This was from 2006. And everything Tony's said about inequality and lack of difference between supposedly left and right politicans, is truer than ever.
A wonderful, plain speaking and insightful interview about British politics by a highly educated, honourable and compassionate man. The truth about 21st Century Britain is right here... in plain speak for the regular person to understand. Benn, in future years, will be proven to be right about his views and ideology whereas the selfish over-confident critics will suffer at the hands of their own system, it's simply a matter of time !
One of the few politicians that has kept his credibility- not matter how hard the right wing press has tried to belittle him and his ideas. Calm, rational, reasonable, knowledgeable and compassionate.. What a loss he will be. I wish there were more like him today.
How foresighted he was!!..A man who should be here now..what a legend.. wonderful..Brilliant..The Power of Conviction....of Truth..Only one Tony Benn...the like we will never see again.......but someone is coming...Jeremy Corbyn....O how I wish Tony was here to see it x
First off I wish you were still with us Benn. I wish we could fix the issues that we deal with from day to day. The things we need each day for security are mostly socialized. There are so many people left in the ditch for things that can change immediately.
True. I suppose that 2 points being the actual figure is an even bigger fall. The Left is Dead! Ignore the fact that only one poll has the Tories leading (by one point)!
From a Scottish perspective refer 6.40 comments re Neil Kinnock , This fact mirrors the Scottish Labour movement they gave up everything they believed in to gain office! In the Scottish Independence debate they fail to grasp that an opportunity exists to reject Neoliberal policy that they say they are against. They say they joined Labour to serve the people yet they deny themselves that opportunity to effectively do so in an independent Scotland. The truth is their obsession with defeating the SNP on this their primary policy has blinded them to the potential of delivering victory for Scotland's population over Westminster capitalism. Scotland's public are now to the left of their Labour MP's and MSP's .No wonder SNP are picking up their members. .
The only issue i have is the fact that the print unions are not recognised in the 80s fight against thatcher, it was either side of the miners strike we were attacked, during the miners strike we also supported the miners. The latter against the print unions in '86 has had a lasting effect on media control, very much enjoyed by murdoch media!
Very pleasant old gentleman, He and Mrs T, had very different ideas but he always called her Mrs Thatcher never Thatcher. A true Englishman even if you dont agree with his old socialist views.
A great talk :) he talks so much sense. And I agree very much having read a history of britain (best put 2000 years of upper class twits in charge) that we are quickly going back the lords working on how they can best control their interests and sod all to the rest.
The top one percent of the United States are worth about fifty trillion. It's estimated that it would cost about fifty billion to solve many of the problems in the U.S. The billionaires have given themselves free reign to control all the money so they can inflate their fortunes even further and own even more. The economy has been left to die a slow death because our corporate plutocratic overlords are well fed and don't really need the consent and prosperity of the people.
@@fleetwoodray - not sure what socialism you are referring to? I think we are talking about social democracy in the UK. I'm not really seeing the Labour Party setting up labor camps or jailing political opponents. The claim that the kind of socialism we are talking about is whatever you envision is nonsense. Using your view, I will now accuse every Conservative voter of being a fascist.
What are the major trade unions left in the UK? Coal miners used to be the vanguard, but coal is on the way out. Without the major influence of organized labor, is the Labour Party really viable? Is it just identity politics from here on out? I'm in the U.S. so I'm just interested in what the consensus is across the pond. What do aberrations like Trump and Johnson portend?
This is " Vintage " Tony Benn " And certainly one of his finest interviews! Apart from his obviously considerable abilities as both a Parliamentarian and erstwhile Parliamentarian it's also a very timely reminder as to how extremely witty he could be as well ! Yes he had his detractors but " Unprincipled " He very definitely wasnt !! From Adrian Browne @1965.Com
Micky... hand on heart - have you actually played this interview ? Also, can you reply to my previous comments please ; Have you never used the Socialist introduced NHS, benefitted from Socialist 'safe work practices' or been in need of the Socialist developed welfare support ?
PART FIVE: for the rest of us out here - i am 65! - maybe a good idea for labour would be to inlaw trade unionism. don't forget thatcher OUTLAWED it. co-ops could also be encouraged if the government were to give tax free credits to companies. or even semi co-ops. that way, the worker would feel appreciated. so would the employers. drop the PAYE bit and put up the cost of food. would that help? people would buy ONLY what they need. make the people save BY LAW. no more poverty. compulsory?
Wow, I've never heard anyone speak so confidently and know how to build such strong arguments. He makes me (definitely not a socialist) want to sing The Red Flag with Lenin and Marx. However it is worth remembering that he's a fruitcake whose success in making predictions is probably in single figures, so the future will be more or less the opposite of what he says.
@@marcokite There has never been a socialist society and those who have claimed , at least publicly, they have made a socialist society, i.e the USSR, have also been authoritarian, the antithesis of Socialism.
I would suggest that - in the part of the UK where Socialism has ALWAYS been preferable: Scotland - a new force did show its face. This is why the SNP clears all ahead of itself. Unfortunately now the SNP is travelling right, too, having been there so long
Don't you just love the way they characterize theft as transfer. The plain fact is no matter how you cut it, the acquisition of a person's personal property without their consent is in fact theft. And it doesn't matter who does it or how many other people say it's okay, it's still theft.
