McDonnell hails Karl Marx as ‘a force for change’
His ideology led to the deaths of tens of millions, but Labour’s Shadow Chancellor says the only problem is ‘branding’...
JOHN McDonnell has sparked a backlash by hailing Karl Marx as a ‘force for change today’.
The Shadow Chancellor, who last year denied being a Marxist, heaped praise on the co-author of the Communist Manifesto on the bicentenary of his birth.
Mr McDonnell told delegates at a Marx 200 conference at the weekend that the German revolutionary’s thinking had ‘relevance to changing today’s world’.
He acknowledged that Marxism had a ‘problem with branding’. But he insisted he would not be silenced by Establishment ‘lies’ about Marxism’s blood-soaked legacy – and said Marx was a major influence on Labour’s current thinking.
His comments on Saturday were fiercely criticised by both Labour and Tory politicians. They said Marxism had no place in modern Britain.
Speaking at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, Mr McDonnell had said: ‘To be considered of value, ideas have to be relevant and of interest today. Ten years after the banking crash, interest in Marxism hasn’t declined, it’s increased.’
Mr McDonnell said the financial crash had led to a ‘ significant revival of the question of who really owns our society’.
And he said this had ‘led Labour to discuss how it can develop the cooperative
‘Can’t be trusted with the economy’
sector and take back into public ownership rail and water and the post office’.
Mr McDonnell appeared in front of a banner of Marx with the slogan ‘Workers of all lands unite’ – the rallying cry of the 1848 Communist Manifesto. Fellow speakers at the event included Sitaram Yechury, leader of the Communist Party of India.
Declaring he wouldn’t allow the media to ‘silence him with a culture of selfcensorship’, Mr McDonnell said: ‘ In an open and democratic society there should be no fear of discussing the ideas of Marx.
‘I am here to reject the politics of fear promoted by the British Establishment who don’t want us to discuss the ideas of Marxism.’
Marxist doctrine suggests it is inevitable that capitalism will be overthrown by a socialist revolution. But, bizarrely, Mr McDonnell suggested it was compatible with democracy, saying: ‘ Marxism is about developing democracy, but to have an honest debate we need to be able to cut through the lies about Marxism.’
The Labour leadership’s apparent support for Marxist doctrine has alarmed many in his own party, with former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie saying: ‘Marxism should have no place in a modern Labour Party.’
Former Labour minister Ian Austin said: ‘I can’t imagine any previous Labour chancellor or shadow chancellor doing this. None of them at all. How many swing voters in target marginals will this persuade to vote Labour?’
Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall, a prominent Labour supporter who sang at Tony Blair’s general election victory party in 1997, also condemned Mr McDonnell. ‘As a communist, McDonnell does not belong in the Labour Party,’ he wrote in a tweet which he later deleted.
Mr McDonnell’s comments also faced criticism from leading Tories, who accused him of ignoring the dire record of regimes inspired by Marx. Tory vice-chairman James Cleverly said: ‘Having claimed on television that he was not a Marxist, it is telling that John McDonnell feels so comfortable advocating a philosophy which has broken economies and cost lives across the globe over the last century. It is clear that Labour cannot be trusted to be anywhere near the economy.’
On Twitter, Tory MP Neil O’Brien said: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, John McDonnell: a man who wants to be your Chancellor, who says “I am a Marxist” and is happy to stand in front of a banner of a man whose ideas led to the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people.’ Mr McDonnell has tried to tone down his hard-Left rhetoric in public since becoming Shadow Chancellor.
Speaking at a meeting in 2013 he had said; ‘I’ll be honest with people, I’m a Marxist.’
But in an appearance on the BBC last year, he denied being a Marxist, saying the German thinker’s books were recommended by mainstream economists.
A spokesman for Mr McDonnell last night denied he was a Marxist, saying: ‘As John said at the event, and as he has said previously, he is a socialist.’