Interpreting Thatcherism : the British labour movement and the political legacy of the period of Conservative rule

Abstract

This contribution focuses on the debates within the labour movement over the nature and significance of the Conservative period in power and of Conservative policies in the 1980s. The contention of this paper is that, besides the direct impact of Conservative policies on trade unions and on working-class living and working conditions, which were indeed central to what the new right planned as the irreversible shift from collectivism and statism to individualism and marketization, the lasting legacy of Thatcherism rested on how Conservative policies and their direct impact were mediated through analysis and discourse, on how Thatcherism was constructed and interpreted politically. First, the debates over the significance of Thatcherism will be located within older and broader policy debates and political debates in the labour movement, between left and right. Second, the interpretation of Thatcherism as a decisive break with post-war politics and as a successful programme for new times will be examined as central to the ideological and political impact of the Conservative period in power on the labour movement. Third, it will be argued that the internal dynamics of the Labour Party were a key factor of the entrenchment of the Thatcherite settlement in British politics, and of its lasting impact on the labour movement. Finally, concluding remarks will draw on the observation of the dynamics of Scottish politics.