The 'public', as vague as that term is, is certainly not on the left regarding EU membership and immigration. Public Sector workers may well be to the left of the Labour Party on union representation and pensions but that's, broadly speaking, just pursuing their own interests (quite understandably). If a new party were to emerge now reflecting the real thoughts of the majority, it'd be to the right of UKIP, whilst wanting pay increases, tax cuts and higher public spending regardless of how all these factors (including immigration and EU membership) would have to interact. Politicians often get stick for not achieving all these at once.
There is no unanimous 'left' position on EU membership - Much of them (for example, Benn) want out of the EU and much of them want to stay in. I would also suggest there is a division on the left with regards to the immigration issue. The idea that the majority of the public are really to the right of UKIP is not supported by any opinion polls I have seen, and you've actually contradicted yourself in attempting to express it. Anyone to the right of UKIP would not support higher public spending and higher wages for most workers. Public opinion polls certainly don't reflect a desire to cut taxes or increase public spending per se. The majority of the public wants to increase taxes on the rich. They also want higher *social* spending but they want lower public spending in areas like defence, aid, and elsewhere.
+Ben Sullivan The voice of the right is all we've heard in England for years. Just recently, an old Labour MP has put himself foward and it seems he has support from many. While there's plenty to the right, I think there is huge support for a return to the traditional left.
Yes this is the class system and how it works . not that it is that bad because in England you can rise through the system if you try. It's really divide and rule, if every body is on the same level you can't rule them. Labour or tory both use the system. despite all the crap they both talk.
I would vote for leaving the EU and control of immigration and double benefits for the disabled like they have in Norway so I am conservative on the EU and immigration like Enoch Powell. I voted new Labour in 3 general election which Tony Blair won.
PART FOUR: the army and navy stores could make a fortune out of all this. so could the army itself. and so could the youngsters. when they reach 21, they can leave their school days behind with a big wages cheque!! but would they spend the cheque in a pub or gamble it or spend it on drugs? if they have any self respect, they might, just might, go straight. some of them will go straight to the pub to spend every penny they have!!! experiment and see what happens for a few years. it may work.
PART 8: some socialists say they hate class distinction. if you go to a council estate, you will find a lot of snobbery there. the woman who has bough her house from thecouncil will be looking down at the woman who hasn't. and she will let you know she is a house owner. this thing about people in glass houses throwing stones does not apply to missus tuppence halfpenny who looks down on missus tuppence. people from council houses who get an education move out and up in the world. WOULDN'T YOU???
'When I was 11 I read Hitler' s Mein Kamp'.... Well there you go then... Hitler was a National Socialist... Benn was a socialist. Neither of them got far in the end... 😁
Checkout Benns comment just before 2;18 " the Labour party has never been a socialist party ",,,,etc Now compare the comment in his interview with William F. Buckley " in the firing line " here on you tube at 17;26 he says " The Labour party IS A SOCIALIST PARTY and ALWAYS HAS BEEN. This is the type of contradiction that Benn would furiously deny making ,yet it is there on camera for all to see. The man used the truth very economically when it suited him. People say he was a man of principle- yeah sure ! My bony spotty arse he was !!
PART THREE: would it be feasible to conscript youngsters from the age of 13 or 14 into the army, have a teenage brigade for them until they reach 21? discipline should bring out the best in them. educate them to the best of their abilities. admittedly, the criminal mind is usually formed at the age of 12 but, even so, an army high school education might iron out the wrinkles or wipe the cobwebs from behind their ears. let them have part time jobs inthe army, knitting, for the ARMY AND NAVY STORE
praising Cuba...a tyranny with no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, poverty caused by socialism (not by US sanctions), political executions..etc etc etc
RIP Tony Benn. Often wrong headed and a disaster as a holder of real power. Unlike many here who know only Benn the dissenting public campaigner of the 80s and beyond, I 'm old enough to remember Tony when he actually had political power in the 60s and 70s - and he was appalling. As technology minister this renowned "egalitarian" pored colossal amounts of tax money into that rich man's white elephant, Concorde. As industry minister he wasted more money propping up that failing behemoth, the system of huge nationalized industries, and pored more public money into worker's coops which fell apart after a few years. Back In the 60s this great liberal freedom lover, as postmaster general, unceasingly tried to get rid of the offshore "pirate" radio stations the people loved and supported. After Benn had moved on, Labour did close them down, in 1967. Benn's assaults on right wing despotism rarely led him to a similar zealous blasting of even worse leftist authoritarian regimes His lining up with the late Marxist ideologue Ralph Miliband was typical of his rather one sided ideological stance. Harold Wilson said of Benn "He immatures with age". Like Gladstone, Benn, unusually, got more left wing, not right wing, as he got older. The policy of massive nationalization and a siege economy he advocated from 1980 would have been pretty much indistinguishable from that of the communist eastern block, and have been just as useless, and inevitably, like it did there, led to poor living standards for ordinary people, followed by collapse - leaving a wrecked nation requiring urgent rescue from international finance (which happened in a more limited way under Labour in 1976). He long opposed the EU as a bad thing, a dangerously undemocratic organization - in that , at least, he has been proved correct. This declared enemy of nepotism and inherited privilege went, like Cameron and co, to public school, in his case, Westminster (something he tried to obscure), where he initially sent his 2 eldest sons; like other leftist luminaries, he has a son who has become an important politician - a Labour minister. A well meaning starry eyed political dreamer - thank god many of his beliefs never became translated into reality.
