In Leo Panitch and Colin Leys study Searching for Socialism: The Project of the Labour New Left from Benn to Corbyn (2020), the crucial figure of Tony Benn is celebrated for his unique style of democratic, political leadership. Benn's career in the Labour Party and Parliament spanned more than fifty years, and in that time he served in several Labour cabinets, and was a major contributor to efforts to democratise the Party. Alongside Vladimir Derer, Benn helped establish the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and the Rank-and-File Mobilising Committee. Benn and hundreds of other activists lobbied with these organisations to grant more democratic authority and power to the Party membership, at conference and by backing a policy known as mandatory re-selection which made Labour MPs more accountable to their constituency Party branches.
Benn giving a speech at the Labour rally 'Jobs First: The Socialist Alternative', September 1981.
Despite his popular status for many progressives in Britain during the 60s and 70s, and his institutional authority as a decision-maker within government and Labour's national executive committee, the style of Benn's leadership made him an advocate for collective interests instead of an individual agent for change. He kept an annual record of the hundreds of meetings at which he gave speeches, and Panitch and Leys argue that Benn estimated his success as a politician according to this. The platform of Benn's leadership was more important to him than the hard power assigned to his roles:
"This was consistent with the role of motivator and educator, rather than legislator and decision-maker, which [Benn] now ascribed to political leadership. His leitmotif was giving people a sense of their own power and encouraging them to use it."1
Consequently, Benn's significance as a politician was in his ability to rally popular support for motions at conference, and to make more transparent the workings of power at the heights of government for the British people and Party members. As Minister for Industry under Harold Wilson, Benn repeatedly challenged the principle of cabinet collective responsibility, speaking out against government narratives and policies which he disagreed with or felt were dishonest. Amidst the economic turmoil of the 70s, Benn believed that increased communication from government would ward off political apathy, garner support, and help to create an engaged populace. What's more, his work to democratise the Labour Party was grounded in a belief that the more participatory that policy and decision making processes are, the more vibrant a political movement becomes.
Joseph Schumpeter, one of the seminal theorists of democracy, famously argued that healthy democratic structures emphasize the authority of the collective while at the same time enabling leaders to direct and encourage others.2 In conventional parliamentary systems as in Britain, the people exercise their power in limited ways - voting for governments which then have relative freedom to pursue policies and decisions which generally cannot be vetted by the majority till the next election. In the figure of Tony Benn, we see an example of democratic leadership devoted to extending greater power to the people, encouraging a more active political climate in the process.
1. Leo Panitch, Colin Leys, Searching for Socialism: The Project of the Labour New Left from Benn to Corbyn, (Verso: London, 2020), p.55
2. Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, (Wilder: Vancouver, 2012), p.286