New Labour's Old Roots

Read the most by: boys and girls

Revisionist Thinkers in Labour's History, 1931-97 New Labour was not conjured up out of thin air -- it only looks like that because of the party's amnesia concerning its intellectual development. This book provides extracts from fifteen thinkers located within the revisionist tradition as an antidote to that amnesia. It is an 'all star cast' from Labour's history, from Tawney, Jay and Gaitskell to Gordon Brown.The collection shows that revisionism is not a body of doctrine but a cast of mind that distinguishes between core values (ends) and policy instruments (means) -- revisionist thinkers do not shrink from abandoning any policy that fails to deliver the desired ends. In the contentious debates about the future of public services, the Blair government is determined to avoid the confusion of means and ends. These essays show this determination to be deep-rooted in Labour thinking and to be focused on the commitment to equality.