Anthony Crosland’s ‘The Future of Socialism’ was published 70 years ago and its influence on the Labour Party has lasted for decades. So does it have anything to tell us today? ARUN LEWIS has his doubts. ‘After years of deindustrialisation, deregulation, financial collapse, austerity and Brexit, Crosland’s prediction of ever-growing abundance and consensual politics seems...
For JOHN CUNNISON disappointment with Labour budgets is ‘baked in’. He picks out his personal highs and lows from last week’s announcement. ...
Keir Starmer came to power on the back of ‘a deliberate and calculated act of internal political sabotage’, according to a new book on the party think tank behind his leadership. It reveals, says ERNIE JACQUES, ‘a secretive, deceptive campaign to dismantle the Labour left and extinguish social democratic principles’....
If opinion polls are to be believed, Labour is on course for a significant election victory. But what should the left make of its policy offer and its prospects for government? WILL BROWN casts his eye over the party’s pledges....
Labour MP Jon Cruddas has written a sweeping history of the party over the last 100 years, assessing its record, its leaders and the ideas that underpin it. IAN BULLOCK follows the ups and downs....
CHRIS WILSON surveys today’s exponents of an old left tradition still helping to promote the importance of ethical values in driving progressive change....
TREVOR FISHER examines the causes and consequences of Labour’s often bitter splits into hard left and right factions. The soft left could provide the bridge, he says, but it remains organisationally weak and politically invisible....
The Social-Democratic Federation had various names and endured many splits during its existence, but at its best it embodied the crucial and often neglected link between socialism and democracy. PAUL MAYNE reviews a new book on one of Labour’s founding organisations....
When Tony Blair’s New Labour government was elected on 1 May 1997, exactly 25 years ago last Sunday, it brought to an end 18 years of Conservative rule....
Enquiries into the nature and purpose of the Labour Party have been coming thick and fast since its calamitous defeat at the 2019 general election. The latest, and perhaps most comprehensive comes from Labour Together… ...
Easter Sunday marks 12 months since Keir Starmer was elected Labour leader on 4 April 2020. DAVID CONNOLLY assesses his first-year performance and suggests a way forward for the left....
Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership must amount to more than just competence and Union Jacks, says DAVID CONNOLLY. It’s time for Starmerism to assume the social and economic shape promised by his own campaign pledges. ...