Dare to Be a Daniel by Tony Benn

to their defeat – as Archbishop Desmond Tutu later attempted with his policy of Truth and Reconciliation.
    When Father lost his North Aberdeen seat, he sent Michael a very sweet telegram from Scotland, saying:
    + + MUCH MORE TIME FOR GAMES NOW = DADDY + +
    The 1935 election was the first which I remember and in which I was involved. I thought of myself as a socialist at an early age, although I did not really understand what ‘socialism’ meant. I distributed a little book called
Fifty Reasons Why You Should Vote Labour
. It cost one penny and on each page was a different policy, such as:
    No. 1 The Peace Act: Once it was passed no Government without violating the law of the land could resort to war as an instrument of national policy.
    No. 15 National Transport: The duty of the National Transport Board would be to bring all forms of transport together to give the public good service and the employees a fair deal.
    No. 26 Land Ownership: A primary step towards the national planning of agriculture is to bring all agricultural land under public ownership.
    No. 41 Child Welfare: Labour’s Policy is to provide more and better infant welfare centres and to develop, on a large scale, open-air nursery schools.
    ----
    FIFTY REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE LABOUR
    Prices:
    1 copy, 1½d. post free
    12 copies, 10d. „
    100 „ 6s. 8d. „
    from
    T HE L ABOUR P UBLICATIONS D EPT .
    Transport House,
    Smith Square, London, S.W.1
    October 1935
    3.—DISARMAMENT
    Labour stands for drastic disarmament by rapid stages through international agreement.
    A Labour Government would maintain such defence forces as are necessary and consistent with our membership of the League.
    But the best defence is not huge competitive armaments, but the organisation of collective security and the agreed reduction of national armaments everywhere.
    Labour has not “abandoned hope.” It would make a fresh effort, and, in particular, would propose to other nations the complete abolition of all national air forces, the effective international control of civil aviation and the creation of an international air force.
    ----
    I also distributed a leaflet issued by the Mineworkers Federation (fore-runner of the NUM) describing the deaths and injuries in the pits in the nine years following the general strike when the coal owners were dominant and were supported by the National Government. Having kept it in my archives I had it copied and reissued it, fifty years later during the miners’ strike in 1984–5, as a warning of what was at stake.
    ----
    THE PRICE OF COAL
    7,839 KILLED
    1,200,042 INJURED
    That is the price of Coal for the years 1927–34. The dead include 231 boys under 16, 320 lads between 16 and 18, and 294 lads between 18 and 20. The killed and injured include 199,612 lads and boys under 20.
GREATER OUTPUT
LOWER WAGES
The output of coal per man per shift has increased by nearly a third since 1924, but wages per
man have gone down by nearly a sixth. Thousands receive less than 40/- per week.
    ----
    ----
    THE MINERS’ CLAIM
    THE MINERS CLAIM AN EXTRA 2/- PER SHIFT, THEY OFFER TO ABIDE BY THE DECISION OF INDEPENDENT ARBITRATORS.
    ——THE COALOWNERS HAVE REFUSED INDEPENDENT ARBITRATION.
    ——THE “NATIONAL” GOVERNMENT HAS ALSO REFUSED TO TAKE ACTION.
    ——THE “NATIONAL” GOVERNMENT IS ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF THE COALOWNERS.
    THE MINERS DEMAND A LIVING WAGE
    ----
    My first visit to the House of Commons was on 22 February 1937 to see Father take his seat for Gorton, which he had won in a by-election that month. He introduced me to Lloyd George, and to Clement Attlee, who had become the new Labour leader.
    Going back to 1932, after the General Election my parents decided to visit Marburg in Germany for two months, where Father wished to learn German and Mother continued to study Hebrew. My mother described how suspicious the German authorities were of her interest in Judaism. It was on the eve of Hitler coming to power, and my parents came back with