Speak for Britain!: A New History of the Labour PartyAppearing at a critical juncture in the history of the Labour Party, "Speak for Britain!" provides an original and challenging interpretation of Labour's evolution from its sectional trade union origins to its present status as a national governing party. Making use of a wide range of primary sources as well as constituency party records that reveal the dynamics of membership recruitment and the adoption of candidates, Martin Pugh challenges many traditional accounts written from the perspective of the national leadership. Controversially, he argues that Labour never entirely succeeded in becoming "the party of the working class." Rather than converting the whole working class to Socialism, it skillfully adapted itself to the variations in local and regional political cultures by making use of Victorian Liberal-Radical traditions in some areas and employing a populist Tory brand of politics in others. Moreover, the character of the party was shaped by the recruitment of many of its influential leaders from middle and upper-class Conservative backgrounds. "Speak for Britain!" charts Labour's rise to power by re-examining the importance of the First World War, the General Strike of 1926, Labour's breakthrough at the 1945 general election, the influence of post-war affluence, and consumerism on the fortunes and character of the party, and its revival after the defeats of the Thatcher era. Finally, in a fresh assessment of Labour in government since 1997, Martin Pugh shows how the party became marginalized and emasculated by Tony Blair's presidential style of government. He also reveals one of the party's enduring weaknesses: the tendency to choose the wrong leadersand then to hang on to them for too long." |
Contents
Lilylivered Methodists | 14 |
No bigger than a mans hand | 37 |
Not a single Socialist speech | 60 |
Copyright | |
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activists adopted annual conference Anthony Crosland argued Attlee Barbara Castle became Ben Tillett Benn Bevan Bevin Birmingham Blair BLPES Britain by-election Cabinet Callaghan campaign cent Churchill Colne Valley Communist Conservatives constituency parties Cripps Crosland despite Diary economic Edwardian effect electoral Gaitskell George Lansbury Harold Wilson Henderson Herbert Morrison Hugh Dalton ibid Independent Labour industrial January Jenkins Jimmy Thomas John Keir Hardie Kinnock Labour candidates Labour government Labour leaders Labour members Labour Movement Labour MPs leadership left-wing Liberal Lloyd George London Lord majority membership ment Michael Foot Mikardo million Morrison Mosley municipal nationalisation October organisation Parliament parliamentary party's patriotic political polls Popular Front prime minister Ramsay MacDonald recognised reform result role seats Snowden socialism socialist strategy strike Thatcher Tillett tion Tony Benn Tony Blair Tory trade unions traditional unemployment unionists victory vote voters wages wartime Wilson women workers working-class