Futures of Socialism : ‘Modernisation', the Labour Party, and the British Left, 1973–1997

Futures of Socialism overhauls the history of 'modernisation' and the British Left and recasts our understanding of New Labour. It provides an innovative, iconoclastic history of debates over the 'modernisation' of the Labour Party, beginning with the shocks of the 1970s and ending with the emergence of New Labour.

The transformation of the Labour Party by 1997 is among the most consequential political developments in modern British history. Futures of Socialism overhauls the story of Labour''s modernisation and provides an innovative new history. Diving into the tumultuous world of the British left after 1973, rocked by crushing defeats, bitter schisms, and ideological disorientation, Colm Murphy uncovers competing intellectual agendas for modern socialism. Responding to deindustrialisation, neoliberalism, and constitutional agitation, these visions of ''modernisation'' ranged across domestic and European policy and the politics of class, gender, race, and democracy. By reconstructing the sites and networks of political debate, the book explains their changing influence inside Labour. It also throws new light on New Labour, highlighting its roots in this social-democratic intellectual maelstrom. Futures of Socialism provides an essential analysis of social democracy in an era of market liberalism, and of the ideas behind a historic political reconstruction that remains deeply controversial today.