Chris Burford
Tue, 03 Feb 2004 01:53:00 -0800
Edward Miliband > http://eucenter.wisc.edu/Calendar/Spring02/miliband.htm
http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/people/affiliates/Miliband.html http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0FQP/4623_132/97994175/p1/article.jhtml http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0FQP/4652_132/107835490/p1/article.jhtml http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2004/press_02_04.cfm http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1131947,00.html Interesting exercise suggested by Doug's question. Sorry to imitate Michael Pugliese's Google method, but at least I have laid them out clearly. To my mind it illustrates that "New Labour" is not a modified genetic inheritance, nor a moral failing. It is the selective application of the methods of working of the intelligentsia of large finance capitalist corporations to left-centre politics. It is about planning long term, taking finance very seriously, and using the latest methods of finding out public views and attitudes to implement the principle that politics is the art of the possible. Some of the idealism has not gone, it is just that its application is so pragmatic that it does not show. Everything is about quietly dominating the agenda by all sorts of manouevres each one of which is opportunistic. But George Brown has not had a bad performance out of the leaders of the major capitalist economies over the last few years. His use of Edward Miliband probably reflects his strategic sense of the need to keep Britain's links with the USA constantly under review, rather than committing to the European agenda. In turn would anyone like to give a more American comment on say the last link, less than a week old, about the significance of the shifts in the Democratic primary contest, and how Edward Miliband goes about interpreting them. Chris Burford London ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Forum for the discussion of theoretical issues raised by Karl Marx and the thinkers he inspired" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 12:18 AM Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Monthly Review on Ralph Miliband > Jim Farmelant wrote: > > >Does Doug or anybody else here know about the political > >histories of Miliband's sons? In other words were they > >always Blair-type "Third Way" guys or did they go through > >a period of being radical leftists? Did their father > >ever comment publicly on his sons' politics? > > I knew Edward when he was in NYC sometime around 1990 - he was an > intern at The Nation and stuck around for a while afterwards. He was > - and assume he still is - a very likeable and intelligent fellow and > I really liked talking with him. His politics then were pretty left - > to the left of The Nation - so his Blairification came later. I've > heard from mutual friends that he was much more tortured by the > compromises he's made than his brother David, whom I met once or > twice, and was even then more obviously ambitious and conventional. > > Edward - who was universally "Eddie" then - did tell an amusing > anecdote about how his father never cursed, citing Trotsky's dictum > that the working class should behave according to the highest > standards. Edward did a pretty funny imitation of Ralph's "drat" > after stubbing his toe or some such. > > Doug > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis