A Party with Socialists in It

A History of the Labour Left

Simon Hannah author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Pluto Press

Published:20th Aug '22

Should be back in stock very soon

This paperback is available in another edition too:

A Party with Socialists in It cover

*A Guardian Book of the Day*

The defeat of socialist firebrand Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader in 2019 confirmed Tony Benn’s famous retort 'the Labour party has never been a socialist party, although there have always been socialists in it.'

For over a hundred years, the British Labour Party has been a bastion for working class organisation and struggle. However, has it ever truly been on the side of the workers? Where do its interests really lie? And can we rely on it to provide a barrier against right-wing forces?

Simon Hannah’s smart and succinct history of the Labour left guides us through the twists and turns of the party, from the Bevanite movement and the celebrated government of Clement Attlee, through the emergence of a New Left in the 1970s and the Blairism of the 1990s, to Corbyn’s defeat and his replacement by Keir Starmer.

This new edition is updated throughout, with a new final chapter and conclusion bringing the story up to date.

'A welcome corrective, This book astutely appraises British politics’ most frustrating but important dissident tradition'

-- 'Guardian'

'Admirably clear-sighted'

-- 'New Statesman'

'At a very crucial time in British politics, this book helps us to fill in important gaps in our knowledge'

-- David Coates, author of 'Prolonged Labour: The Slow Birth of New Labour in Britain'

'A well-timed explanation of the class contradictions at the root of the Labour Party from its creation to the present day'

-- 'Labour Brief

ISBN: 9780745345574

Dimensions: 216mm x 140mm x 19mm

Weight: 292g

272 pages

2nd edition