Mal Fletcher comments on the resurgence in popularity of Marxist thought on Britain's university campuses.

Mal Fletcher

Marxist thought is apparently enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity on Britain's university campuses, as an emerging generation realises that it may face worse economic prospects then its parents.

A poll released last month revealed that twice as many young people regard big business as a danger than are fearful of communism.

Meanwhile, Marxist groups are using the bicentenary of the philosopher's birth and the fiftieth anniversary of the 1968 student protests to promote militancy.

One leader of a university Marxist society said recently that, 'Despite the monstrosity of the Stalinist regime, we can see the power and strength of a planned economy.'

The question is not whether there is planning behind an economy, but who does the planning?

Arguably, history reveals that, in practice if not in theory, communism serves vested interests even more than capitalism.

This is no mean feat. Capitalism has often been guilty of looking after the interests of the few at the expense of the many, as Jeremy Corbyn keeps reminding us.

The quirky British film 5 Greedy Bankers used dark humour to illustrate the depth of public antagonism toward the banking industry in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown.

The heist movie related how four victims of banking greed took their revenge on the managers and high-fliers whom they personally held responsible for their plight.

The film was released in 2016, a full eight years after the crisis began. The subject of banking culpability for the Great Recession was clearly still fresh in the public mind.

This is hardly surprising when the meltdown pushed unemployment in the UK above ten percent - a figure more commonly seen in the south of Europe. Meanwhile, housing prices dropped by 28 percent.

While the level of public outrage seen at the time may now have died down, there is still residual anger toward those who not only escaped imprisonment but received healthy bonuses, while others lost their jobs and homes.

Even now, CEOs of private and public companies - and charities - are sometimes awarded very healthy bonuses while the organisations they lead lose money hand-over-fist.

In many respects, the impact of all this is felt most by younger people. Even where this is not the case, young adults believe that it is. Who can blame them?