Mark S wrote:
>
> He was struck by the fact that
> working class - often unemployed - men dressed themselves in jacket, tie and
> hat like solidly middle class men did. But I suppose the desire for an
> egalitarian society doesn't necessarily imply action toward one...
Look up some photographs of demonstrations in the 1890s. You will see most of the men (and all of the women) dressed quite respectably. To cite suits and ties from the '30s or earlier as indicating other than working class is anachronistic -- applying the dress code (fashion) of the '60s on to earlier periods.
Carrol