The moral basis of socialism and its relevance today. The Eric Heffer Memorial Lecture - by Tony Benn.
Benn: "Any oppression angered Hetfer' Reviewed by Helen Shaw THIS PAMPHLET is a little gem encapsulating the humanity. passion and style of Benn's socialism and a fitting memorial to his comrade Eric Hefler.
It begins with an overview of Heffer's life and commitment to socialism and is a fitting tribute to a man who in Benn's words got very, very. angry at any oppression or any injustice...he rumbled like a volcano, like Mount Etna before it spewed forth its molten lava'.
It goes on to refute those who saw the fall of the Berlin wall as the end of socialism and like Fukuyama proclaimed the end of history.
Benn says:
I happened to be in Calcutta when his (Fukuyama's) book came out and there were the hungry, starving people on the streets.
'If the book was to be beleved they were always going to be hungry, and always going to starve because history had ended and capitalism had won. Socialism and the ideas of socialism are out of date, we are told."
Anecdote is liberally used throughout the pamphlet and makes particular impact when ta kina doout wie reasols peu ple become socialists.
Central to the text is the analogy Benn draws between socialist morality and "true' bilisusity He claims that the book of Genesis in the Christian bible introduced into the world a revolutionary idea with ils statement '1 am my brother's keeper.
He also highlights the difference between a hierarchy which is concerned to protect its power and the faith that brings a church or political party into existence.
He states that at 'the root of tion that you should judge decisions that nave to uc miaoe nos by profit and loss but by right and wrong .
As in many of Benn's speeches, the subject matter Benn's speech summed up Heffer's socialism many common themes that appear in lots of his speechesdemocracy, the heritage of the Levellers, the lack of democracy in the Labour Party.
It encapsulates Benn's politics, and the Christian socialist tradition in which he is rooted. It is worth reading for all that is good about Benn's politics and about what is wrong with a socialism based on faith.
Commitment, sense of moral indignation and a feel for history may not be enoughbut they are all valuable commodities for socialists!
(Availabre from North Oxfordhire Socialist Campaign Group)
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 48, September 1993, Page 12