It's unfortunate that you use the occasion of Tony Benn's death to attack his track record. He believed in peace and social justice. That you are glad those beliefs have not yet been realised says everything about you, but nothing about him. You can dance on the grave of a lion, but you can't be a lion.
redword2007 He was another wealthy left wing hypocrite, and usually blind to the totalitarianism of the hard left he allied himself with. He gave up his title - so he could continue to be where real power was, in the house of commons - but not his wealth and property; the man who sanctimoniously fulminated about the fiendish and selfish rich/the corporations minimizing their taxes, made sure his family would be paying as little taxation as possible to the state on his own death. He rightly condemned right wing evil, but wrongly, conspicuously, rarely did when it came to the leftist variety - which had created millions of corpses and massive repression in the last century. Many on the left gleefully and publicly celebrated the demise of Thatcher last year. Those of us who thought Benn was often politically wrong and dangerous (including many of his erstwhile colleagues on the Labour benchers), were critical of his hard left allegiances while he was alive, in contrast, didn't rush out in the street to cheer the death of this elderly ideological opponent. I see nothing wrong with writing critically of someone because they've just died. It's hardly comparable to that frenzied, tasteless, celebratory leftist "grave dancing" which went on over Thatcher. If I survive Blair though, even I might find it hard to contain a display of joy at the passing of that creep. You don't have to subscribe to a Bennite ideology to believe "peace and social justice" are important things to strive for, which I do; indeed, it's perfectly rational to assert that those who get in bed with Marxism are going completely the wrong way to achieve those goals. It's not peace and social justice one objects to, but the methods being advocated - creating a society based in a statist command economy and class warfare - and the inevitable totalitarianism which always goes with it, justifying/giving support to violent political/religious thugs just because they have grievances/ are anti western. Hard left politics has proved to be a recipe for some of the worst sorts of tyranny time and time again; and the view that such systems will create better living conditions and general prosperity has been shown up as bogus by example numerous times in the twentieth century. That lesson seemed to be one Benn and his allies were/are incapable of grasping. One can criticize and seek to reform the society/economy/politics of the place we live without aiming to replace it with something even worse. The core ideological nostrums Benn came to subscribe to as he got older were, in my view, bad ones, harmful in the extreme if adopted as a socio - political blueprint. Benn's problem was he developed a black and white, utterly, blindly partisan attitude to politics and society - that is, he was essentially a fanatic. In his own way he was often as tunnel visioned and fanatical as Lenin, though I'm sure he would never have been capable in reality of the latter's criminal inhumanity in constructing his particular "paradise" in power (in which case, his tougher allies would soon have got rid of him). Benn flourished in the evil capitalist west he hated and rarely gave much credit to for anything. Everything done by it was really for base, often greedy motives, self interest, not altruism or compassion. It's enemies, however wicked and repressive they actually were, were almost always to be preferred - to be conciliated, to be excused, to be justified as more sinned against than sinning. He was the straight English answer to Gore Vidal. But Anthony Wedgewood - Benn/Tony Benn would have quickly got a bullet in the head in a state based in the hard left ideology many of his supporters wished to impose - the various political hard men who he preferred to the fiendish western capitalists he lived amongst for 88 years would not have tolerated such a gobby gadfly for a minute.
redword2007 Who doesn't believe in peace and justice? But how do you get them? Benn was part of a dynasty wielding political power for most of 20C. He gave up the title but kept the money-he never had to make a living making things or serving people. This is not to say that he was a bad man, but really, a decent nurse or taxi driver probably does more for people than TB ever did. But he was good at talking.
twidili dee "Who doesn't believe in peace and justice?" Those who commit mass murder, those who create weapons of mass destruction and those who exploit the poor. "He gave up the title but kept the money-he never had to make a living making things or serving people." What? TB inspired people. He gave hope.
From 1994 to 2004 I was privileged to meet with and correspond with Tony Benn. I admire that he allowed himself to be defined and driven by conviction rather than career convenience - cost whatever it might. And I was very blessed by his continual personal interest and encouragement of me through a critical decade in my life. Tony gave his life to occupying the prophetic space that speaks truth to power. This began for Tony when as a boy he was banned from his Sunday School for ably competing with the Sunday School teacher in his earnest attempts to truthfully interpret Scripture! Courage came naturally to Tony and he seemed to have no concept that this was not a universal trait. Without knowing how he did it, he unfailingly strengthened the courage of all who came close to him. Tony’s investment into younger people in his later years was inspirational. I am so grateful for his personal encouragement towards me. Without a doubt, Tony has influenced my preaching, my politics and my parenting.
