Editing Tony Benn (section)

===Move to the left===

By the end of the 1970s, Benn's views had shifted to the [[left wing]] of the Labour Party. He attributed this political shift to his experience as a Cabinet Minister in the [[Labour government, 1964–1970|1964–1970 Labour Government]]. Benn ascribed his move to the left to four lessons:

# How "the Civil Service can frustrate the policies and decisions of popularly elected governments"
# The centralised nature of the Labour Party which allowed the Leader to run "the Party almost as if it were his personal kingdom"
# "The power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by use of the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government"
# The power of the media, which "like the power of the medieval Church, ensures that events of the day are always presented from the point of the view of those who enjoy economic privilege"<ref>{{cite book |last=Benn |first=Tony |title=Out of the Wilderness: Diaries 1963–67 |publisher=Arrow |year=1988 |pages=xi–xiii |isbn=978-0-09-958670-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/outofwildernessd0000benn }}</ref>

As regards the power of industrialists and bankers, Benn remarked:

{{blockquote|Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes by the unions is minuscule. This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the [[International Monetary Fund]] secured cuts in our public expenditure. ... These [four] lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them. [[Parliamentary democracy]] is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is, and some new [[Chartism|Chartist]] agitation might be born and might quickly gather momentum.<ref>{{cite book |last=Benn |first=Tony |title=Out of the Wilderness: Diaries 1963–67 |url=https://archive.org/details/outofwildernessd0000benn |url-access=registration | year=1988 |page=xiii |publisher=Arrow |isbn=9780099586708 }}</ref>}}

Benn's philosophy consisted of a form of [[syndicalism]], [[state planning]] where necessary to ensure national competitiveness, greater democracy in the structures of the Labour Party and observance of Party Conference decisions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kavanagh |first=Dennis |chapter=Tony Benn: Nuisance or Conscience? |editor= Kavanagh, Dennis |title=Politics and Personalities |year=1990 |page=184 }}</ref> Alongside an alleged 12 Labour MPs,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/profiles/story/0,9396,-361,00.html|title=Tony Benn {{!}} Aristotle {{!}} guardian.co.uk Politics|website=www.theguardian.com|access-date=9 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603203419/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/profiles/story/0,9396,-361,00.html|archive-date=3 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> he spent 12 years affiliated with the [[Institute for Workers' Control]], beginning in 1971 when he visited the [[Upper Clyde Shipbuilders|Upper Clyde Shipyards]], arguing in 1975 for the "labour movement to intensify its discussion about [[industrial democracy]]".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Matthews|first1=Nick|title=Benn, co-ops and workplace democracy|url=http://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/getDocument/DWMS_2014_04_14_020?fileType=PDF|access-date=9 April 2016|work=The Morning Star|date=14 April 2014|page=20|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419165216/http://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/getDocument/DWMS_2014_04_14_020?fileType=PDF|archive-date=19 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

He was vilified by most of the press while his opponents implied and stated that a Benn-led Labour Government would implement a type of Eastern European state socialism,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kavanagh |first=Dennis|chapter=Tony Benn: Nuisance or Conscience? |editor=Kavanagh, Dennis |title=Politics and Personalities |publisher=Macmillan |year=1990 |page=78 }}</ref> with [[Edward Heath]] referring to Benn as "[[Commissar]] Benn"<ref>{{cite news|last1=Warden|first1=John|title=Heath broadside for 'Commissar Benn'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8pFAAAAAIBAJ&pg=5317%2C2702134|newspaper=The Glasgow Herald|date=13 June 1974}}</ref> and others referring to Benn as a "[[Champagne socialist|Bollinger Bolshevik]]".<ref name="Turner2009" /> Despite this, Benn was overwhelmingly popular with Labour activists in the constituencies: a survey of delegates at the Labour Party Conference in 1978 found that by large margins they supported Benn for the leadership, as well as many Bennite policies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Whiteley |first1=Paul |last2=Gordon |first2=Ian |title=The Labour Party: Middle Class, Militant and Male |journal=[[New Statesman]] |date=11 January 1980 |pages=41–42 }}</ref>

He publicly supported [[Sinn Féin]] and the [[unification of Ireland]], although in 2005 he suggested to Sinn Féin leaders that it abandon its long-standing policy of not taking seats at Westminster ([[abstentionism]]). Sinn Féin in turn argued that to do so would recognise Britain's claim over [[Northern Ireland]], and the Sinn Féin constitution prevented its elected members from taking their seats in any British-created institution.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/northern_ireland/4540343.stm |title=Benn's call for SF to take seats |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date= 12 May 2005 |access-date=2 May 2010 }}</ref> A supporter of the [[Scottish Parliament]] and [[political devolution]], Benn however opposed the [[Scottish National Party]] and [[Scottish independence]], saying: "I think nationalism is a mistake. And I am half Scots and feel it would divide me in half with a knife. The thought that my mother would suddenly be a foreigner would upset me very much."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Peterkin|first1=Tom|title=Scottish independence: Tony Benn: 'UK split would divide me with a knife'|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-independence-tony-benn-uk-split-would-divide-me-with-a-knife-1-2475596|access-date=6 February 2016|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=18 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207065807/http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-independence-tony-benn-uk-split-would-divide-me-with-a-knife-1-2475596|archive-date=7 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[British politics]] during this period, the term "Bennism" came into use to describe the [[conviction politics]], economic, social and political ideology of Tony Benn; and an exponent or advocate of Bennism was regarded as a "Bennite".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://leftunity.org/benn-and-bennism/ |title=Benn and Bennism |publisher=LeftUnity |first=Kellaway |last=Dave |date=14 March 2014|access-date=13 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140619060406/http://leftunity.org/benn-and-bennism/ |archive-date=19 June 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Marr, pp. 392–395 (''The Left at War With Itself'').</ref><ref name="sr205">{{cite news|last=Renton|first=Dave|date=February 1997|title=Does Labour's Left Have an Alternative?|work=Socialist Review|url=http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr205/labour.htm|url-status=dead|access-date=2 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030911080922/http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr205/labour.htm|archive-date=11 September 2003}}</ref>