This was part of our “English Literature” Studies (English Language was a separate subject). As I have said elsewhere many times – the UK was more left-wing than most people realise – including younger British people who now have to pay for their University education (usually the price of an average mortgage for a basic degree). Thatcher abolished free education in 1988. What is interesting is that this play was written in the late 1950s following the disastrous (anti-Socialist) “Malaya Emergency” and “Korean War” – during the height of the US-derived “Cold War”. Many in the UK, particularly WWII Veterans, were uncomfortable being made by the US to “hate” their former allies of the Soviet Union (whose Red Army stood with them when no one else would). Private Bamforth was presented (to us) as a “barrack room lawyer” or someone who caused trouble for no reason – but this is obviously not the case. He seems to embody the rebellious spirit of the working-class – and its advanced proletariat morality. Bamforth is the only one with the guts to protect the unarmed Japanese POW – and would have been the only one not charged with “War Crimes”. Surely, if we are better than Japanese fascists – why would we behave like Japanese fascists? Some say that this play is subversive and “anti-war” – perhaps it is (the enemy is just like us). During the late 1970s the UK had the last far-left Labour government.
