Chris Dillow: The Peterloo paradox

Chris Dillow writes about The Peterloo paradox.

There’s something else. Peterloo was an assertion of working class agency, a refusal of workers to accept their place. Conservatives, and the ruling class in all its forms, have always been uncomfortable with this. As Corey Robin has said, the main consistent principle of conservatism has been a defence of hierarchy:

When the conservative looks upon a democratic movement from below, this…is what he sees: a terrible disturbance in the private life of power. (The Reactionary Mind, p13)

In this sense, there is a direct line from the cavalry murdering the Peterloo protestors to Arron Banks wishing Greta Thunberg dead.  

Indeed, we can read Brexit as an example of the counter-revolution Corey discusses — a desire to reassert old hierarchies in which British rulers and bosses could exercise power unfettered by interference — real or imagined - from Brussels.

Emphasis Mine

We can either accept our place or face the charging horsemen. Violence from above is the cornerstone of an oppressive society.

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