Remembering the martyrs

Tony Benn at a rally during the miners strike of the mid 1980s

For trade unionists and socialists it is a sacred site - the birth place of the workers' movement in Britain.

This weekend thousands of people travelled to Tolpuddle in Dorset, to honour the six local men who were deported to Australia in 1834 because they campaigned for better pay and working conditions.

Former MP and socialist icon Tony Benn, who spoke at this year's rally, believes the fight by the Tolpuddle Martyrs is still relevant today:

The Tolpuddle Martyrs mark an immensely important turning point in history.

They established for the first time the right to trade unions.

Tolpuddle is one of the greatest labour union events and is officially sponsored by the TUC.

It is one of the great events in British history.

If the Tolpuddle Martyrs were around today I think they would look globally as everyone else does. Tony Benn

But you see we have blue plaques all over the country telling us that famous people live here and there but the point is that the labour movement has had to create its own celebrations and they are now growing in importance and interest.

At Tolpuddle I shall be talking about the problem we have in re-establishing democracy, which is being progressively taken away from us.

I mean the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the central bank in Frankfurt are giving orders to governments - you have to privatise your health, you have to privatise your education, you can't spend more than a certain amount and so on.

So democracy is being overtaken and replaced by a sort of global dictate of big business and banking and that is something we have to take very seriously indeed.

'Be realistic'

If you'd asked me about apartheid 30 years ago you would have said there was no point in protesting - 'Mr Benn what are you about, going to these demonstrations?

'Mandela's in prison, the whites own the banks and control the police and army and the media and the companies, surely there's no point in it?'

Or if you'd asked me 90 years ago, you would have said - 'Mr Benn, these suffragettes, what on earth are they doing, chaining themselves to railings? Women have never had the vote, be realistic Mr Benn.'

They all say that, I mean the media's function is to demoralise people who want improvements.

Really this weekend is an opportunity for people to discover and learn about their ideological inheritance Tony Benn

If the Tolpuddle Martyrs were around today I think they would look globally as everyone else does.

I mean rotten wages being paid by multi-national companies who sack workers in Britain and America and move plants to Malaysia where the wages are far lower than here and treble their profits and create unemployment.

The gap between rich and poor is wider in Britain than it was 100 years ago and enormously wide worldwide, so I'd say if the Tolpuddle Martyrs were looking at the situation they'd say we've got a lot of work to do.

Really this weekend is an opportunity for people to discover and learn about their ideological inheritance, which is peace, justice, democracy and internationalism rather than bowing and scrapping to someone you're told is better than you are.

Interview by Brian Thornton