The Class Struggle in Parliament - Richard Burgon MP, Socialist Campaign Group

Labour Left Podcast

In the latest episode of the Labour Left Podcast Bryn Griffiths speaks to Richard Burgon, the Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, on the theme of the class struggle in Parliament and the historical role of the Labour Left.

The podcast frames Richard Burgon’s politics with the title of the late Eric Heffer MP’s fine book The Class Struggle in Parliament written in 1973.

The interview starts with Bryn Griffiths, the podcast host, congratulating Richard on Leeds United’s recent promotion to the Premiership. A discussion that immediately segways into praise for football historian Anthony Clavane’s A Yorkshire Strategy a football history book. Clavane’s book is one of the best pieces of writing about how over thirty year’s Yorkshire’s Northern voters were left behind so it’s an excellent launch pad for a discussion about the future of the Labour Left.

The first part of the podcast looks at the making of Richard Burgon’s political thinking and the huge debt he owes to Tony Benn. The podcast reflects on Westminster University’s recent seminar on the Benn legacy. It’s fitting that a key figure of Labour’s socialist wing should place himself in this historical context.

Before getting stuck into more contemporary material the podcast reflects on recent historical events surrounding the elections in 2017, 2019 and last year in 2014.

Each episode of the Labour Left Podcast ends with the class hero of the month feature. The idea is that the guest introduces the listener to a figure in their life that has had a big influence on their political thinking. Richard chooses Dennis Skinner, the former MP for Bolsover 1970 to 2019. A discussion ensues about Skinner’s role in the Clay Cross Council rent struggle in 1972 and the great miners’ strike of 1984-85.

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If you’re new to the Labour Left Podcast, please take a look at our back catalogue as there are lots of episodes to interest students of modern history. The last episode looked at Ireland since the 1970s with historian Geoff Bell; Previous episodes have included Prof Harvey J Kaye on the legacy of the Communist Historians; Prof Corinne Fowler, talking about her book Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain; Andrew Fisher telling the story behind For the Many Not the Few Labour’s 2017 manifesto; Jeremy Gilbert, a Prof of Cultural and Political Theory, a champion of Gramsci, talking about Thatcherism; Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, on the Great 1984-85 Miners’ Strike; political activist Liz Davies telling her story as the dissenter within Blair’s New Labour; Rachel Garnham, a current co-Chair of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy looking back at the history of the fight for democracy in the British Labour Party; and finally myself telling the story of Brighton Labour Briefing, a local Bennite magazine in the 1980s.

Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive.

Bryn hosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast. You can find all the episodes of the podcast on You Tube or if you prefer audio platforms (for example Amazon, Audible Spotify, Apple etc,) go to your favourite podcast provider and just search for the Labour Left Podcast.