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The Labour Commonwealth
“In his speech to the Labour Party Conference in 1962 Hugh Gaitskell put the party’s case for supporting the Commonwealth in preference to the European Economic Community in these terms: “It means something to us and to the world. Where would our influence be in the world without . . .” read more
Planning or Prediction?
“Peter Hall’s book, London 2000, is a useful corrective to a good deal of loose thinking about “planning”, if only because it states, with great gusto and conviction, a point of view that sharply contradicts theories that have been accepted uncritically for many years. If Peter Hall has . . .” read more
The British Economy: Crisis and Structural Change
“The 1960s have seen the British economy in a whole succession of open crises. It is high time that some attempt be made to analyse what basic developments in the Conservative decade of the 1950s have culminated in the complex crisis of recent years. This is vital, too, . . .” read more
British Transport
“An expert committee under Sir Robert Hall has just demonstrated that road traffic—which has already doubled in density since 1952—will certainly double again by 1980, and may treble. At the same time, Dr. Beeching submits a Report to the Government, which, in order to “save money”, envisages a . . .” read more
On Internationalism
“Socialism was born into a world whose limits were those of capitalism itself. North-Western Europe, with its American extension, was the sole, sovereign source of history; the rest of the world simply the arena of its annexations. Inevitably, socialist thought itself was influenced by this unique supremacy: the . . .” read more
Post-War Britain and the Common Market
“If in the affairs of a man or a nation a time comes when all possible choices appear distasteful or fraught with grave danger, it is useful, indeed essential, to reflect on how one got into the embarrassment. Past choices, past mistakes, may well illuminate the problem more . . .” read more
But Nothing Happens
“The definition of what constitutes a slum is at any time arbitrary and shifting, depending more upon the vagaries of the English social conscience than upon any precise and identifiable condition. In times of social crisis, when opinion is deeply disturbed the number of slums is generally thought . . .” read more
On the Puritan Character [excerpt from 'Religion and the Rise of Capitalism']
“As a tribute to R. H. Tawney, we publish, as the most fitting comment on the life and achievement of a great Socialist teacher, the following passage from his work. The excerpt is taken, with acknowledgements to John Murray (Publishers) Ltd., from Religion and the Rise of . . .” read more
Scotland: The Houses that Last a Thousand Years
“From further up the hill it may have looked almost like a new block of flats, except, of course, they don’t build the chimneys on the outside walls any more, and those Huguenot style cornices are dated now, but the granite glistens in the winter sunshine and the . . .” read more
Single Person Accommodation
“When people think of slum clearance, they usually visualise the rehousing of families, particularly families with young children. And when they talk about the homeless, they think of the families in the Rest Centres, of mothers with two, three or four children who can’t find a place just . . .” read more
A Case of Privilege
“the wedgwood benn case excited considerable attention when it was first heard, but now it is already being forgotten. For this fading, the Conservative Central Office can take the credit, for it has directed the whole operation, since the death of Wedgwood Benn’s father, last November. At . . .” read more
Missing Signposts
“in the last issue of New Left Review, William Norman drew our attention to some significant omissions in Signposts for the Sixties—culture (especially the problems of the mass media) and “democratic control and participation in a mass industrial society” (especially the problems of bureaucracy and the trade . . .” read more
Wolfenden in the Wilderness
“at the beginning of last year I wrote to a friend, a magistrate and fellow councillor with whom I had for some years worked closely on Ward Committee business and in the local elections. I indicated that, since the next meeting of the Ward Committee was invited . . .” read more
Thoughts after Albermarle
“the left’s contribution to the post-Albemarle discussion on youth work has not been particularly impressive. Sneers at youth club members and “grammar schoolites” (from Roy Kerridge in the New Statesman) and the vision of “a society by the young consumer for the young consumer” (outlined by Ray . . .” read more
Starting an Education Association
“the foundation meeting of this Association was held in November 1960: by September of this year its local membership was over 150, and it had interested an additional 45 subscribers from other parts of the country. The climate of opinion here in Cambridge had much to do . . .” read more
