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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
When Labour chose austerity: the 1976 IMF crisis
Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
TURNING POINT: The anti-cuts plan put forward by Tony Benn (left) was rejected by James Callaghan (right) — and Labour has never looked back

IN 1973 there was a military coup against a democratically elected left-wing government in Chile. It was a bloody and vicious affair (on the part of the army and its US backers) but is probably not the preferred instrument of the ruling order for regime change or, perhaps more accurately, regime changes.

Sometimes there are people who have to go or be moved to “keep the markets happy.” It happened to Tony Benn in 1975 after Labour was elected twice in 1974, February and October.

But more often it’s about policy changes. What it meant for Britain in 1976 is largely a matter of historical record and memoirs now.

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