First published in 1980. This book covers areas of policy interest viewed from a social democratic perspective and each chapter takes a specific issue which would have been of concern to Labour in the 1980s, including some of the more controversial areas. The study reviews various problem areas and suggests policies which are realistic and applicable in the conditions of the 1980s. This title will be of interests to scholars and students of history and politics.

This volume of essays constitutes the first history of Labour and left-wing politics in the decade when Margaret Thatcher reshaped modern Britain. Leading scholars explore aspects of left-wing culture, activities and ideas at a time when social democracy was in crisis. There are articles about political leadership, economic alternatives, gay rights, the miners’ strike, the Militant Tendency and the politics of race. The book also situates the crisis of the left in international terms as the socialist world began to collapse. Tony Blair's New Labour disavowed the 1980s left, associating it with failure, but this volume argues for a more complex approach. Many of the causes it championed are now mainstream, suggesting that the time has come to reassess 1980s progressive politics, despite its undeniable electoral failures. With this in mind, the contributors offer ground-breaking research and penetrating arguments about the strange death of Labour Britain.

Chiefly based on primary and secondary data collected from Orissa, India.