Labour and the Left in the 1980s

Jonathan Davis is a Senior Lecturer in Russian History at Anglia Ruskin UniversityRohan McWilliam is Professor of Modern British History at Anglia Ruskin University

‘This volume is a reappraisal of the 1980s as not a time of political failure but also ‘a creative decade for the left. Victories may have been few but there was no lack of energy’ (p. 2). It claims that if the right won the economic argument of this period, the left helped set the social and moral agenda of the twenty-first century.’Twentieth Century British History ‘An illuminating book and always a serious one, offering the reader a number of full and useful discussions.’Cercles Revue‘This book reassesses both the Labour Party and the wider left in the 1980s, suggesting that this was a more creative and exciting period than has often been assumed. … The wide-ranging chapters map out important themes in the study of Labour and the left in the 1980s, and set new agendas for research.’ — English Historical Review

• Foreword by Peter TatchellIntroduction: new histories of Labour and the left in the 1980s – Jonathan Davis and Rohan McWilliamPart I: The crisis of the Labour Party1 Retrieving or re-Imagining the past? The case of 'Old Labour', 1979–94 – Eric Shaw 2 Leading the Labour Party in the 1980s – Martin Farr 3 Labour's liberalism: gay rights and video nasties – Paul Bloomfield 4 Responsible capitalism: Labour’s industrial policy and the idea of a National Investment Bank during the long 1980s – Richard Carr Part II: The British Left in a global context5 Neil Kinnock's perestroika: Labour and the Soviet influence – Jonathan Davis 6 The international context: end of an era – John Callaghan Part III: Currents of the Wider Left7 Militant’s laboratory: Liverpool City Council's struggle with the Thatcher government – Neil Pye8 ‘Fill a Bag and Feed a Family': the miners’ strike and its supporters – Maroula Joannou 9 'Race Today cannot fail': black radicalism in the long 1980s – Robin Bunce Index