John Medhurst - That Option No Longer Exists: Britain 1974-76

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT

THAT OPTION NO LONGER EXISTS

Because of the radical directions and possibilities opened up by the left of the 1970s the period has since been demonised by media, corporate and political establishments alike. And yet retrieving the real history and ideas born in the experimental turmoil of those years is vital for breaking out of the present era of reaction. In That Option No Longer Exists John Medhurst has done the left a huge service by carrying out exactly this retrieval and doing it with rigour and flair. A really excellent book.

Hilary Wainwright, Director Transnational Institute, Editor Red Pepper, Author of Beyond the Fragments and Labour: A Tale of Two Parties

John Medhurst has produced a brilliantly written polemic, with real verve and style, on leftwing politics and policies in the Britain of the 1970s. He demonstrates how the left of the Labour Party had both cogent analysis and viable policies to move the country forward but was undermined by right-wing colleagues, the media, and the entire panoply of the secret state apparatus.

The book redefines the 1970s and will be widely read as a contribution to the current debate on the future of the Labour Party and the labour movement.

Roger Seifert, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Wolverhampton Business School, author of Revolutionary Communist at Work: A political biography of Bert Ramelson

John Medhurst offers an important and well-informed account of the state of the UK during the early and mid-1970s, and a new perspective on the Wilson and Callaghan governments of the mid to late 70s. The analysis challenges the prevailing mainstream view of this period as one dominated only by crisis and instability and offers a more positive interpretation. As such the book presents a long overdue alternative perspective on the period before the advent of the Thatcher era, particularly when it comes to the role of the trade unions and broader left. Medhurst presents a thorough analysis of the internal and external challenges the Labour governments in Britain faced during that period. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in British political history. It will hopefully contribute to a new perspective on Britain under Labour in the 1970s.

Dr Christian Schweiger, Professor of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, author of Britain, Germany and the Future of the European Union

In That Option No Longer Exists, John Medhurst provides a lucid and powerfully argued case for returning to the middle years of the 1970s to understand what social, economic and political progress could have been made in Britain. He shows that these years were a turning point, with the potential for progress stymied by the forces of right-wing conservativism and reaction. Critically, he suggests that we have in our power the ability to re-imagine that sort of potential today.

Gregor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Bradford, author of Tommy Sheridan: From Hero to Zero? and An Agency of Their Own? Sex Worker Union Organising

First published by Zero Books, 2014

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Text copyright: John Medhurst 2013

ISBN: 978 1 78279 600 8

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CONTENTS

To Sue, Elizabeth and Eleanor

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank a few people who kindly offered me special advice and assistance in preparing this book and related material for publication, without whom it would not have seen the light of day in its present form:

Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper and author of outstanding books on socialism from the 1970s to today, for her participation in launching the Brighton Peoples Assembly in 2013 and her encouragement and help with the manuscript; Gregor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Bradford and Editor of the Scottish Left Review Press, for his invaluable advice on key parts of the book and other kind assistance; Roger Seifert, Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Wolverhampton Business School, for a critique of an earlier draft which improved the final version and his subsequent positive comments (especially generous as he does not agree with some of my interpretation); Dr Christian Schweiger, Lecturer in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, and principal co-ordinator of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES) research network on Europe and the financial crisis, for valuable input on the EU and for facilitating my involvement in UACES policy seminars in Brussels, London and at Cambridge University; Davy Jones, the outstanding Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown, for passing on a vital request for assistance and ensuring it was answered; Carolyn Jones, Director of the Institute of Employment Rights, for letting me blog on their website; and Tariq Goddard, for his help and welcome at Zero Books.

Also thanks to colleagues past and present within the British and European Trade Union Movement. In my three decades as a member, elected representative and employee of the civil service trade unions CPSA and PCS I have known many activists and officials at all levels who helped me along and kept the faith in dark times. I could not list them all but I offer a special salute to Amanda Millhouse, Julie Wyeth, John Khan, Tom Taylor, Martin John, Chris Hurley, John Baldock, Stuart Roberts, Susan Garcia, Terry Adams, Charlie Cochrane, Nadja Salson, Enrico Tortolano, Denis Lenihan, John McInally, Sue Bond, Chris Haswell, Pam Cole, Norina OHare, Natasha Burgess and Paul Bemrose.

Lastly, as the opportunity may not arise again, I would like to pay tribute to some personal political inspirations the artist, designer and eco-socialist William Morris; the most outstanding Labour politician of the 20th century Aneurin Bevan; the Marxist historian and radical humanist E.P Thompson; the epic truth teller and libertarian socialist Noam Chomsky; the courageous campaigner for secularism and human rights Peter Tatchell; the Leader of the Opposition Green MP Caroline Lucas; and, of course, Tony Benn.

John Medhurst

Brighton & Hove March 2014

We reject the Bolshevik way of posing the question victory first, reform after because the absence of reforms makes for defeat and not for victory. But we also reject your way of putting it reforms first and a revolutionary assault on counter revolution after because it may happen that nothing survives to be reformed if counter revolution gains a decisive victory .

Julius Martov, Leader of the Russian Mensheviks, 1919