Remembering Tony Benn

Remembering the one and only indomitable Tony Benn who died at the age of 88  ten  years  ago on Friday 14 March 2014.  which  incidentally  was  the  same  day  that Karl  Marx  died  in 1883. A constant thorn in the establishment’s side, Tony Benn was an inspiration to me and to all who struggle for peace and justice worldwide. 

Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn was born  into an affluent political family on the  3rd of  April 1927, and was influenced heavily by his mother, a feminist and prominent member of the reformist Congregationalist Church, as well as his father, a Liberal MP who advised him aged eight to “never wrestle with a chimney sweep”. Taking this advice on board, Benn strived to keep personal abuse out of politics for the entirety of his career. He became famous for his exemplary parliamentary manners, often taking even the harshest of media attacks with a smile.

Coming to power in the Wilson government in 1950, he became the Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol South East. Benn became a household name with his ultimately successful three-year court battle to be rid of a hereditary peerage following the death of his father, setting an important precedent. His efforts to secure re-entry to the lower house rendered him a class traitor to many on the right. In his view, little good came from ennoblement; he would later lament how the establishment uses the Upper House as a tool to decapitate radical movements. Tantamount to political castration, ennoblement would often turn the most hard line of communist trade unionists in to purring kittens overnight.

Tony Benn  would  be one of Labour’s longest-serving MPs, whose radical vision of a better, fairer society continues to inspire today. His contributions were always fearless, optimistic, full of humour and were always placed in the context of the historical struggles to demonstrate that through organisation and dedication anything was possible.

There  was hardly ever been an important working class gathering that did not  have  Benn as a speaker. And whenever possible he would speak. With his articulated voice Tony Benn delivered a vision of the possible, a tireless fighter for peace, justice and equality who for decades was the most independent-minded, powerful and passionate voice at Westminster, and the man whose crusading zeal led to the new law which allowed him to renounce his own peerage and return to the House of Commons in 1963. He represented Bristol South East until 1983, when the constituency was abolished.  

From 1964 to 1966, Benn served in Harold Wilson’s Cabinet as Postmaster General. He was then appointed Minister of Technology, in which office he oversaw the development of Concorde. The 1970 election was won by the Tories, but Benn returned to government on Labour’s victory four years later, first as Secretary of State for Industry and later as Energy Secretary. 

In 1979, Thatcher came to power, and Labour were to remain in opposition for the next eighteen years. Benn was at the heart of the internal discord that convulsed his party in the early 1980s: he infamously stood for the deputy leadership in 1981, but was very narrowly defeated by Denis Healey. Seven years later, he challenged Neil Kinnock for the leadership, but was soundly beaten. In between, Benn had become the MP for Chesterfield.  He retained his seat at the next three general elections, and watched from the backbenches as neo-Thatcherites Blair and Brown ascended to government. 

Benn was widely seen as a key proponent of democratic socialism and Christian socialism, though in regards to the latter he supported the United Kingdom becoming a secular state and ending the Church of England's status as an official church of the United Kingdom.

Originally considered a moderate within the party, Benn moved left,  after leaving ministerial office seeing himself more and more as the modern embodiment of the old radicalism. He took to making frequent historical references in his speeches, and commemorated calendar-occasions - the Levellers of the 1640s, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the suffragettes, the Chartists. 

The terms Bennism and Bennite came into usage to describe the left-wing politics he espoused from the late 1970s and its adherents. He was an influence on the political views of Jeremy Corbyn, who was elected Leader of the Labour Party a year after Benn's death, and John McDonnell, who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer under Corbyn.

A great campaigner  who  used  his voice  to  speak  about the greedy among us, the multinationals,  consistently in  opposition  to wars  from the  Falklands to Afghanistan and Iraq. A tireless supporter of  the  anti austerity  movement and for Palestine. He denounced the British government’s role over the years as “less than honest” in its supplying of arms to Israel and all too often joining the US in giving them the support they demanded. He insisted that a British Government should act firmly and independently, and not supporting Israeli troops who he described as “An occupying army in a neighbouring state which they have attacked in acts of aggression against international law.”  Tony Benn was also in favour of a boycott of Israeli goods. 

