strikes - 47% opposed and 41% in favour, according to a recent YouGov poll - support for striking nurses is far more consistent.

One recent snapshot found 65% of the public support nursing staff taking strike action over pay, conditions and a chronic staffing shortage in the NHS. With the health service visibly creaking - tried getting a GP appointment recently? - and memories of Covid-era sacrifices still vivid, it is unsurprising many of us feel a sense of solidarity with healthcare workers who give so much to keep the system functioning.

'As the cost-of-living crisis bites harder and harder it is going to prove increasingly difficult to portray striking workers as a cadre of Marxist extremists hell-bent on the overthrow of capitalism...'

As the cost-of-living crisis bites harder and harder it is going to prove increasingly difficult for politicians and their media outriders to portray striking workers as a cadre of Marxist extremists hell-bent on the overthrow of capitalism. All but the highest earners are feeling the squeeze as energy costs soar and the weekly food shop becomes more and more expensive with every trip to the tills.

Those preparing for industrial action are not ‘others’ we can label as beyond the mainstream. They are you and me, people struggling to make ends meet as inflation gallops ahead of wages, and standards of living are gradually, painfully, eroded for all but the most well-off. I have friends on the railways who have been on the picket lines in recent months - perhaps enough for me to be hauled before some McCarthyite panel where I would be forced to confess my association, however tenuous, to the nascent workers’ revolution. But these people aren’t radicals, they are simply fighting for a fair share in the workplace.

Communists love a catchy slogan, but one that resonates today has been seen on placards at nurses' protests this year: “claps don't pay the bills.” The instinctive reflex for the government may be to roll-out an ‘us and them’ strategy with the strikers. But asking a weary public if they stand with the nurses, or with the current regime in Number 10, may not be the smartest move. Westminster memories may be short, outside the bubble they are a little bit longer.

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