Futures of Socialism
‘Modernisation', the Labour Party, and the British Left, 1973–1997

Overhauls the history of 'modernisation' and the British Left and recasts our understanding of New Labour.

Colm Murphy (Author)

9781009278843, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 August 2024

326 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.48 kg

'… a powerful example of the role historians can play as debunkers of inherited, politically motivated mythologies from our recent past; as narrators of complexity; and as arch-pluralists, urging us to understand political actors and thinkers on their own terms.' Nick Garland, Journal of British Studies

The transformation of the Labour Party by 1997 is among the most consequential political developments in modern British history. Futures of Socialism overhauls the story of Labour's modernisation and provides an innovative new history. Diving into the tumultuous world of the British left after 1973, rocked by crushing defeats, bitter schisms, and ideological disorientation, Colm Murphy uncovers competing intellectual agendas for modern socialism. Responding to deindustrialisation, neoliberalism, and constitutional agitation, these visions of 'modernisation' ranged across domestic and European policy and the politics of class, gender, race, and democracy. By reconstructing the sites and networks of political debate, the book explains their changing influence inside Labour. It also throws new light on New Labour, highlighting its roots in this social-democratic intellectual maelstrom. Futures of Socialism provides an essential analysis of social democracy in an era of market liberalism, and of the ideas behind a historic political reconstruction that remains deeply controversial today.

Introduction: The plural modernisations of the British left
Part I. Social Democracy and the Challenge to the Nation-State: 1. 'Keynes is dead, Beveridge is dead': modernisation, globalisation, and European integration
2. Industrial democracy, market socialism, and stakeholder capitalism: modernisation and socioeconomic democracy
Part II. Identities and Mmodern Socialism': 3. 'An old working class may be waning, but a new one is being born'? Gender, Labour, and modernisation
4. A telling absence: race, multiculturalism, and modernisation
Part III. The Search for a Modernising Social Democracy
5. 'A modern democracy': modernisation and constitutional reform
6. White heat to interactive whiteboard: modernisation and Labour's economic strategy
Conclusion: contested futures of socialism in Britain's late twentieth century.

Subject Areas: 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW]