'Aroint thee, witch!' (edit 1).

[cidermaid]

If I worked in a sweat shop in India to support Walmart I would benefit from unions so my labor would not be exploited. The indolent rich would probably have to sacrifice to achieve the ideals of socialism. You are in danger of an impotent rant here. No evidence is really provided. Maybe develop a clear narrative that backs up your theories. Remember ad hominem attacks are vacant arguments. Lightening as an arm is a cool comparison. Too much allusion in my opinion.

Not sure that the political history of the Uk during the 80's can really be described as an allusion...The main point of the poem is to rant against those who would protest over things they do not know about - such as did they live through the winter of discontent? Do they remember not being able to bury granny because the council workers who staffed the crems had come out in sympathy for some other union?
The poem is largely in support of the worker and the workers rights, which by and large where trampled underfoot by the bully boys of the unions who ignored the workers rights and ballot votes and paid thugs to come and hold the line against any who would defy them. I could offer a line by line demonstration of all of the 80's news reports and historical references that I trolled through to put the poem together, but I get the impression it would be a pointless exercise. I offer some notes for St 1 as a taster on the intro. If you are not familiar with the well documented history and news accounts of the Lightening strikes, three day week, power cuts and flying pickets that dominated the papers and the TV during the 80's in the UK, then perhaps you need to change your crit to say I have written an ageist poem.

I do not really see the point of your comparison to the economic situation in India and the exploitation of workers there, with what was going on in the Uk in the 80's. (Although the workers in India have my every sympathy for the individual - their situation is the same old story to what happened the poor workers who lived throught the industrial revolution in the Uk. The option has all too frequently been:- starve in the country or move to the city jobs. It is facile to suggest that the Indian workers are individually supporting walmart - that is a comment typical of an overly socialistic ideal, that bears no relation to local or world economics, who is always searching for the most extreme case that they can then shout about as the justification for some sweeping statements about human rights. Generally the individuals are doing the work to support their families which in sad truth they can achieve a far higher standard of living than they can back at their home village or town grubbing around on scrap heaps or scratching a living on impoverished land.


St1
L1. Dole fed - A ref to roman empire. Free bread (dole) was handed out the plebeians....the lowest class and generally considered as scum. (From the old axiom bread & circuses to keep the plebs quiet...and this (bread and entertainment) was expected as a right - if not forthcoming there were riots). This term then came into common use during / after WWII when "doling out" was coined to describe charitable gifts and goods.
L2. The news feeds of the protests about Margret Thatcher's funeral included TV coverage of large groups of individuals who were too young to have remembered those years (I.e. under 25's)...yet there they were spitting out bile on national TV. (Openly admitting they did not work when interviewed as if this was a badge of merit -hence the use of the term shiftless chiseller in the last line ).
L3 Margret Thatcher was the last PM who privately funded her political aims, before she came to power. She was known as the iron lady, amongst the things she was renowned for that had earn her this title - refusing all bribes and backhanders was one of her well known stances. (Unlike the politicians that followed her - and yes I do include all parties in this denunciation. Although I think the Blair family must take the first prize in this; it was widely reported that during his first term alone he deposited some £30 million into various trust funds and off shore accounts and now reputedly earns over 80 million per yr in profits from the dozen or so front companies he has set up. Perhaps the Brown's should be in a close second for selling off the nation's gold reserves to protect the financial interests of his chum)