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spencyrrh's review against another edition
2.0
Hannah produced an okay condescending primer.
This book has the standard, manipulatively pedagogical Trot paperback problems. It offers a gloss analysis of the UK left's defeats and enemies, with no interest in the stated motivations of the Labour right, soft left, or historic defectors. I enjoyed it as a whirlwind tour of roll-calls, old movements and seated resentments.
This book has the standard, manipulatively pedagogical Trot paperback problems. It offers a gloss analysis of the UK left's defeats and enemies, with no interest in the stated motivations of the Labour right, soft left, or historic defectors. I enjoyed it as a whirlwind tour of roll-calls, old movements and seated resentments.
unisonlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
There have been many histories of the Labour Party; Keith Laybourn, Brian Brivati, Andrew Thorpe and Henry Pelling to name a few. This appears to be the first (or the first for quite some time) to focus on the Labour Party purely from the left wing angle and attempts to set the historic framework for the current leadership which is probably the most progressive in the party’s history, in the context of a post-Thatcherite local and post-Soviet global politics.
It is a fairly short book to focus on such a large period of history, and indeed such large personalities therein, so for those wanting more insight into what drove Ellen Wilkinson or what galvanised Nye Bevan they would be better off reading direct biographies of their targets. This is very broad brush and looks at how the left have consistently been marginalised by party and governmental machinery, how Labour looks outward and more progressive in opposition, but suddenly looks inward and conforms to establishment norms when in power. The lack of depth on certain key moments is my only real criticism of the book, but once the reader is aware of them, they can be researched more thoroughly elsewhere. Also, the author tires quickly of the early history of the party where much of the political philosophies going forward were enshrined; this is clearly the book of a political activist as opposed to historian.
Very few party leaders are praised (with the exception of Clement Attlee, with qualifications), with the right of the party usually in control of the major seats of power, from the leader himself (always a him) to NEC members and trade union general secretaries; only recently have trade unions had leaders moved somewhat to the left of their general membership with notable past exceptions, and have often been in conflict with the left of the Labour Party due to naked self-interest at times, and at others a narrow but well intentioned view on what is best for their members in the short term – this latter point is nothing new, Len McCluskey may be a died in the wool socialist but UNITE represent members working in the nuclear industry and will block any moves to abolish Trident.
The book maintains a quick pace throughout and Hannah seems in his element when speaking of the splits in the 1970s and 80s. He breaks some sacred myths here about the IMF loan, Militant Tendency and the so-called “longest suicide note in history”; all these things have become millstones tied to the neck of the Labour left, unfairly in Hannah’s view and he explains why with great clarity and shows up the timidity of the late 80s / early 90s Labour leadership with passion, reserving full scorn for those in the party who refused to back the miners, dockers and printworkers in their various strike actions, which we know now (and some knew at the time) was part of a larger assault on workers’ rights under Thatcher and Major.
Moving forward, he details how left wing members of the party were deselected or not put forward for potential seats under John Smith briefly and Tony Blair more permanently. Here we see the centralisation of the party machine under Blair and his policy unit. How Party Conference was subdued and deliberately undermined to keep power within the grasp of the leadership and his cabal.
We finish of course chronologically with the defeat of 2015, with some sympathy for Ed Miliband who should have been given far more freedom to be himself, and the movement that gathered behind Jeremy Corbyn who was entered on to the leadership election ticket as a sop to the left but quickly grabbed the attention with his unfailingly human and compassionate responses to questions in debates.
Obviously this book is partial, as all political books are and indeed all histories of the Labour Party. Hannah clearly is a Corbyn supporter along with a huge number of other people and has become party of the army of dedicated activists pushing for a Labour government with a socialist face. However, despite his (twice made) democratic mandate there is a warning here that the right of the party are ideologically opposed to the politics of Jeremy Corbyn and the vast majority of members, they will come again in another coup attempt before long and those of us wanting to continue this project must be ready.
It is a vital read for anyone engaging with politics for the first time, particularly in Momentum or other Corbyn supporting movements to see how we got here, and to show them that they have the fight of their lives on their hand if they want to see a democratically elected socialist leader in this country.
It is a fairly short book to focus on such a large period of history, and indeed such large personalities therein, so for those wanting more insight into what drove Ellen Wilkinson or what galvanised Nye Bevan they would be better off reading direct biographies of their targets. This is very broad brush and looks at how the left have consistently been marginalised by party and governmental machinery, how Labour looks outward and more progressive in opposition, but suddenly looks inward and conforms to establishment norms when in power. The lack of depth on certain key moments is my only real criticism of the book, but once the reader is aware of them, they can be researched more thoroughly elsewhere. Also, the author tires quickly of the early history of the party where much of the political philosophies going forward were enshrined; this is clearly the book of a political activist as opposed to historian.
Very few party leaders are praised (with the exception of Clement Attlee, with qualifications), with the right of the party usually in control of the major seats of power, from the leader himself (always a him) to NEC members and trade union general secretaries; only recently have trade unions had leaders moved somewhat to the left of their general membership with notable past exceptions, and have often been in conflict with the left of the Labour Party due to naked self-interest at times, and at others a narrow but well intentioned view on what is best for their members in the short term – this latter point is nothing new, Len McCluskey may be a died in the wool socialist but UNITE represent members working in the nuclear industry and will block any moves to abolish Trident.
The book maintains a quick pace throughout and Hannah seems in his element when speaking of the splits in the 1970s and 80s. He breaks some sacred myths here about the IMF loan, Militant Tendency and the so-called “longest suicide note in history”; all these things have become millstones tied to the neck of the Labour left, unfairly in Hannah’s view and he explains why with great clarity and shows up the timidity of the late 80s / early 90s Labour leadership with passion, reserving full scorn for those in the party who refused to back the miners, dockers and printworkers in their various strike actions, which we know now (and some knew at the time) was part of a larger assault on workers’ rights under Thatcher and Major.
