I was absolutely delighted yesterday to read that Tony Benn plans to stand again as an MP. I nearly fell off my chair actually but nevertheless the news that TB hopes to contest the Kensington and Chelsea seat has many positives. Firstly it gets the left agenda back in the headlines. Secondly, if selected Tony would be able to make it clear that socialism and socialists are still very much alive in the Labour Party and have a real platform for our ideas. Thirdly, he is now such a national treasure that he might even win! This is one eventuality Gordon Brown could not have bargained for and I applaud it. On Monday, Tony and his fellow octogenarian Walter Wolfgang will defy the police and lead an anti-war march on Parliament. I think they humble us all with their courage and conviction. Tony and Walter, you are both marvellous role-models and thanks for brightening up my week......
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Saying 'the right thing' and getting nothing done isn't courage, it's failure - and it's not the likes of Tony Benn who have to suffer the consequences.
I've posted on this here:
http://johnslabourblog.blogspot.com
John, I've read your blog on this and I find it very sad for several reasons.Firstly, you are only 19 years old and I would hope open to new ideas and fair-minded. Yet you believe all the rubbish spouted by New Labour about an "impossibilist" left in the 1980's, secondly you prefer Oona King's "achievements" to Tony Benn's ( supporting war in Iraq and losing her seat as a consequence) thirdly you seem to have no idea of how highly Benn was/is regarded in the Party as a constituency MP, champion of trade unions, working people, peace campaigner and leader of the left. It's a ludicrous measure of how far this Party has drifted to the right that you describe him as "far left." Bennism and its Alternative Economic Strategy was social democracy loosely based onm the Scandinavian model, not revolutionary socialism. Indeed when I supported benn at your age, I was regarded as "wishy wshy reformist" by the REAL far left. I'm sorry to pull rank in terms of years but you really have no idea what you are talking about
I don't know if you're a regular reader of Weekly Worker, but you might be interested in this report of your meeting at Hebdon Bridge.
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/691/labour.htm
No that's fair enough Susan, I can't claim to have been there. Certainly Benn is a champion of all those things, and I'm well aware of his stature - both my parents are ex-party-activists, and all my grandparents were labour supporters or trade unionists, so I do have a certain sense of history. But I can only repeat that saying the right thing when no-one's listening doesn't make you a hero: you've got to show people the practical application of values whilst evangelising for more radical action - New Labour hasn't done that, nor does the far left. Read some of my other posts and I think you'll see I'm not so bad. I certainly agree that probably Tony Benn is the only person capable of winning Kensington, and I would totally support his campaign - but let's stop painting him as a glorious hero.
P.S. This post doesn't paint me as a raving New Labourite, does it? http://johnslabourblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/extract-from-draft-article-about.html
Indeed JOhn
I was a bit saddened by your post, becuase you discount the idea that radical political ideas can be popular.
When I was in the LP, I remember a WARD meeting addressed by Tony Benn in around 1982, with 300 or more people there, all from that same ward. (it had only been built by a door to door leaflet.).
What is the largest meeting your ward has had in your experience?
AN - quite the reverse, as you'd see if you read the post i linked to above. Fair point about the 300 people - but not really answering my points from my earlier post i.e. what did it achieve in practical terms for people's welfare? Anyway, I'm going out!
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