A champion of so many  progressive  causes. he proposed the Commonwealth of Britain Bill — which aimed to transform our democracy by devolving power, guaranteeing social rights and abolishing the monarchy. Benn supported any strike that was going. standing shoulder to shoulder with us all. with his  strong voice clearly saying that the powerful should always be held to account. Benn also had a strong connection with Wales throughout his parliamentary career and campaigning work. He openly supported Welsh miners during the 1984 strike. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Glamorgan in June 2011 for his work as an author and politician.

He was a rare breed indeed, who offered genuine ideas, based on unwavering principles and convictions. A man of great honesty and integrity. famed for  his  belief  in socialism and for being  a  political  radical. who believed not only in parliamentary activity but also in extra-parliamentary activity. Frustrated at politicians’ inability to get involved with grassroots projects, he retired from parliament in 2001after 51 years in parliament.  – famously “in order to spend more time on politics”.  After leaving Parliament, Benn was President of the Stop the War Coalition until his death. He became the elder statesman of the left, a familiar face at demonstrations, puffing away on his pipe, or taking a brief rest from the marching to chat with anyone and everyone who wanted to speak with him. He addressed protests and television audiences with as much fervour as activists a quarter of his age. Crowds rallied in their thousands to hear him speak at the 2002 Glastonbury festival  and he went on to address each Glastonbury festival there, 

 One of the greatest politicians in the history of this country, he was well loved and respected. even following his retirement  in 2001.In 2006 the left wing icon topped a poll conducted by BBC Daily Politics that asked people to pick a political hero, pushing Margaret Thatcher in to second place. Tony Benn was a beacon of integrity in a forest of deception and expedience. The world remains poorer without his warm spirit. Two  of  my  favourite  possessions are  signed copies of  his  1984 book Writings on the Wall: a Radical and Socialist Anthology 1215-1984 and his 1979  book Arguments  for  Socialism.

I will never forget the moment when this wonderful man walked into the studio unannounced and demonstrated principles and courage missing from most MPs today by challenging the refusal by the BBC to simply air a humanitarian appeal for Palestinians following Israeli bombing. and shone a light on the shameful BBC bias. His words  have  never been more  relevant. Where have Politicians like this gone?

We must continue his deeds, set about building a genuine alternative to capitalism. On the torch of his unfaltering belief  in a better world , there lies a world where politics is not the language of brute force but an articulated vision of the possible - of justice, progress and peace and equality.

"There is in every human heart from the beginning of time there have been two flames burning, the flame of anger against injustice and the flame of hope that you can build a better world. And those two flames are burning in our hearts today, in the hearts and minds of millions of people. " - Tony  Benn

‘In politics there are weathercocks and signposts. Weathercocks spin in whatever direction the wind of public opinion may blow them. Signposts stand true, and tall, and principled. Signposts are the only people worth remembering in politics’ -Tony Benn

Dare to be a Daniel, was the title chosen by Tony Benn for his early memoir, the first lines of the following poem are from an old salvation Army hymn that had been sung to him by his parents. I try to keep faith, dare to be different.  

Dare to be a Daniel

Dare to be a Daniel, 

Dare to stand alone, 

Dare to have a purpose firm, 

And dare to let it know.

Dare to stand with the voiceless, 

|the occupied daily denied, 

stand shoulder to shoulder, 

with  devoted  words of meaning, 

committed breaths carrying no fear.  

Seed the earth with love, 

persistent grains of freedoms cry, 

move forward with language of hope,

in blazing movements of united flow.  

Seek out the hallmarks of truth and justice,

drink from the vessels of life, 

keep faith as our changeless songs hum out, 

In fearless cry, together we right their wrongs.  

On the breeze, our voices lift, 

for tomorrows bright sun to shine again,

leave footprints by rivers' wave of friendliness,

in flows of solidarity and stealth.