The phrase ‘class war’ is in common use, and like many another phrase is more readily uttered than defined. Daily do we read of the ‘preaching of class war’ or the denouncing of class war, and vague but decidedly horrible visions are projected of arson, murder and red terror. (‘All Sir Leicester Dedlock’s old misgivings relative to Wat Tyler, and the people in the iron districts who do nothing but turn out by torchlight’ may be recalled, and ‘the obliterating of landmarks, opening of floodgates, and all the rest

The trouble with metaphors is that they will conjure up such vastly different and often such very shocking visions. Other military metaphors in common use are less disturbing. The ‘hotly-contested fight’ of the cricket field, or the by-election, suggests no bloodshed. The vigorous campaign of the politician is not more fearful than the ‘fierce attack’ of the forwards, or the ‘stubborn defence’ of the goal-keeper in the football season. As for leading ‘forlorn hopes’ and the readir ness to ‘die in last ditches,’ we may approve the sentiment even when we find the metaphor somewhat absurd. That the motto of the famous Middlesex Regiment should be calmly appropriated by a section of one of our political parties, that ‘Die Hard’ should come to be used for a set of opinions, is perhaps the most glaring example of this fondness for military terms in civil life.