Tony Benn & Duncan Hallas: Lessons of 1926 General Strike

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk
Independent Media Society film based around a debate between Tony Benn and founder member of the Socialist Workers Party Duncan Hallas. The debate took place at Marxism 1996 - the annual summer conference of the SWP.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• marxism
• socialism
• revolution
• resistance
• left
• wing
• communism
• trotsky
• lenin
• SWP
• international
• socialists
• campaign
• protest
• democracy
• TUC
• days
• of
• hope
• labour
• trade
• union
• struggle

[MarxBakuninMe]

Unions = sell-outs. The workers have to be in charge of the union - how can we talk about industrial democracy when the workers don't even decide the direction of the union?

[herrkaliyuga]

Tony Benn is inspired here. Thanks so much.

[MrLovethelife]

@TheEphos

I believe it was the torry ideology that defeated the miners, maybe these huge stocks contributed to closing the pits i don't know but i do know that it was the competition from foreign cheap labour that had a massive contribution to the pits closing. I would aruge that John is a man of principle especially considering he has been kicked out of parliament because of his beliefs. John is easily 1 of the best MP's we have!

[TerrySleeper]

@TheEphos - but they lost & broke with Republican tradition by laying down their arms & settling for far less than originally envisaged. Hence the dissident Republicans who are, literally, sticking to their guns.

[TheEphos]

@mojo972 Statesman like? Duncan Hallass led mutiny's amongst British soldiers when he was a soldier himself in Egypt. Not many "statesman" I've noticed do that.

[TheEphos]

@eoin1916 That is bullshit. I was a postie on strike then for thirteen weeks in '71 and the tories were in power under Ted Heath.

[TheEphos]

@TerrySleeper Loyalist mobs who attacked people campaigning for civil rights - intimidating and burning Catholics out of their homes led to the British Army being on the streets of Northern Ireland. Initially they were welcomed by those under threat, then that all changed when it was clear that the army was there to defend the sectarian state. The IRA and it's decision to take up arms was a direct result of 'Bloody Sunday', when unarmed civilians were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment.

[TheEphos]

@MrLovethelife Benn was Minister for technology in Wilson's cabinet. When he was Minister for energy he introduced an incentive scheme in the mining industry, that ironically built up huge stocks of coal that were used to defeat the miners. John McDonnell? Apparently on the left of the Labour party. Reasonable rhetoric, but not radically different from any previous labelled "lefty" I've witnessed over many years in the Labour party, well apart from Eric Heffer (R.I.P). A man of principle.

[MrLovethelife]

@TheEphos

Benn has/is campaigned more or less the majority of his life trying to introduce decent legislation to improve working conditions for the working class and more. Benn was never part of the establishment as he often rebelled against the party whip and voted on his own accord, in my eyes thats independence against the establishment! what are your thoughts of John mcdonnell comrade?

[TheEphos]

Benn is a Privy Councillor and a signed up member of the establishment. His continued support for the Labour party, despite their long record of betrayal, is all you need to know about his feeble rhetoric about change.

[LambrettaSXsepcial]

2011 general strike?

[dezmundo1251]

the big challenge for socialism now is how to deliver the message to the newly created lower middle class. Those who have the illusion of social mobility because they have been able to buy a flat screen tv, go on holiday to spain once a year and kit out their moben kitchen, all of which has been bought with crippling credit card debt and personal loans. We have to convince the middle classes that they have more to gain from socialism than from the consumer society.