The "Penny farthing" machine revisited

Labour party members and participation in the 1950s and 1960s

Steven Fielding

pp. 172-185

in: Chris Pierson, Simon Tormey (eds), Politics at the edge, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2000

Abstract

In her recent study of party membership in Britain and Germany Susan Scarrow warned against the "myth" of the "golden past".¹ Firmly challenging this "myth" she stated that participation levels within the Labour Party were probably higher in the 1990s than in the 1950s and 1960s. This state of affairs was, she suggested, related to the Labour leadership's belief that a growing and active membership could help reverse the party's electoral problems after 1983. Thus top-down initiatives were the main reason Labour had become more inclusive, less hierarchical and increasingly democratic since 1983 (Scarrow, 1996, pp. 181, 190–2 ch. 8).