[lbo-talk] "Mental health" - an anecdote

lbo83235 lbo83235 at gmail.com
Wed Dec 14 09:20:58 PST 2011


Further to previous discussions:

At the 2007 Marxism conference in London, in a session entitled, "Mental Health, Inequality and the 'Science of Happiness,'" Iain Ferguson related a lovely anecdote described by Colin Barker in his book on Polish trade union Solidarność:

As the effectiveness of Solidarity's mass strikes began to become clear, one Polish newspaper reported that the condition of working class patients in the country's psychiatric hospitals dramatically improved. Many of them even left the hospitals and joined the strikes.

The newly vacant beds did not go unused: They were soon filled by state bureaucrats.


:-)



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