John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor for the opposition Labour Party, has a history of radical positions: from his opposition to the Iraq war and austerity, to being an advocate of Marxism.
Scores of people turned out to see the potential next chancellor of the exchequer John McDonnell as he took an early stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s “In conversation With…” event.
“And if, after a few years, people want to come back and say they want to test the water on an independence referendum then fair enough, that’s up to the Scottish people and the Scottish Parliament.”
Spiers asked McDonnell about the issue of Marxism, to which he replied, saying that Labour represents a broad history of “English socialism” of which “Marxism is a part.”
When asked about previous comments where McDonnell had said “Look, I’m straight, I’m honest with people: I’m a Marxist,” he explained that the comment was made in the context of Marx having predicted the financial crash.