Moving forward, he details how left wing members of the party were deselected or not put forward for potential seats under John Smith briefly and Tony Blair more permanently. Here we see the centralisation of the party machine under Blair and his policy unit. How Party Conference was subdued and deliberately undermined to keep power within the grasp of the leadership and his cabal.
We finish of course chronologically with the defeat of 2015, with some sympathy for Ed Miliband who should have been given far more freedom to be himself, and the movement that gathered behind Jeremy Corbyn who was entered on to the leadership election ticket as a sop to the left but quickly grabbed the attention with his unfailingly human and compassionate responses to questions in debates.
Obviously this book is partial, as all political books are and indeed all histories of the Labour Party. Hannah clearly is a Corbyn supporter along with a huge number of other people and has become party of the army of dedicated activists pushing for a Labour government with a socialist face. However, despite his (twice made) democratic mandate there is a warning here that the right of the party are ideologically opposed to the politics of Jeremy Corbyn and the vast majority of members, they will come again in another coup attempt before long and those of us wanting to continue this project must be ready.
It is a vital read for anyone engaging with politics for the first time, particularly in Momentum or other Corbyn supporting movements to see how we got here, and to show them that they have the fight of their lives on their hand if they want to see a democratically elected socialist leader in this country.
thomme_k's review against another edition
4.0
Very good - quite whistlestop and introductory, but not the worse for that. I feel it would have benefitted from more examination of Labour's left leaders (Lansbury, Wilson, Foot, and Miliband) and the traps in which they found themselves, rather than suggesting that they became a part of the establishment as soon as they became leader.
bradley1997's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic! The labour party is a party with many factions and Simon Hannah gives a great overview of the history of the socialist wing, it was well written in such a way you wanted to keep reading. Highly reccomend!
carlosmartinez's review against another edition
4.0
A few criticisms and disagreements notwithstanding, this an extremely thoroughly researched, well written and timely history. Essential reading for those with an interest in modern British politics.
adamjames's review
4.0
A book seeking essentially to contextualise the rise of Corbyn as a historic shift in an ever present struggle in the Labour party between its left and right. His ascension to leadership was, for Simon Hannah, a passionate outburst of anger by ordinary members and a grassroots movement against a parliamentary establishment that had decided, since at least the 1980s, that the way to power and electability was to accept conservative economic principles, purge the "loony left" and discourage activism in attempts to woo right-wing press, and pivot the party away from working class interests in favour of the middle-class and bankers. And indeed, the history of Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair seems to show the complete failure of the rightwing of the party to actually win votes and push change; Kinnock failed repeatedly despite his McCarthy-esque purges, and Blair won thrice but at the cost of repelling roughly 5 million voters and more than halving the size of Labour Party membership - even while given the illusion of popular electability by the press and by the unrepresentative FPTP system. And, it needs to be said, during that time that he was in power, Blair pursued the Thatcherite economic policies that were so destructive to working class communities, took up the Tory sports of immigrant-bashing and harassing those on benefits, and even his "progressive" policies had sinister undertones - he would increase funding to the NHS an schools, but on the condition of letting the private sector creep in and profit, and he would introduce the minimum wage, but only after consulting business owners to make sure they found it comfortably low. All the while, he was attacking and criticising the power of unions, leading to multiple disaffiliating with the party, and the others to bashfully agree not to stir up trouble for him. This was all while attacking at every opportunity the internal structures of the Labour Party to reduce its internal democracy in order to cement his (and his group, Progress's) hegemony. Labour Conferences were reduced to shams. Yet through this, even the left wing of the party mostly acquiesced, many deciding that power (even when clearly not being used to make real change) was worth the cost of your soul. During many votes, Corbyn was the lone dissenter standing up for traditional Labour principles and the working class. As counter to this, Corbyn failed to win in the 2017 and 2019 elections (the latter of which taking place after the book was published), yet managed to massively swell the ranks of the party and its voter base - increasing membership from less than 200,000 to over half a million and gaining back millions of the voters that Blair lost, even while dogged by internal divisions (the right wing of his party trying intentionally and viciously to sabotage and undermine him), attacks and slander in the press, and the looming shadow of Brexit. The book, then, highlights the great myth that the left, socialist, wing of the Party is unpopular and unelectable, and also draws attention to the fact that sadly it is the Tories and the press that are allowed to dictate the narrative of events around Labour defeats. It was true in 1983 and it's true now.
That's the rough history that the last third of the book races through. I say "races" because, sadly, the book does struggle to fully grapple with its lofty subject matter, and a detailed history wouldn't exactly fit into 250 pages. So it does feel in parts that perhaps important details are missed - the Labour Party's very reluctant relationship with Gay rights, and black and female liberation (all "loony" fringe groups that the PLP thought would cost it votes), in the 70s and 80s being just one example. But, for it faults, the book does offer a compelling narrative with which to traverse the Labour Party's history and to contextualise recent events.
That's the rough history that the last third of the book races through. I say "races" because, sadly, the book does struggle to fully grapple with its lofty subject matter, and a detailed history wouldn't exactly fit into 250 pages. So it does feel in parts that perhaps important details are missed - the Labour Party's very reluctant relationship with Gay rights, and black and female liberation (all "loony" fringe groups that the PLP thought would cost it votes), in the 70s and 80s being just one example. But, for it faults, the book does offer a compelling narrative with which to traverse the Labour Party's history and to contextualise recent events.
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