That Tony Benn Quote In Full

'Had a long talk to the Chinese First Secretary at the embassy - a very
charming man called Liao Dong - and said how much I admired Mao Tse tung or
Zedong, the greatest man of the twentieth century. He said that I couldn't
admire Mao more than he did. I asked him how Mao was viewed now. He said Mao
was 70 per cent right and 30 per cent wrong; the Cultural Revolution didn't
work. He said he had been named after Mao - it was amusing.'


Journal entry for 6 June 1996 in Free at Last!: Tony Benn, Diaries,
1991-2001 (2003) p.371

Comments, anyone?

Thought not.

Cheersy weersy!

ROBBIE

"ROBBIE" <hjkhjkhd.DeleteThis@hhhh.com> wrote in message
news:x-CdnTPFpJXUtmnbnZ2dnUVZ8qminZ2d@bt.com...
> 'Had a long talk to the Chinese First Secretary at the embassy - a very
> charming man called Liao Dong - and said how much I admired Mao Tse tung
> or Zedong, the greatest man of the twentieth century. He said that I
> couldn't admire Mao more than he did. I asked him how Mao was viewed now.
> He said Mao was 70 per cent right and 30 per cent wrong; the Cultural
> Revolution didn't work. He said he had been named after Mao - it was
> amusing.'
>
>
> Journal entry for 6 June 1996 in Free at Last!: Tony Benn, Diaries,
> 1991-2001 (2003) p.371
>
> Comments, anyone?
>
> Thought not.
>
> Cheersy weersy!
>
> ROBBIE
>
>
>

Now, let us imagine that one you bien pensants had discovered in the diary
of a long-serving Conservative politician, 'I met Ribbentrop's grandson the
other day and told him how much I admired Hitler - greatest man of the 20th
century' etc. It would be a very different story, eh?

But Benn had a column in the Guardian yesterday.

Did Orwell write in vain?...

ROBBIE