Intelligence and Ideology
“there are a thousand kinds of human excellence. Among them intelligence, we might agree, is a potential something which distinguishes us from the brutes; it is one of the trailing clouds of glory that children bring to the schools with each new generation; it is a name . . .” read more
Signposts for the 60's
“Signposts for the Sixties is the first of the two documents which, in the words of Labour in the Sixties, “will . . . survey the major foreign and domestic problems now facing the British people”. This document, concerned with the “domestic problems”, is not intended to be . . .” read more
Hyndman and the SDF
“the social democratic federation has long been the problem-child of labour historians, especially marxist ones or those anxious to “place“ it rather than merely to chronicle its erratic development. It cannot simply be approved. It cannot be simply condemned. It certainly cannot be dismissed. The least subtle . . .” read more
Scottish Teachers' Revolt
“there is no doubt that the Glasgow teachers’ strike on May 8 had a profound effect upon all teachers, North and South of the border. Strike is a dirty word to some teachers, an unattainable demonstration of militancy to many more. But the Glasgow teachers have shown . . .” read more
Red Flag Flying High
“labour lost control of the St. Pancras Council in the borough elections of May 1959. In October Lena Jeger lost to Johnson-Smith in the Holborn and St. Pancras (south) constituency. For people to whom St. Pancras is something of a Socialist ikon the defeats were shattering, perhaps . . .” read more
Workers' Control
“if the difficulty of a problem is to be measured by the scarcity of ideas for its solution, then the problem of securing workers’ control of industry is the most intractable facing the British working class movement. In this century the struggle for workers’ control has passed . . .” read more
Change and Unchange
“i knew next-to-nothing about Mass-Observation before reading this book, simply placing it, with certain big-band, whispering hotel trumpet tunes, as part of the stock marginalia of the thirties, lingering in my mind as one of those exercises in journalistic, impressionistic sociology to “present the people to the . . .” read more
Young Socialists
“the first Young Socialist Conference, this Easter, can give only limited encouragement to those who hope for a movement of young people carrying into broader socialist terms the activity and idealism of CND. The Conference was dominated by a violent confrontation of left and right wingers, over . . .” read more
Irishman and Chartist
“this book is an exercise in historical pot-boiling. It reflects no credit on Dr. Read, the senior member of the partnership, and it continues the injustice to O’Connor of almost all previous assessments. We have long needed a rounded biography of the man who was leader of . . .” read more
After the Budget
“selwyn lloyd’s hour of glory must have seemed sadly brief. The Monday evening was his alright, with press and TV too bemused by detail to venture criticism at such short notice. Messrs. Carron and Woodcock tried weakly—they had clearly not done their homework. By next morning the . . .” read more
The Pub and the People
“out of the fringe of Burnley’s central shopping area there towers the newly-opened Keirby Hotel, standing, in the words of The Guardian “as conspicuous and self-conscious as a brand-new car upended on a scrap heap.” “We were free of all inhibitions when it came to design,” declared . . .” read more
Premier Wilson’s Plan
“it was a cynic who last November said to a Campaign for Unity supporter: “I am more politically advanced than you; I’ve got a petition ready which says ‘Wilson must go’.” Behind the cynicism lies a problem which has to be frankly faced if present favourable circumstances . . .” read more
The Mahdi’s Skull
“it must be difficult to write biography at all if you are entirely out of sympathy with your subject. Hence Philip Magnus passes few judgments on Kitchener and is, to some extent his apologist. This, however, does not matter much. The real brute does not merely peep, . . .” read more
Elastic Conscience?
““even tom mann—the best of them—is rather fond of saying that he is dining with the Mayor”. Lenin’s caustic observation springs to mind when reading Arthur Horner’s Incorrigible Rebel. The fiery little Welsh miner, whose burning hatred of injustice led him from the Baptist Chapels into the . . .” read more
Old Folks at Home
“on monday April 3, the Conservative Party’s new pension scheme comes into force. People earning £9 or less a week will not be directly affected to any extent, but those earning more will feel its impact increasingly. Everyone at the top of the new graduated scale—that is . . .” read more