What do these imply about beliefs and objectives?
Why did working men feel the need of such a party; what about
its broader context helps explain this need?
After World War I, how did it come to power and why so
briefly?
What economic, social and legal features defined the Party?
What happened to divide it and how was it affected by 1926
General Strike and 1931 National Government?
How did the Party develop a foreign policy, especially in light
of Fascists in Europe and at home, given it had to relate more and more to the
middle classes of parliament?
1945 landslide - how come?
How to interpret the creation of a bolted-on welfare state,
added to the Liberal one of 1906-14?
Today some such leaders would have been called full of
'toffs' and not traditional Labour
The 1950s and 60s - how socialist, how moderate? Tearing one
another to pieces in 'Conference' became a tradition
Wilson and Heath: leading to the IMF and Callaghan - spend
and go bust
1980s huff and puff and get punished in the polls - why?
1990s and the age of Blair and his flair, a middle way?
Really? A war that he thought right and the public did not
United Kingdom starts to divide - why? Has devolution ended
that or made it worse?
A freak heir to Michael Foot or even further Left? What does
this really mean, the Corbyn Communist Party; and has it been a Labour
characteristic lurking beneath, before, or has it just now emerged?
This outline seeks to show what has lurked beneath, what does
lurk beneath now and what the Labour Party thinks itself necessary for. Is it
all about class war, or finding pockets - such as among minorities - of the needy?
Why is it so closely associated with anti-Semitism? Why is the Left a tradition
when its origins suggest it is outmoded, old fashioned and needlessly confrontational
and divisive? Or is it useful, benevolent and a great aid to the country in
economic and foreign policies? Hopefully this course will inform you to be the
jury concerning these and many other issues.