Dave rightly mocks Aaronovitch for saying that he could vote for Cameron. But of course, Aaro is only one of many ex-Tankies to have switched to managerialist ideology; there's also, among others, John Reid and Peter Mandelson.
There's no surprise here. Such a shift is entirely consistent with their youthful beliefs. Stalinism-Leninism and managerialism are really very similar.
Tankies only really supported the working class because they thought the laws of historical development favoured this class; Aaro's belief that "progessive" is a clear and obvious good thing suggests the legacy of historical determinism runs deep. And to old Tankies, morality consisted in being on the right side of history. As Lenin said:
We do not believe in an eternal morality, and we expose the falseness of all the fables about morality. Morality serves the purpose of helping human society rise to a higher level. (The tasks of the youth leagues, speech on October 2, 1920).
Today, it seems the forces of history helping human society to rise to a higher level consist not in the growing strength of the working class, but in the rise of globalization. Morality requires Tankies to support this.
It's entirely natural that, therefore, that they should switch their allegiance from the centralist hierarchies that claimed to support the interests of the working class to the centralist hierarchies that claim to want "modernization." Tankies always supported hierarchy.
As for freedom and equality, well - the Tankies never supported those.
Trade, invention, liberty, sound money and small government: do you think we'll ever see a party that stands for those? We get the smirks of Clinton or W, the inane grins of Blair, and constriction, constraint, interference, prohibition, oppression, and on and on and on. Plus wars. Hang the lot of them.
Posted by: dearieme | May 25, 2006 at 12:01 PM
Okay, I'm going to expose my ignorance here: Tankies?
Posted by: Matt M | May 25, 2006 at 12:01 PM
'Tankies' is a disparaging phrase used to refer to those on the left who supported the Russian invasion which crushed the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. As a result it came to be associated with the Communist Party and those who continued to support it afterwards, though in other countries, notably Italy, Socialist parties also had groups of 'Tankies'. Obviously Aaronovitch, Reid and Mandelson are ex-members of the CPGB.
Posted by: Igor Belanov | May 25, 2006 at 12:14 PM
Thanks.
Posted by: Matt M | May 25, 2006 at 12:20 PM
Tanks for dat, Igor. ;-)
Posted by: Backword Dave | May 25, 2006 at 12:23 PM
I agree with all of this except the suggestion that it's in some sense surprising. But now I'm just playing "I was an anti-managerialist before you were", so never mind.
1956 was the biggest split in Western Communist ranks, but it wasn't the last time true believers earned the 'tankie' label. According to someone who knew him at the time, Charlie "Living on thin air" Leadbeater actually joined the CP *after the suppression of Solidarnosc*. (Come to think of it, when was it Aaro left the party?)
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