+scabbycat cat It actually says more about you that you misinterpreted that bit. Hitler used the idea that democracy leads to marxism, to stop democracy taking place. Benn agrees democracy leads to marxism but thinks that is a great idea. He agrees on the premise then takes the *opposite* stance. You are welcome :o)
+Jack Mansfield No . I think Benn was using the Adolf Hitler quote to further his own ideas and agenda. Don't forget NAZI stands for National Socialism. Hitler would never have come to power if it were not for socialism.
scabbycat cat The "socialism" of the nazi's was a hook to bait people in. They used the ideas to take control of the countries industries. Then they turned very quickly into *totalitarian* regime. Nothing socialist about it. Do yourself a favour and get familiar with all these different ideas before you start insulting the memory of someone so special. You might regret it one day if you ever learn the concepts.
+Jack Mansfield " insulting the memory of someone so special ".......... Ha! Thats a laugh isn;t it ? Tony Benn was your typical champaign socialist HYPOCRITE !!! He enjoyed all the trappings of the capitalist system whilst seeking to deny the same privilage to others. He bitterly opposed the sale of council houses whilst himself owning TWO properties. He never knew the meaning of struggling to pay rent - a tax on the working classes in all but name- Had he sold his TWO properties and given the money to charity and actually gone to live in a council house and actually lived the life of the socialism he championed , I could have respected that. And what about when he died ? it turns out he used every trick in the book to avoid paying tax on his estate ! Yes he was special wasn't he ? A millionaire and a very hypocritical one at that !
scabbycat cat You continue to throw your ignorance around with a pointy stick. I should never have talked to you int he first place, you are clearly hopeless.
A legend that shaped my political views. He was the greatest Prime minister Labour and Britain never had RIP.
This was from 2006. And everything Tony's said about inequality and lack of difference between supposedly left and right politicans, is truer than ever.
And his solutions were what? The old state capitalism?
The greatest thing Harold Wilson ever did was to refuse to send troops to Vietanam. Could you imagine Tony Blair taking the same decision ?
Well, I don`t mind if Harold Wilson sent troops as long as they fight for comrade ho chi minh !
You do realise a detachment of brigades were still sent to support the Australians…
@@clarksonstestical7596 That's very disappointing. But they were there in a highly minor capacity.
Tony Blair is a globalist pawn.
Tony Blair says he's more socialist than any socialist in Britain.
This was recorded in 2006. His prediction of the financial crash of 2008 is pretty successful
Hahaha! It wasn't a crash it was the death of Capitalism. Now in 2022, the corpse is rottening, it's putrid everywhere.
This man would intellectually kick Starmar's teeth in!
R.I.P. "Citizens are not consumers". not many left like him.
Mr. Tony Benn was a very impressive man . Rest In Peace .
Absolutely 💯 Very kind warm gentleman
His predictions about the instability of the world economy, an American attempt to censor the internet etcetera are frightfully accurate.
Hello from 2021. It has gotten even worse.
A wonderful, plain speaking and insightful interview about British politics by a highly educated, honourable and compassionate man. The truth about 21st Century Britain is right here... in plain speak for the regular person to understand. Benn, in future years, will be proven to be right about his views and ideology whereas the selfish over-confident critics will suffer at the hands of their own system, it's simply a matter of time !
This is June 20th, 2022. He's right on the money spot.
'People feel as though they are being managed.'
Yes ... and seemingly powerless to prevent this from happening
One of the few politicians that has kept his credibility- not matter how hard the right wing press has tried to belittle him and his ideas. Calm, rational, reasonable, knowledgeable and compassionate.. What a loss he will be. I wish there were more like him today.
Janny Wanny Even if people think he is wrong, no one can deny his conviction
Britain if an orphan of politicians. WE LOST A GREAT MAN., R.I.P. dear friend.and fighter
Beautiful man
God I would loved to have talked with Tony Benn for a while!! such a gentleman
I was 18 when Blair came to power, thought he was the man, time has proven that he was a snake in the grass.
I did get to have a brief chat with him a few years before he died. Wonderful man, we could do with him now.
Great interview with a great man . . . thanks for posting!
Truly a great man a prime minister Britain never had.
How foresighted he was!!..A man who should be here now..what a legend.. wonderful..Brilliant..The Power of Conviction....of Truth..Only one Tony Benn...the like we will never see again.......but someone is coming...Jeremy Corbyn....O how I wish Tony was here to see it x
First off I wish you were still with us Benn. I wish we could fix the issues that we deal with from day to day. The things we need each day for security are mostly socialized. There are so many people left in the ditch for things that can change immediately.
Shame Benn didn't live long enough to see the rise of Jeremy Corbyn.
FALL?! 2000,000 new members is a fall?
Sit the fuck down boys...
True. I suppose that 2 points being the actual figure is an even bigger fall. The Left is Dead! Ignore the fact that only one poll has the Tories leading (by one point)!
Harrison Darby The left is not dead, Labour are beating the Conservatives in the polls by more than 20pts.
Tony was an optimist and was well aware of Jeremy's ability and
potential, but yes I agree.
