Letter: Labour's tasks

How can Gerry Hassan suggest that by the 1950s Labour became the party of the "establishment"? (Perspective 26 February). Unless of course the "Establishment" welcomed the way Attlee's Labour government tackled the "five evils of capitalism" - squalor (housing), ignorance (education), disease (the NHS), idleness (full employment) and want (social security). Isn't this known as the welfare state founded by Labour?