Rememberng Tony Benn

φαφσα

Tony Benn Spent His Life Fighting for Democracy and Socialism

By Leo Panitch, Colin Leys
March 4, 2020
In the early 1970s, the politics of the New Left activists in the Labour Party were still relatively inchoate. The movement had not thrown up any nationally recognized leaders of its own, nor developed any independent organizational focus. But one political leader heard what the New Left was saying and expressed it in a way that gave it a clearer shape and purpose: Tony Benn.
Tony Benn was able to do this — to become the preeminent spokesperson and interpreter of Labour’s New Left tradition — for a number of reasons: his remarkably early perception of the political forces that would become Thatcherism; his understanding of the limits of parliamentary socialism as practiced by the Labour Party; and his articulation of an alternative conception of socialist practice. It is a mistake to put too much emphasis on the role of any one individual. But it is also a mistake to deny it when an individual’s significance is exceptional — and not least when such an individual, and the politics he articulated, have been systematically misrepresented. Even sympathizers have tended to misrepresent it in retrospect as merely “clinging to the old formulae.”
Read more at https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/04/tony-benn-birthday-labour-party-uk-new-left

Tony Benn Dead: \’Five Questions on Power\’ and Other Memorable Quotes

March 14, 2014
Tony Benn, the veteran Labour politician and left wing campaigner, has died at his home at the age of 88, his family confirmed.
Benn, was cabinet minister under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan and served as MP for Chesterfield and Bristol South East. He died after suffering from a recent bout of ill health.
Following the news of his death, tributes has poured in for the influential politician, including prime minster David Cameron, who described him as a “magnificent writer, speaker and campaigner”.
“There was never a dull moment listening to him, even if you disagreed with him,” Cameron added.
Read more at https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tony-benn-dead-five-questions-power-other-memorable-quotes-1440277