From a Scottish perspective refer 6.40 comments re Neil Kinnock , This fact mirrors the Scottish Labour movement they gave up everything they believed in to gain office! In the Scottish Independence debate they fail to grasp that an opportunity exists to reject Neoliberal policy that they say they are against. They say they joined Labour to serve the people yet they deny themselves that opportunity to effectively do so in an independent Scotland. The truth is their obsession with defeating the SNP on this their primary policy has blinded them to the potential of delivering victory for Scotland's population over Westminster capitalism. Scotland's public are now to the left of their Labour MP's and MSP's .No wonder SNP are picking up their members. .
Socialism will never die in Britain. We will continue to fight.
So, you want to "fight" to get the wealth made by others. That is called a "thief".
@@davidsauls9542 😂👍
Good patter pal. Wealth made by who?
Fuck off back under your bridge, bootlicker.
@@davidsauls9542 socialism is about workers getting the wealth they created.
I adore the way this man talks
He would be horrified if he saw the Labour Party today
Just finished his diaries volume from 1963, to1967. A terrific read. Interesting interview here.
The only issue i have is the fact that the print unions are not recognised in the 80s fight against thatcher, it was either side of the miners strike we were attacked, during the miners strike we also supported the miners.
The latter against the print unions in '86 has had a lasting effect on media control, very much enjoyed by murdoch media!
One of the greatest Englishmen ever
The greatest in my lifetime.
Very pleasant old gentleman, He and Mrs T, had very different ideas but he always called her Mrs Thatcher never Thatcher. A true Englishman even if you dont agree with his old socialist views.
Actually he did you know. Can't pinpoint the specific part in the interview but he said, "Thatcher and Reagan" when referring to monetism! 😉
he is an inspiration .what a great man he is
A great talk :) he talks so much sense.
And I agree very much having read a history of britain (best put 2000 years of upper class twits in charge) that we are quickly going back the lords working on how they can best control their interests and sod all to the rest.
The top one percent of the United States are worth about fifty trillion.
It's estimated that it would cost about fifty billion to solve many of the problems in the U.S.
The billionaires have given themselves free reign to control all the money so they can inflate their fortunes even further and own even more.
The economy has been left to die a slow death because our corporate plutocratic overlords are well fed and don't really need the consent and prosperity of the people.
The most selfless politician we have ever had
Along with Dennis Skinner.
@@wilsonfisk6626 so true
Very interesting and enjoyable interview....
Socialism died with Mr Benn and Jeremy ......we had our chance and blew it!
So join a party and organise. What good is pessimism, if you want anything to change for the better then you have to embrace revolutionary optimism.
Well here we are, in 2015 and socialism has come back to the mainstream. Great news.
davidheseltine85
- Yes and it only got better. Hopefully we will see a socialist Labour Party elected by the end of the decade - or sooner.
@@GoodOlTimesOnlyGayer Socialism enslaves and kills. How can that be good news? Gee!
@@fleetwoodray - not sure what socialism you are referring to? I think we are talking about social democracy in the UK. I'm not really seeing the Labour Party setting up labor camps or jailing political opponents. The claim that the kind of socialism we are talking about is whatever you envision is nonsense. Using your view, I will now accuse every Conservative voter of being a fascist.
What are the major trade unions left in the UK? Coal miners used to be the vanguard, but coal is on the way out. Without the major influence of organized labor, is the Labour Party really viable? Is it just identity politics from here on out? I'm in the U.S. so I'm just interested in what the consensus is across the pond. What do aberrations like Trump and Johnson portend?
@@fleetwoodray - exactly, and bankrupts, under socialism it is always the poor who suffer.
It would have been interesting given his views on New Labour what he thought about his son being part of it.
This is " Vintage " Tony Benn " And certainly one of his finest interviews! Apart from his obviously considerable abilities as both a Parliamentarian and erstwhile Parliamentarian it's also a very timely reminder as to how extremely witty he could be as well ! Yes he had his detractors but " Unprincipled " He very definitely wasnt !! From Adrian Browne @1965.Com
Inspiring
Micky... hand on heart - have you actually played this interview ?
Also, can you reply to my previous comments please ; Have you never used the Socialist introduced NHS, benefitted from Socialist 'safe work practices' or been in need of the Socialist developed welfare support ?
PART FIVE: for the rest of us out here - i am 65! - maybe a good idea for labour would be to inlaw trade unionism. don't forget thatcher OUTLAWED it. co-ops could also be encouraged if the government were to give tax free credits to companies. or even semi co-ops. that way, the worker would feel appreciated. so would the employers. drop the PAYE bit and put up the cost of food. would that help? people would buy ONLY what they need. make the people save BY LAW. no more poverty. compulsory?
Torn here between Tony Benn and Neil Kinnock!
I cannot see why you describe as a 'fruitcake'?
His argument and points sound pretty sane to me.
Wow, I've never heard anyone speak so confidently and know how to build such strong arguments. He makes me (definitely not a socialist) want to sing The Red Flag with Lenin and Marx. However it is worth remembering that he's a fruitcake whose success in making predictions is probably in single figures, so the future will be more or less the opposite of what he says.
