A century or so later, like a lot else, this basic bit of social infrastructure is under threat from New Labour's free market dogma. The 4 million people who signed Britain's biggest ever petition in defence of their local post office last year, would agree.

The Department of Trade and Industry's so-called "consultation", announced in December, means 2,500 local post offices will close by the end of 2009. For starters.

Not that New Labour should take all the blame. Under the Tories 3,500 post offices closed, so their current protests are entirely hypocritical. All the main political parties agree that the run down of the post office network is inevitable given changing technology and "consumer preferences".

Huge amounts of subsidy, like £2bn since 1999, are quoted to "prove" the government case for closures.

The opposition, headed by the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, who are basically self-employed franchisees, bases its case mainly on the grounds of harm to rural communities, the poor, the elderly and disabled. There is undoubtedly a social and economic importance beyond the bottom line.

The National Pensioners Convention, for instance, is absolutely right to oppose the closure programme and the way the government has imposed policies like direct payment of pensions and benefits.

Let alone pensions, there are lots of people who would still prefer to get their wages in cash. But we are forced into the banks - if they'll be so kind as to open you an account these days - at a price. The truth is that there's nothing inevitable about the way technology or consumer behaviour changes under capitalism. They are shaped by the profit system.

Sure, a lot of us can get a cheap ticket to the sun these days. But can we afford to stay beyond our purchased holiday? No way. Back to work. Wage slavery rules.

And as the biggest single economic actor, state policy plays an important role too, indeed crucially, in relation to The Post Office. Instead of developing the largest retail chain in Europe (with 24m customers) as a provider of public services and major retail player, governments failed to invest, allowed it to run down, franchised and closed branches.

The Post Office has been endlessly "reorganised" since 1986, to this end. First the Tories split it into three: Royal Mail Letters, Royal Mail Parcels and Post Office Counters (which then became a limited company owned by the Royal Mail Group).

From 1989 nearly 1500 Crown Offices were turned into agency offices, leaving only 500 in city and town centres still in public ownership. In 1990 the Girobank, which with the huge post office network could have been a major player in high street banking, was sold.

In 2001 the Post Office became a Public Limited Company. Then there was the Consignia "re-branding" debacle. At every point the post office network has been sabotaged.

£1 billion was spent developing the Horizon Automatic computer system linking 19,000 branches, in conjunction with the Benefits Agency. Then in 2003 the government decided to pay pensions and benefits directly into bank accounts, seriously undermining the competitive advantage the new system provided. And depriving sub postmasters of up to 75% of their income.

As a sop to public opposition to "direct payment" the Post Office Card Account was set up. It is worth £1bn to PO income between 2003-10. Though the Department of Trade and Industry has now committed to continuing it after 2010 it will be subject to competitive tendering, another step to privatisation.

Other blows to the Post Office were the BBC decision to take the TV licensing contract away from the Post Office. The government plans to open 70 new Passport Offices nationally but it has stopped the Post Office from bidding for the contract.

Because of government failure to give them a certain future and legal constraints on their activities, post offices have little commercial value as businesses. £60K will be paid to sub-postmasters to give up their business to further encourage closures.

The real aim is to destroy a major public asset in the interests of big business. After 350 years this is what capitalism calls progress.

The trade union and labour movement must put itself at the head of this campaign and build for the battle in defence of Royal Mail:

Re-nationalise all the privatised industries!

Replace Blair and Brown by a fighting socialist leadership!

For workers' control and management of a socialist planned economy!

Privatising the Mail

-A £12 million contract has just been taken from the Royal Mail by the government.

-The Department of Work and Pensions has shifted delivery of 82m pension statements and other letters to private company UK Mail. Further blows have just been announced that BT and British Gas, two of the biggest contracts, have gone the same way.

-The European Union Postal Services Directive gave legal force to liberalisation from 1st January 2006.

-But the juicy target for private companies will be business services not your ordinary everyday letter.

-In fact, to add insult to injury, these companies won't actually deliver business letters.

-They collect them from the customer, sort them - and then take them to Royal Mail for delivery!

-You see, the private sector is so much more efficient.