The book weaves together beautifully the plethora of ideas, personalities, social forces, and political traditions that have shaped the modern Labour Party.
Frank Field MP
I hope this updated edition of The Struggle for Labours Soul will shed a greater light on the debates in, on, and around the Labour Party and our future.
Dame Margaret Beckett MP
THE STRUGGLE FOR LABOURS SOUL
The election of the most left-wing Labour Party Leader since 1945, followed by the Partys third consecutive general election defeat and the ongoing cultural divisions around Brexit present an ideal opportunity for a thorough re-evaluation of the state of the Party within its broader ideological and historical context.
This second edition of this highly respected book analyses the current developments and places them in their historical setting through a clear three-part framework of Ideological Positions, Struggles and Commentaries.
Thoroughly updated and featuring contributions by leading academics and politicians, it continues to represent one of the most ground-breaking and thorough analyses of Labours political thought in a generation and will be of key interest to scholars, students and observers of British Politics, British History, Party Politics, and the Labour Party.
Matt Beech is Senior Lecturer in Politics and founding Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull, UK. He is Senior Fellow in the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Kevin Hickson is Senior Lecturer in British Politics at the University of Liverpool, UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Raymond Plant has been a Labour Peer since 1992 and was Master of St Catherines College, Oxford between 1994 and 2000. He has also held professorial appointments at Kings College London and the University of Southampton, UK.
ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN BRITISH POLITICS
This series aims to promote research excellence in political science, political history and public-policy making, whilst addressing a wide array of political dynamics, contexts, histories and ideas. It will retain a particular focus on British government, British Politics and public policy, while locating those issues within a European and global context.
Series editors: Patrick Diamond and Tim Bale of Queen Mary University, London, UK.
The Struggle for Labour's Soul
Understanding Labour's Political Thought Since 1945
Edited by Raymond Plant, Matt Beech and Kevin Hickson
Centralisation, Devolution and the Future of Local Government in England
Steve Leach, John Stewart and George Jones
The Struggle for Labour's Soul
Understanding Labour's Political Thought Since 1945, second edition
Edited by Matt Beech, Kevin Hickson and Raymond Plant
Second edition published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2019 selection and editorial matter, Matt Beech, Kevin Hickson; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Matt Beech, Kevin Hickson and Raymond Plant to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2004
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Beech, Matt, editor. | Hickson, Kevin, 1974- editor. | Plant, Raymond, editor. | Beech, Matt.
Title: The struggle for labour's soul : understanding labour's political thought since 1945 / edited by Matt Beech, Kevin Hickson and Raymond Plant.
Description: Second edition. | Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018008452| ISBN 9781138047358 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138047372 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315170848 (ebook : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Labour Party (Great Britain)History20th century. | Great BritainPolitics and government1945-
Classification: LCC JN1129.L32 S78 2018 | DDC 324.24107dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018008452
ISBN: 9781138047358 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781138047372 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781315170848 (ebk)
Dedicated to the memories of Gladys May Roberts (19152011) and Herbert Shoesmith (19212016)
Emmanuelle Avril is Professor of Contemporary British Politics and Society at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University. Her main line of research is intra-party democracy, organisational change and mobilisation within the Labour Party. Her latest publications include the co-edited works Labour United and Divided from the 1830s to the Present (2018) and Democracy, Participation and Contestation: Civil Society, Governance and the Future of Liberal Democracy (2016).
Dame Margaret Beckett MP has been MP for Derby South since 1983 having previously represented Lincoln from 197479. She was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1992, acting as Leader following the death of John Smith. She held numerous Cabinet positions from 1997 including President of the Board of Trade, Leader of the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Foreign Secretary. She is the current longest serving woman MP.
Matt Beech is Senior Lecturer in Politics and founding Director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. He is Senior Fellow in the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He teaches post-war British political history, government and ideas. His next book, The Triumph of Progressivism? From Blair to Brexit will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020.
Andy Burnham was elected Mayor of Greater Manchester on 4th May 2017 having previously been MP for Leigh between 2001 and 2017. He held numerous Cabinet positions including Secretary of State for Health and for Culture, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2007 and 2010; and Shadow Cabinet positions at Home Affairs, Health and Education between 2010 and 2017. He stood for the leadership in 2010 and 2015.
David Coates holds the Worrell Chair in Anglo-American Studies in the Department of Political Science at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. His recent publications include America in the Shadow of Empires (2015), Capitalism: The Basics (2016),
