Bud Struggle
9th April 2011, 13:51
Here's an interesting article about the last time the Labour Party in Britain took a truly Leftist agenda. It seems it all went down in flames. Since then it appears that Labour has taken a more moderate approach and hasdone a lot better in elections. It's a good reason people like Obama here in the US take a more moderate tact in political discourse.
The document - “New Hope for Britain” - was certainly lengthy (700 pages) and was nearly as along as both the Liberal-SDP Alliance’s and Conservatives’ manifestos.
Compared to today's more cautious manifestos, Labour's 1983 version did not hold back - largely because of then-leader Michael Foot’s demand that it would comprise the resolutions arrived at the party’s last conference,
The document called for unilateral nuclear disarmament, the abolition of the House of Lords and the re-nationalisation of recently privatised industries like British Telecom, British Aerospace and the British Shipbuilding Corporation.
The manifesto called for the UK to withdraw from the European Economic Community and an end to council house sales.
It also committed the Labour government to five-year national plan and a new Department of Economic and Industrial Planning.
The ambitious scale of the manifesto backfired though, with the far left nature of many of the policies - combined with Margaret Thatcher’s popularity in the wake of the 1982 Falklands War - contributing to a Tory landslide.
Labour's 1983 manifesto marked the last time that Labour would dogmatically pursue a leftwing agenda when trying to win power.
In following election, the party gradually adopted a more market orientated set of policies, culminating in Labour’s 1997 general election landslide.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7362487/Michael-Foot-Labours-1983-general-election-manifesto-and-the-longest-suicide-in-history.html
The document - “New Hope for Britain” - was certainly lengthy (700 pages) and was nearly as along as both the Liberal-SDP Alliance’s and Conservatives’ manifestos.
Compared to today's more cautious manifestos, Labour's 1983 version did not hold back - largely because of then-leader Michael Foot’s demand that it would comprise the resolutions arrived at the party’s last conference,
The document called for unilateral nuclear disarmament, the abolition of the House of Lords and the re-nationalisation of recently privatised industries like British Telecom, British Aerospace and the British Shipbuilding Corporation.
The manifesto called for the UK to withdraw from the European Economic Community and an end to council house sales.
It also committed the Labour government to five-year national plan and a new Department of Economic and Industrial Planning.
The ambitious scale of the manifesto backfired though, with the far left nature of many of the policies - combined with Margaret Thatcher’s popularity in the wake of the 1982 Falklands War - contributing to a Tory landslide.
Labour's 1983 manifesto marked the last time that Labour would dogmatically pursue a leftwing agenda when trying to win power.
In following election, the party gradually adopted a more market orientated set of policies, culminating in Labour’s 1997 general election landslide.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7362487/Michael-Foot-Labours-1983-general-election-manifesto-and-the-longest-suicide-in-history.html