Gently placing his vacuum flask on the wooden
floor beside him, Benn settled into the simple plastic chair that had
been placed for him centre-stage, lifted his eyes humbly towards the audience,
and began his argument for socialism.[1]
‘Those of us in the British
Labour Movement, looking back on the centuries of our history and tradition,
will find that most of our own ideas were rooted in some event or series of
events which radicalised contemporary thinking. All our greatest achievements –
the building of trade unionism; the winning of the vote; the establishment of
the Labour Party; its adoption of socialism; and the creation of the Welfare
State – grew out of experience. Even today most people who think of themselves
as Socialists point to what has happened to them in their own lives which
opened their minds to socialism.’ […]
‘The shipyard workers who
organised the work-in at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, the brave men and women who
fought so hard to set up Meriden and Kirkby Manufacturing and Engineering as
co-operatives, and the brilliant and humane shop-stewards at Lucas Aerospace
combined with hundreds of others to give me an education
in the real meaning of practical
socialism which no books or teachers could have matched.’ […]
‘The ideas which called the
pioneers to the service of the Socialist Movement were very varied. They were
not the followers of a single gospel of one prophet. They did not accept one
revelation as inspired. It is this which distinguishes the British Socialist
Movement from many of those on the continent.
Predominantly, the parties on the
continent have been built on the writings of Karl Marx. Around his teachings
the movement has grown. Different interpretations have been put on his creed.
In some countries, other powerful influences have been at work and the
characters of his apostles and the circumstances of the countries to which they
belong have necessarily caused differences in the method pursued by particular
parties, but they have this in common – that they were formed as definite
Socialist movements, inspired by the word revealed by Marx.
In Britain, the history of the
Movement has been entirely different. Widely diffused as his influence has
been, the number of those who accepted Marxism as a creed has always been small.
The number of those who have entered the Socialist Movement as a direct result
of his teaching has been but a fraction of the whole.’[…]