The man is a genius.
"without a socialist analysis of what's happening, you simply don't understand it"
a great guy but socialism has been wrong about everything it has tried to understand or do.
@@marcokite There has never been a socialist society and those who have claimed , at least publicly, they have made a socialist society, i.e the USSR, have also been authoritarian, the antithesis of Socialism.
@@al.b7520 because socialism is impossible without authoritarianism
Sorely missed.
Stalin to Blair - a "minor adjustment". Spot on.
I would suggest that - in the part of the UK where Socialism has ALWAYS been preferable: Scotland - a new force did show its face. This is why the SNP clears all ahead of itself. Unfortunately now the SNP is travelling right, too, having been there so long
Anyone who has ever had to deal with a government bureaucracy knows why socialism is not popular.
True lefty hero
Don't you just love the way they characterize theft as transfer. The plain fact is no matter how you cut it, the acquisition of a person's personal property without their consent is in fact theft. And it doesn't matter who does it or how many other people say it's okay, it's still theft.
Yeah well you stole it first
Returning what was taken is not theft, it’s justice.
The interviewer was the inspiration for Siri.
...But get well soon, Tony anyway.
@nicholas widowson ~ 0.53 ~ " I'm not predicting 'cause that would be foolish I'm simply stating what I believe..."
Democracy equals socialism because most people work for a living - its really quite simple.
"Signposts or weather cocks". I wonder which is best suited to Starmer...
19:30
Hilarious!
Well, he called the wake up correctly, he was just only a little off.
The 'public', as vague as that term is, is certainly not on the left regarding EU membership and immigration. Public Sector workers may well be to the left of the Labour Party on union representation and pensions but that's, broadly speaking, just pursuing their own interests (quite understandably). If a new party were to emerge now reflecting the real thoughts of the majority, it'd be to the right of UKIP, whilst wanting pay increases, tax cuts and higher public spending regardless of how all these factors (including immigration and EU membership) would have to interact. Politicians often get stick for not achieving all these at once.
There is no unanimous 'left' position on EU membership - Much of them (for example, Benn) want out of the EU and much of them want to stay in. I would also suggest there is a division on the left with regards to the immigration issue.
The idea that the majority of the public are really to the right of UKIP is not supported by any opinion polls I have seen, and you've actually contradicted yourself in attempting to express it. Anyone to the right of UKIP would not support higher public spending and higher wages for most workers.
Public opinion polls certainly don't reflect a desire to cut taxes or increase public spending per se. The majority of the public wants to increase taxes on the rich. They also want higher *social* spending but they want lower public spending in areas like defence, aid, and elsewhere.
Probably worth noting that the interview is from 2006.
+Ben Sullivan The voice of the right is all we've heard in England for years. Just recently, an old Labour MP has put himself foward and it seems he has support from many. While there's plenty to the right, I think there is huge support for a return to the traditional left.
55:36
he was right.
People sense they have no power, they never have had and never will no matter who is in power ,and I thought the Tories talked some crap.
Yes this is the class system and how it works . not that it is that bad because in England you can rise through the system if you try. It's really divide and rule, if every body is on the same level you can't rule them.
Labour or tory both use the system. despite all the crap they both talk.
44:28
I would vote for leaving the EU and control of immigration and double benefits for the disabled like they have in Norway so I am conservative on the EU and immigration like Enoch Powell. I voted new Labour in 3 general election which Tony Blair won.
PART FOUR: the army and navy stores could make a fortune out of all this. so could the army itself. and so could the youngsters. when they reach 21, they can leave their school days behind with a big wages cheque!! but would they spend the cheque in a pub or gamble it or spend it on drugs? if they have any self respect, they might, just might, go straight. some of them will go straight to the pub to spend every penny they have!!!
experiment and see what happens for a few years. it may work.
Not really true, More about democratic, Social and economic justice, It`s not just as your implying, An political ideology in favour of the have not`s
Tony, we all get a bit silly as we approach the inter-life stratosphere...
Never gave up his money
well paul rooney I agree with what ur saying here on all ur comments mate thy stab everyone in the back mate
Carry on with you tennis and don't be siily
PART 8: some socialists say they hate class distinction. if you go to a council estate, you will find a lot of snobbery there. the woman who has bough her house from thecouncil will be looking down at the woman who hasn't. and she will let you know she is a house owner. this thing about people in glass houses throwing stones does not apply to missus tuppence halfpenny who looks down on missus tuppence. people from council houses who get an education move out and up in the world. WOULDN'T YOU???
'When I was 11 I read Hitler' s Mein Kamp'.... Well there you go then... Hitler was a National Socialist... Benn was a socialist. Neither of them got far in the end... 😁
Checkout Benns comment just before 2;18 " the Labour party has never been a socialist party ",,,,etc Now compare the comment in his interview with William F. Buckley " in the firing line " here on you tube at 17;26 he says " The Labour party IS A SOCIALIST PARTY and ALWAYS HAS BEEN. This is the type of contradiction that Benn would furiously deny making ,yet it is there on camera for all to see. The man used the truth very economically when it suited him. People say he was a man of principle- yeah sure ! My bony spotty arse he was !!
