The End of Parliamentary Socialism: From New Left to New Labour: Transforming the Labour Party from Benn to Blair to Corbyn

by Colin Leys (Author), David Coates (Contributor), Leo Panitch (Author), Leo Panitch (Author), David Coates (Contributor), Colin Leys (Author), Leo Panitch (Author)

New
Paperback
2001
$43.23

This trenchant account of the last twenty-five years of the British Labour Party argues that Tony Blair's modernizing tendency was profoundly mistaken in asserting that the only alternative to traditional social democracy and narrow parliamentarianism was an acceptance of neo-liberalism. In blaming the Labour left, rather than the social-democratic right, for the party's years in the electoral wilderness, the modernizers rejected the creativity and energy which the party's New Left had mobilized, and without which their own professed aim of democratic renewal was unlikely to be realized. In this new edition, the authors, in collaboration with David Coates, review the debate in light of the Blair government's first three years in office.

Synopsis

This trenchant account of the last twenty-five years of the British Labour Party argues that Tony Blair's modernizing tendency was profoundly mistaken in asserting that the only alternative to traditional social democracy and narrow parliamentarianism was an acceptance of neo-liberalism. In blaming the Labour left, rather than the social-democratic right, for the party's years in the electoral wilderness, the modernizers rejected the creativity and energy which the party's New Left had mobilized, and without which their own professed aim of democratic renewal was unlikely to be realized. In this new edition, the authors, in collaboration with David Coates, review the debate in light of the Blair government's first three years in office.

$43.23

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 380
Edition: 2
Publisher: Verso Books
Published: 24 Apr 2001
ISBN 10: 1859843387
ISBN 13: 9781859843383

Media Reviews

A rich and immensely enjoyable narrative, full of detail about the trajectory taken by Labour over the last quarter-century. -- Times Literary Supplement Leo Panitch and Colin Leys have written a book whose significance extends far beyond the specific case of the British Labour Party. - Critical Sociology ... a brilliant refutation of new Labour's history. With an impressive range of evidence, careful analysis and a theoretical framework, [Panitch and Leys] have produced a highly readable and committed book ... recommended for everyone who really wants to understand the politics and recent history of the Labour Party. - Contemporary Politics

Author Bio

Leo Panitch is Professor of Political Science at York University, Canada, and an editor of The Socialist Register. His publications include A Different Kind of State? (with Gerg Albo and David Langille), and Working-Class Politics in Crisis (\/erso). Colin Leys is Emeritus Professor at Queen's University, Canada. His books include Politics in Britain and The Rise and Fall of Development Theory and Politics in Britain (\/erso).