Democracy, direct action, and socialism

There are decisive turning points in history that shape the future for many years ahead. The British labour movement was brought to such a turning point by the victory of the Thatcherite Tories in the 1979 general election and the events that came after it. The defeat of the labour movement then shaped the social, political, and ethical world we live in now. Was that defeat unavoidable? The revolutionary left argued then that it wasn t: that if we mobilised our strength we could defeat Thatcher, as we had defeated her Tory predecessors in 1972-4. This pamphlet deals with the clash of ideas between the revolutionary left and the traditional Labour left then personified by Michael Foot.