When the lights went out: Britain in the Seventies

[Stumpy Pepys]

When the lights went out: Britain in the Seventies

Just finished this. Very good read.

The biggest eye-opener for me was probably the chapter on the Winter of Discontent, which -- as has been mentioned upthread -- was devoid of the organisation that I'd assumed was behind it.

I've always been of the opinion that another Callaghan (or Healey) premiership would have been far preferable to Thatcherism. But at the same time, the trade union movement (or at least the uncoordinated mass of trade unionists) has to take some responsibility for the 79 election.

[Tubby Isaacs]

When the lights went out: Britain in the Seventies

Stumpy Pepys wrote: The curious thing, though, was that the Thatcher government never managed to cut public spending; something only achieved by Callaghan and Healey.

Not curious at all. "Her people" receive public services too.

I don't think she ever ran a surplus apart from the Lawson boom which John Major copped the end of. Though her record on debt as a percentage of GDP is fairly good. Helped of course by oil and privatization receipts.

[Tubby Isaacs]

When the lights went out: Britain in the Seventies

Stumpy-Pepys wrote: Just finished this. Very good read.

The biggest eye-opener for me was probably the chapter on the Winter of Discontent, which -- as has been mentioned upthread -- was devoid of the organisation that I'd assumed was behind it.

I've always been of the opinion that another Callaghan (or Healey) premiership would have been far preferable to Thatcherism. But at the same time, the trade union movement (or at least the uncoordinated mass of trade unionists) has to take some responsibility for the 79 election.

There was a pay commission on public sector pay (Clegg?). A Labour government accepting that would have had a reasonably quiet time re strikes, with unemployment, inflation and taxes coming down.

[Tubby Isaacs]

When the lights went out: Britain in the Seventies

Do we think Healey and the Treasury really made a mistake re the IMF cuts? Or was it a cunning way to get unions to accept lower wages?

[Stumpy Pepys]

When the lights went out: Britain in the Seventies

Tubby Isaacs wrote: Not curious at all. "Her people" receive public services too.

The 1979 manifesto pledged reductions in public spending and public borrowing.

[Levin]

I've just read this review from Warren Ellis of...

THAT OPTION NO LONGER EXISTS: BRITAIN 1974-76, John Medhurst.

What a good book.

(Labour MP and minister Tony) Benn, though, was now increasingly diverting his attention and energies from the industrial policy to campaigning for a “No” vote in the forthcoming referendum on UK membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), which Wilson had only agreed to as a safety valve for the deep divisions on the issue within the party.

Ah, the more things change... I mean, if you were wondering why Corbyn whipped the Labour MPs into abstaining on a vote for a soft Brexit keeping the UK in the European single market. (And if you were wondering why Corbyn isn't universally loved on the Left.)

The two years covered in this book redefined British politics, putting a decisive end to an insurgent socialist drive and creating the space for the right-wing governments we've endured ever since (the Blair/Brown years being largely centre-right with some window dressing). It sounds like an obscure moment in recent history that isn't worth your attention, but Labour politics of the time were genuinely radical in many respects, and the reaction against them included but was not limited to:

The Head of the Home Civil Service, William Armstrong, had a complete nervous breakdown and was found naked on his office floor ranting about communists. He was swiftly removed from his position and sent to a rest home.

It's a time I only recall dimly, through the yellowed net curtain of early childhood, and, obviously not having been aware of all of them, I found the truths and the details of the time completely fascinating. Medhurst has a great way with prose, serious and direct without being dry and dull. Also, imagine a world in which this happened:

the printers trade union NATSOPA refused to print the most extreme anti-Labour smear stories prepared by the Daily Express and Daily Mail.

I recommend the book to everyone, as a kind of alternate history: a moment when an actual democratic socialist alternative to full-speed capitalism almost arose. An alternative to modern capitalism almost happened here. Learn what it could have looked like and learn why it didn't come to pass.