Published: 1 December, 2011
by JOHN GULLIVER

EMINENT political scientist and author Leo Panitch faced a dilemma on Friday evening.

He was giving a talk at the London School of Economics (LSE) on the 50th anniversary of the publication of a seminal book, Parliamentary Socialism, by Ralph Miliband – an international star on the left. Should he tell it as it is? Or should he keep mum?

The great Miliband – once a lecturer at the LSE – had long been critical of Labour as an “agency” to introduce socialism in Britain.

In his time – he died in 1994 – Labour regarded its responsibility to create “welfare” capitalism.  

Today, Ralph’s son, Ed, Labour’s new leader, believes in “responsible” capitalism.

To some it may seem like hair-splitting.

Those on the Labour left would see it as a reflection of the intellectual crisis in the party.

Panitch’s talk didn’t travel on tram-lines.

The financial crisis was deepening, he said, but despite cuts, living standards in the US remained higher than two decades ago, largely because people living on credit had been “integrated” into the debt system.

But he was critical of “social democratic parties” for refusing to support trade unions mobilising against austerity cuts.

Then he mentioned the E word.

He looked pained when he said how wrong Ed Miliband had been to describe all union strikes as an expression of “failure”, at a party conference.

After the talk I spoke to him about his remarks on Ed, and with an embarrassed smile he said: “Yes, I know – actually I hesitated to say it. I am seeing Ed tomorrow.”

As a friend of the family, it had obviously pained him to criticise Ed Miliband in public.

I believe he saw Ed in his Dartmouth Park home Miliband on Saturday and then flew back to Canada where he lectures at York University.