Waiting for the revolution: The British far left from 1956

by Evan Smith (Editor), Matthew Worley (Editor)

Overview

Waiting for the revolution is a volume of essays examining the diverse currents of British left-wing politics from 1956 to the present day. The book is designed to complement the previous volume, Against the grain: The far left in Britain from 1956, bringing together young and established academics and writers to discuss the realignments and fissures that maintain leftist politics into the twenty-first century. The two books endeavour to historicise the British left, detailing but also seeking to understand the diverse currents that comprise ‘the far left’. Their objective is less to intervene in ongoing issues relevant to the left and politics more generally, than to uncover and explore the traditions and issues that have preoccupied leftist groups, activists and struggles. To this end, the book will appeal to scholars and anyone interested in British politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526113665
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	03/14/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Evan Smith is a Visiting Adjunct Fellow in the School of History and International Relations at Flinders University, South Australia

Matthew Worley is Professor of Modern History at the University of Reading

Table of Contents

Introduction: The continuing importance of the history of the British far left – Evan Smith and Matthew Worley
1 Revolutionary vanguard or agent provocateur: students and the far left on English university campuses, c. 1970–90 – Jodi Burkett
2 Not that serious? The investigation and trial of the Angry Brigade, 1967–72 – J. D. Taylor
3 Protest and survive: the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Labour Party and civil defence in the 1980s – Jacquelyn Arnold
4 Anti-apartheid solidarity in the perspectives and practices of the British far left in the 1970s and ‘80s – Gavin Brown
5 ‘The Merits of Brother Worth’: the International Socialists and life in a Coventry car factory, 1968–75 – Jack Saunders
6 Making miners militant? The Communist Party of Great Britain in the National Union of Mineworkers, 1956–85 – Sheryl Bernadette Buckley
7 Networks of solidarity: the London left and the 1984–85 miners’ strike – Diarmaid Kelliher
8 ‘You have to start where you’re at’: politics and reputation in 1980s Sheffield – Daisy Payling
9 Origins of the present crisis? The emergence of ‘left-wing’ Scottish nationalism, 1956–79 – Rory Scothorne and Ewan Gibbs
10 A miner cause? The persistence of left nationalism in postwar Wales – Daryl Leeworthy
11 The British radical left and Northern Ireland during ‘the Troubles’ – Daniel Finn
12 The point is to change it: a short account of the Revolutionary Communist Party – Michael Fitzpatrick
13 The Militant Tendency and entrism in the Labour Party – Christopher Massey
14 Understanding the formation of the Communist Party of Britain – Lawrence Parker
Index