The spat between the Milibands and the 'Daily Mail' and 'Sunday Mail' newspapers really is a bit of a storm in a teacup as well as being a politically inspired piece of largely irrelevant bilge. The real issue is one of perceived right-wing newspapers being pilloried by wealthy, yet supposedly committed, socialists.
Journalists have frequently dug up dirt on public figures and splashed it across their front pages. When the subjects of such abuse have been figures from the right wing, little has been said; one needs only to recall the abuse heaped on Margaret Thatcher throughout her time as Prime Minister, during her retirement and even at the time of her death, to see this. The left wing of political thought was cruel and inhuman in much of its coverage of Thatcher's life, notwithstanding that she did more to save this country from disaster than any Labour politician ever has. As far as the socialist left is concerned, anyone espousing right wing views is fair game and can be abused in the most grotesque fashion.
When it comes to making comments about left wing figures, matters are somewhat different. The left flies into high dudgeon at any suggestion that their heroes may have had feet of clay. That Ralph Miliband was a Marxist is a simple fact, and that Marxists are the enemies of freedom and democracy follows from any minor consideration of the modern histories of the Soviet Union, China and numerous other totalitarian states. Whatever is claimed by his devotees, Karl Marx was no supporter of traditional British values or society. If Ralph Miliband was a supporter of Marx, then his support for British values and society must also be open to question.
The left scream that this is all wrong and that Adolphe Miliband, who later changed his name to the more politically acceptable Ralph, was a man who truly loved 'his country'; the fact that he was actually a Belgian, of Polish extraction, who only came to England in order to escape the NAZIs in 1940 is generally glossed over. Another piece of manipulation by the left is the claim that Miliband must have loved this country because he fought for it in World War 2; yes, he joined the Royal Navy but he served in what was then a 'Belgian section', raising possible questions about which country he actually believed he was fighting for. Additionally, for a committed communist to be fighting against the NAZIs was hardly something unusual or deserving of particular praise in either case.
In later years, Miliband maintained a steadfast Marxist approach to politics, finding the Labour Party of Harold Wilson far too moderate; he supported a revolutionary socialist philosophy which he maintained to the end of his life and which was surely something unfriendly to traditional British ways. Along the way, he followed the traditional approach of high-profile left wingers by becoming rather wealthy.
The 'Daily Mail' has written that Ralph Miliband did not love Britain and this has caused an uproar from the left and from Ed Miliband in particular. Does anyone really care and does it matter in any context other than a purely political one ? I think not. 'Miliband Minor' is simply using this as a tool in his campaign to become our next Prime Minister and the sooner the manufactured row is consigned to the dustbin of history, the better.
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