Protest and Power

Under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, Labour moves further to the left. For the first time since the 1970s, socialism is back on the agenda, and in an historic first, it defines the leadership. But clashes of ideology, tactics and styles have been the story of the Labour Party for the last 70 years and traditional leadership is often thought to fail. Could things be different with Corbyn? The answer lies in examining the party's history from 1979 to the present.0The forty year conflict within Labour is a fascinating story dominated by powerful political operators. Particularly trying times included the 1950s campaigns over nuclear disarmament and in the 1970s and 1980s over the perceived treachery of the Wilson and Callaghan governments, and their attempts to take power through internal changes with periodic challenges to the Labour leadership. Then there were the Blair Brown years and Iraq.0The strategies used to elect Jeremy Corbyn have been used to create a new mass movement on the left that is moving again to control the machinery of the Labour Party. However, the history of the Labour Party shows that groups that are dominant in one political generation do not necessarily cement that dominance. The left learnt this in 1983, New Labour in 2010. 0This book chronicles the battles within the Labour Party, the schisms between idealogues and pragmatistists, and how the fissures within the Labour Party seem destined to keep Labour in opposition.