The British Labour Party And The Wider World

The legacy of Blair and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan continue to loom large for the Labour Party, whether in opposition or in government, giving rise to fierce debates over Labour's attitude and posture towards the wider world. This book considers the idea of Labour's international identity, examining how world events and Labour's response to them have helped to shape ideology, political culture and domestic agendas from the 1920s until the Iraq War. It provides a fascinating and original exploration of Labour both on the world stage and at home - from the influence of the Soviet Union on political thought in the interwar years to the international student revolts of the 1960s, and from media in the 1990s to Kosovo and New Labour Interventionism. This is essential reading for scholars of modern British politics, as well as anyone interested in the motivations and influences behind the Labour Party's actions on the world stage.

"Following Britain's - and specifically the Blair Government's - decision to support the United States in the war against Iraq, much has been written about the Labour party's international posture and perspectives. Yet very little serious academic analysis of Labour's stance towards the wider world has taken place among specialists. "The British Labour Party and the Wider World" examines how throughout the twentieth century Labour's international policies have been influenced by domestic politics, and how in turn world events and Labour's response to them have helped to change the party's ideology, political culture and domestic agenda from the 1920s up to the Iraq War. This is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the motivations and influences behind the Labour Party's actions on the world stage, as well as students and researchers of British politics."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Part of a set tracing the evolution of the Labour Party's foreign policy during the 20th century, this text assesses the development and evolution of Labour's world-view and follows its foreign policy during World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Cold War.

In 1906, a confident Labour Party felt that it was already rattling the governing classes. Its campaigning cartoon, which gives this book its title, showed the party wielding an axe towards the gates of Parliament, cutting through the special interests protecting the old system to aid the working classes. What followed was the remarkable transformation of a parliamentary pressure group into a credible governing force. The inter-war years were a crucial stage in the development of the Labour Party as it grew from pressure group status, to national opposition, to party of government. At the end of the Great War (1914-1918) Labour had a developing national organisation and a fledgling constitution. By 1922, it rivalled the war-ravaged Liberals as the party of opposition; a fact that was affirmed with the formation of the first minority Labour government in January 1924. The second Labour administration of 1929 collapsed amidst the whirlwind of the 'great depression' but the organisational basis of the party remained solid allowing Labour to reinvent itself over the 1930s. By the Second World War, the foundations had been laid for the landslide victory that brought in the Attlee government of 1945. Matthew Worley has written the first study dedicated solely to this crucial period in Labour's development. In an accessible style, he provides a comprehensive account of all aspects of the movement. Using a wide range of sources, he explores this often-marginalised period in Labour's history both looking at the parliamentary party and the growing network of constituency parties. Worley's approach unites high politics and issues that cross local and national boundaries. He combines policy, social history and economics with broader themes such as gender and culture. Labour inside the Gate will appeal to students and scholars as well as all those interested in Labour's history. Its new insights into the 1945 landslide victory illuminate this important period in the growth of the Labour Party as it continues to redefine and realign itself as the new “party of government”

Publisher description

Originally published in 1943, this book presents five speeches on British post-war policy delivered by the British Labour politician Herbert Morrison.

The Second World War was a watershed moment in foreign policy for the Labour Party in Britain. Before the war, British socialists had held that nationalism was becoming obsolete and that humanity was steadily evolving towards the ideal of a single world government. The collapse of the League of Nations destroyed this optimistic vision, compelling Labour to undertake a fundamental review of its entire approach to foreign affairs during a period of unprecedented global crisis. This book traces the controversy that ensued, as the British democratic left set about the task of defining the principles of a radically new international system for the postwar world. The schemes proposed by Labour policymakers during these years encompassed a wide variety of political institutions aiming at the restraint or supersession of the sovereign nation-state. What they shared in common, however, was a reconceptualization of British identity, in which the hyper-patriotism of the wartime period blended with the left's traditional internationalism. This new 'muscular' internationalism was to have a major impact upon the evolution of entities as diverse as the United Nations Organizations, the British Commonwealth and the accelerating campaign in favor of European unity after Labour assumed the reins of government in 1945. Breaking with the traditional accounts that place Cold War tensions at the centre of the Attlee government's activities in the immediate postwar years, R.M. Douglas's book provides an entirely new framework for reassessing British foreign policy and left-wing concepts of national identity during the most turbulent moment of Britain's modern history. This book will be essential reading for all students and researchers of British foreign policy, the Labour Party and international relations.

The history of the British Labour party is a subject of abiding historical interest and obvious contemporary relevance. Of all subjects in modern history, it is one of the most fascinating but also one of the most controversial. Why was the Labour party formed? What were its aims, and how did it expect to achieve them? Why has it only ever had five periods in office? And how far can it be seen as a success or as a failure? In this stimulating new book, Andrew Thorpe tries to answer these and other questions. He shows that the party originated in the trade union movement's desire for greater representation, but that it also developed a wider significance as a political party pushing for substantial social and economic change. However, he also suggests that the successes of the party carried within them the seeds of their own undoing. The book covers the party's history from its foundation in 1900 until the election defeat of 1992, with further discussion of developments since then. The main events in the party's history are discussed, as are the leading personalities, such as MacDonald, Henderson, Attlee, Gaitskell, Wilson, Callaghan, Foot and Kinnock. This is not merely a study of 'high politics', for it tries to relate developments to wider influences within and beyond the confines of the Labour party. Andrew Thorpe's account will be valuable both to students and to any general readers who want to know where the Labour party came from and where it might be going.