Context is in person: Labour was never a true Socialist Party but it was a party that socialists had a home that socialists had a home in.
Socialism comes out of a need of necessity
PART THREE: would it be feasible to conscript youngsters from the age of 13 or 14 into the army, have a teenage brigade for them until they reach 21? discipline should bring out the best in them. educate them to the best of their abilities. admittedly, the criminal mind is usually formed at the age of 12 but, even so, an army high school education might iron out the wrinkles or wipe the cobwebs from behind their ears. let them have part time jobs inthe army, knitting, for the ARMY AND NAVY STORE
praising Cuba...a tyranny with no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, poverty caused by socialism (not by US sanctions), political executions..etc etc etc
What utter shiiittee.. read a book
As opposed to a Cuba ruled by a dictator controlled by the mafia..that had just escaped slavery
with the greatest respect ...... bollocks
A don't like the way he defended the Taliban thaw.
Sean Doherty he simply pointed out that the taliban were the government of afghanistan and we have no right to invade them for regime change.
Poor old Wedgwood Benn - deluded to the end
+Chris Burns How much of what he said is starting to transpire? Honestly, do you not see something so plain in front of you?
+Chris Burns Have you been a naughty boy smoking opium, if you have please stop.
Pro Konig
Please tell me what is starting to transpire - I like a good laugh
RIP Tony Benn. Often wrong headed and a disaster as a holder of real power. Unlike many here who know only Benn the dissenting public campaigner of the 80s and beyond, I 'm old enough to remember Tony when he actually had political power in the 60s and 70s - and he was appalling. As technology minister this renowned "egalitarian" pored colossal amounts of tax money into that rich man's white elephant, Concorde. As industry minister he wasted more money propping up that failing behemoth, the system of huge nationalized industries, and pored more public money into worker's coops which fell apart after a few years. Back In the 60s this great liberal freedom lover, as postmaster general, unceasingly tried to get rid of the offshore "pirate" radio stations the people loved and supported. After Benn had moved on, Labour did close them down, in 1967. Benn's assaults on right wing despotism rarely led him to a similar zealous blasting of even worse leftist authoritarian regimes His lining up with the late Marxist ideologue Ralph Miliband was typical of his rather one sided ideological stance. Harold Wilson said of Benn "He immatures with age". Like Gladstone, Benn, unusually, got more left wing, not right wing, as he got older. The policy of massive nationalization and a siege economy he advocated from 1980 would have been pretty much indistinguishable from that of the communist eastern block, and have been just as useless, and inevitably, like it did there, led to poor living standards for ordinary people, followed by collapse - leaving a wrecked nation requiring urgent rescue from international finance (which happened in a more limited way under Labour in 1976). He long opposed the EU as a bad thing, a dangerously undemocratic organization - in that , at least, he has been proved correct. This declared enemy of nepotism and inherited privilege went, like Cameron and co, to public school, in his case, Westminster (something he tried to obscure), where he initially sent his 2 eldest sons; like other leftist luminaries, he has a son who has become an important politician - a Labour minister. A well meaning starry eyed political dreamer - thank god many of his beliefs never became translated into reality.
It's unfortunate that you use the occasion of Tony Benn's death to attack his track record. He believed in peace and social justice. That you are glad those beliefs have not yet been realised says everything about you, but nothing about him.
You can dance on the grave of a lion, but you can't be a lion.
redword2007 He was another wealthy left wing hypocrite, and usually blind to the totalitarianism of the hard left he allied himself with. He gave up his title - so he could continue to be where real power was, in the house of commons - but not his wealth and property; the man who sanctimoniously fulminated about the fiendish and selfish rich/the corporations minimizing their taxes, made sure his family would be paying as little taxation as possible to the state on his own death. He rightly condemned right wing evil, but wrongly, conspicuously, rarely did when it came to the leftist variety - which had created millions of corpses and massive repression in the last century. Many on the left gleefully and publicly celebrated the demise of Thatcher last year. Those of us who thought Benn was often politically wrong and dangerous (including many of his erstwhile colleagues on the Labour benchers), were critical of his hard left allegiances while he was alive, in contrast, didn't rush out in the street to cheer the death of this elderly ideological opponent. I see nothing wrong with writing critically of someone because they've just died. It's hardly comparable to that frenzied, tasteless, celebratory leftist "grave dancing" which went on over Thatcher. If I survive Blair though, even I might find it hard to contain a display of joy at the passing of that creep.
You don't have to subscribe to a Bennite ideology to believe "peace and social justice" are important things to strive for, which I do; indeed, it's perfectly rational to assert that those who get in bed with Marxism are going completely the wrong way to achieve those goals. It's not peace and social justice one objects to, but the methods being advocated - creating a society based in a statist command economy and class warfare - and the inevitable totalitarianism which always goes with it, justifying/giving support to violent political/religious thugs just because they have grievances/ are anti western. Hard left politics has proved to be a recipe for some of the worst sorts of tyranny time and time again; and the view that such systems will create better living conditions and general prosperity has been shown up as bogus by example numerous times in the twentieth century. That lesson seemed to be one Benn and his allies were/are incapable of grasping. One can criticize and seek to reform the society/economy/politics of the place we live without aiming to replace it with something even worse. The core ideological nostrums Benn came to subscribe to as he got older were, in my view, bad ones, harmful in the extreme if adopted as a socio - political blueprint. Benn's problem was he developed a black and white, utterly, blindly partisan attitude to politics and society - that is, he was essentially a fanatic. In his own way he was often as tunnel visioned and fanatical as Lenin, though I'm sure he would never have been capable in reality of the latter's criminal inhumanity in constructing his particular "paradise" in power (in which case, his tougher allies would soon have got rid of him). Benn flourished in the evil capitalist west he hated and rarely gave much credit to for anything. Everything done by it was really for base, often greedy motives, self interest, not altruism or compassion. It's enemies, however wicked and repressive they actually were, were almost always to be preferred - to be conciliated, to be excused, to be justified as more sinned against than sinning. He was the straight English answer to Gore Vidal. But Anthony Wedgewood - Benn/Tony Benn would have quickly got a bullet in the head in a state based in the hard left ideology many of his supporters wished to impose - the various political hard men who he preferred to the fiendish western capitalists he lived amongst for 88 years would not have tolerated such a gobby gadfly for a minute.
redword2007 Who doesn't believe in peace and justice? But how do you get them? Benn was part of a dynasty wielding political power for most of 20C. He gave up the title but kept the money-he never had to make a living making things or serving people. This is not to say that he was a bad man, but really, a decent nurse or taxi driver probably does more for people than TB ever did. But he was good at talking.
redword2007 Yes and you can dance on the grave of a lioness but you can't be a lioness !!
twidili dee "Who doesn't believe in peace and justice?" Those who commit mass murder, those who create weapons of mass destruction and those who exploit the poor.
"He gave up the title but kept the money-he never had to make a living making things or serving people." What?
TB inspired people. He gave hope.
If only he had resisted the temptations of the crack pipe he could have been prime minister
WHAT ARE YOU SPEAKING OFF?
Tony Benn did not familiarise himself with the works of Marx until quite late in his career.
lucky him, Marx was wrong about every single thing he wrote about, every prediction wrong.
@@marcokite are you arguing that Marx was wrong that the American Civil War should be used to free black people from slavery?
Complete idealist. Thank god he never became a party leader, let alone PM.
Passionate man of conviction; sadly, they don't make politicians like him anymore
He’s my political hero. The late great Tony Benn was one of Britains greatest MP’s to never become PM.
From 1994 to 2004 I was privileged to meet with and correspond with Tony Benn. I admire that he allowed himself to be defined and driven by conviction rather than career convenience - cost whatever it might. And I was very blessed by his continual personal interest and encouragement of me through a critical decade in my life. Tony gave his life to occupying the prophetic space that speaks truth to power. This began for Tony when as a boy he was banned from his Sunday School for ably competing with the Sunday School teacher in his earnest attempts to truthfully interpret Scripture! Courage came naturally to Tony and he seemed to have no concept that this was not a universal trait. Without knowing how he did it, he unfailingly strengthened the courage of all who came close to him. Tony’s investment into younger people in his later years was inspirational. I am so grateful for his personal encouragement towards me. Without a doubt, Tony has influenced my preaching, my politics and my parenting.
He doesn't answer one question.
It says all you need to know about Benn the fact that he uses Adolf Hitler as a champion of his own ideas !!
+scabbycat cat It actually says more about you that you misinterpreted that bit.
Hitler used the idea that democracy leads to marxism, to stop democracy taking place. Benn agrees democracy leads to marxism but thinks that is a great idea. He agrees on the premise then takes the *opposite* stance.
You are welcome :o)
+Jack Mansfield No . I think Benn was using the Adolf Hitler quote to further his own ideas and agenda. Don't forget NAZI stands for National Socialism. Hitler would never have come to power if it were not for socialism.
scabbycat cat The "socialism" of the nazi's was a hook to bait people in. They used the ideas to take control of the countries industries. Then they turned very quickly into *totalitarian* regime. Nothing socialist about it.
Do yourself a favour and get familiar with all these different ideas before you start insulting the memory of someone so special. You might regret it one day if you ever learn the concepts.
+Jack Mansfield " insulting the memory of someone so special ".......... Ha! Thats a laugh isn;t it ? Tony Benn was your typical champaign socialist HYPOCRITE !!! He enjoyed all the trappings of the capitalist system whilst seeking to deny the same privilage to others. He bitterly opposed the sale of council houses whilst himself owning TWO properties. He never knew the meaning of struggling to pay rent - a tax on the working classes in all but name- Had he sold his TWO properties and given the money to charity and actually gone to live in a council house and actually lived the life of the socialism he championed , I could have respected that. And what about when he died ? it turns out he used every trick in the book to avoid paying tax on his estate ! Yes he was special wasn't he ? A millionaire and a very hypocritical one at that !
scabbycat cat You continue to throw your ignorance around with a pointy stick. I should never have talked to you int he first place, you are clearly hopeless.