"We went into the general election with an unelectable leader, in a state of chaos with a manifesto that might have swept us to victory in cloud cuckoo land, but which was held in contempt in the Britain of 1983." It is said that those who do not learn from past mistakes are doomed to repeat them, and though Golding was describing the Labour Party of the early 1980s, he could just as easily have been talking about its situation today. A lurch to the left and a party in turmoil — the ascension of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader will, for many, trigger only unhappy memories of the dark days of the 1970s and '80s, when the party was plagued by a civil war that threatened to end all hopes of re-election. In that battle, moderate elements fought the illiberal hard left for the soul of Labour; that they won, paving the way for later electoral successes, was down to men and women like John Golding. In this visceral, no-holds-barred account, Golding describes how he took on and helped defeat the Militant Tendency and the rest of the hard left, providing not only a vivid portrait of political intrigue and warfare, but a timely reminder for the party of today of the dangers of disunity and of drifting too far from electoral reality.
- 496 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword by Neil Kinnock
- Introduction
- Prologue: A New Look at an ‘Old Labour’ Government
- 1: The Toads
- 2: Dire Straits in 1978
- 3: The Winter of Our Discontent
- 4: Loyalist Group Formed
- 5: The Sad Farewell to Old Labour
- 6: Leave Thatcher, We’ll Get Callaghan First
- 7: The Darkest Hour
- 8: Blunders, Bloomers and the Leadership
- 9: A Second Own Goal at Wembley
- 10: Shirley Throws in the Towel
- 11: The Moderates Fight Back
- 12: Toad Fights Badger
- 13: Hope and Despair
- 14: Foot Won’t Help
- 15: The Wild Wood
- 16: The Goodies Gang Up – Benn Cast Away
- 17: A Phoney Peace and a Real War in the Falklands
- 18: Taking Control
- 19: Under New Management
- 20: By-elections at Bermondsey and Darlington
- 21: The Longest Suicide Note
- 22: The 1983 General Election – Foot’s Last Stand
- 23: The Leadership Battle – Kinnock’s Victory
- 24: The Fall of Militant
- 25: The Fall of Benn
- Epilogue: Blackpool, Conference Week 1998
- Postscript: Westminster, December 2015 The Left Ascendant in a New Winter of Discontent
- Select Bibliography
- Appendix: The Guardian Obituary of John Golding
- Index
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access Hammer of the Left by John Golding in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.