scholarly journals Looking for a Dream, Surviving a Time of Nightmares: Eric Hobsbawm, Marxism Today and the Resignification of Antifascism During Thatcher’s Time

Fascism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 146-166
Author(s):  
Iker Itoiz Ciáurriz
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
International Threat ◽  
Intense Debate

Abstract In 1979 Margaret Thatcher came to power in the United Kingdom inaugurating the rise of neoliberalism. In the pages of Marxism Today an intense debate took place about the strategy of the Labour Party to defeat Thatcher and Thatcherism. The author aims to show how the famous communist historian Eric Hobsbawm appealed to his own memories of the French Popular Front and the antifascist movement to give ideological content to the fight against Thatcherism on two points. First, Thatcherism as a new international threat similar to fascism in the 1930s. Second, by appealing emotionally to his own experiences during the 1930s in order to show readers how antifascism could work to unite the diverse progressive forces ranged against Thatcher. By doing so, Hobsbawm and the contributors to Marxism Today would reshape antifascism based on two ideals: the unity of the majority, in particular, the unity of the working class, against the forces of reaction. Second, the strength of unity to articulate policies for the emancipation of the working class.

scholarly journals O Reino Unido e a Europa integrada, crônica de um matrimônio estranho | The United Kingdom and integrated Europe: chronicle of an odd marriage

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
João Gualberto Marques Porto Júnior
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Integration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Charles De Gaulle ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
Natural Outcome ◽  
De Gaulle

A relação entre o Reino Unido e os países do continente foi marcada ao longo da história por diversos desencontros e disputas. Não foram poucas as guerras travadas entre os britânicos e outras nações europeias. A própria integração europeia inicia-se sem o Reino Unido que apenas na década de 1960 decidiu integrar as comunidades, sendo durante anos impedido pela Franca de Charles de Gaulle. A adesão tardia em 1973 não minimizou as diferenças, tendo novamente havido tensões na década seguinte durante a gestão Margaret Thatcher. As diferenças do casal estranho continuaram após a criação da União Europeia em 1992 e tiveram na decisão do Brexit apenas o desfecho de uma relação distante e tumultuada.ABSTRACTThe relation between the United Kingdom and the countries from "the continent” has been characterized by several disputes and differences along history. A large number of wars were fought between the British and other European nations. Even the European integration started without the United Kingdom, that only decided to take part in the communities in the sixties, being, however, blocked by de Gaulle’s France. Britain’s late accession to the European Communities in 1973 did not reduce the differences with its European neighbors and several tensions emerged during Margaret Thatcher’s government during the eighties. The differences between the odd couple continued after the creation of the European Union in 1992 and the “Brexit” simply represents the natural outcome of a distant and tumultuous relationship.Palavras-chave: Integração europeia, Reino Unido, BrexitKeywords: European integration, United Kingdom, BrexitDOI: 10.12957/rmi.2015.24641Recebido em 08 de Julho de 2016 / Received on July 8, 2016.

A working-class artist is something to be

2022 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenn Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Real Power ◽  
The Real ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Rightful Place ◽  
Cultural Sector

The creative and cultural sectors in the United Kingdom largely exclude the working classes. Even the small number of working-class people who do ‘make it’ into these sectors often find themselves and their work badly treated by those who hold the real power. This article explores some of the experiences of working-class artists navigating the cultural sector and how exclusion, prejudice and precarity impacted and continue to impact them. It takes as its focus the filmmaker Alan Clarke and the playwright Andrea Dunbar, who were at the height of their success in the 1980s. It also considers the writers Darren McGarvey and Nathalie Olah, whose work has achieved prominence in recent years. It is through this focus I hope to demonstrate the long continuum of challenges for working-class creatives. This article also considers how, on the occasions when they are allowed the space they deserve, working-class artists have created powerful shifts in cultural production. Finally, it details some of the changes needed for working-class people to be able to take their rightful place in contributing to cultural life and the societal risks involved if they are denied that place.

UK market bill poses internal and external risks

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Political Survival ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Eu

Significance The bill establishes a new statutory regime for goods and services trade within the United Kingdom, which is essential for signing trade agreements. However, it also contains clauses on the Northern Ireland Protocol which threaten to override the legally binding EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement (WA), while giving London new powers over the devolved administrations, including on state aid. Impacts The EU is unlikely to collapse the trade talks with the United Kingdom. An EU-UK deal is still possible because the alternative would seriously threaten Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s political survival. The new bill, on top of COVID-19, will give the opposition Labour Party an opportunity to overtake the Conservatives in the polls.

scholarly journals Class Diversity and Youth Volunteering in the United Kingdom

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 95S-113S ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Dean
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Young People ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Diverse Populations ◽  
Widening Access ◽  
The United Kingdom

This article utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and cultural capital to offer some explanation as to why there is a lack of class diversity in formal volunteering in the United Kingdom. Recent studies have shown that participation in volunteering is heavily dependent on social class revolving around a highly committed middle-class “civic core” of volunteers. This article draws on original qualitative research to argue that the delivery of recent youth volunteering policies has unintentionally reinforced participation within this group, rather than widening access to diverse populations including working-class young people. Drawing on interviews with volunteer recruiters, it is shown that the pressure to meet targets forces workers to recruit middle-class young people whose habitus allows them to fit instantly into volunteering projects. Furthermore, workers perceive working-class young people as recalcitrant to volunteering, thereby reinforcing any inhabited resistance, and impeding access to the benefits of volunteering.

The British Example

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-163
Author(s):  
Jonathan Fox ◽  
Lev Topor
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jeremy Corbyn

In order to place the empirical findings of this study into a more concrete context, in this chapter the authors examine the United Kingdom as a case study, using traditional comparative politics qualitative methodology. They examine the history of anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews in the United Kingdom, focusing on the religious, anti-Zionist, and conspiracy-based explanations in this context. They demonstrate that it is plausible to argue that all three of these motives have caused discrimination against Jews in the United Kingdom. The chapter also discusses briefly the allegations of anti-Semitism by the Labour Party in recent years, specifically under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

From Reformism to Resignation and Remedialism? Labour's Trajectory Through British Politics

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Wickham-Jones
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
New Labour ◽  
General Election ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Radical Transformation

On 9 April 1992, the British Labour party lost its fourth successive general election. The outcome, coming after prolonged economic difficulties, led many commentators to call into question altogether the viability of the reformist project in the United Kingdom. For Labour's leaders, the result was bitterly disappointing. To lose any general election is, of course, evidence of failure. But, given the extent of the radical transformation the party appeared to have undergone in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to lose in the propitious circumstances of 1992 was especially frustrating. Just over five years later, however, much of the period under a new leader, Tony Blair, and having undergone further dramatic adaptation, including a comprehensive rebranding as “New Labour,” the party not only took office at the general election of 1 May 1997 but won a landslide victory of 179 seats. A little over four years later it won a second landslide victory with a majority just 12 seats fewer at 167: it was an unparalleled achievement in the party's history.

Lessons from the United Kingdom: Fightback on Workplace Hazards, 1979–1992

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. P. Dalton
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Working Class ◽  
European Community ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Workplace Hazards ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Made In ◽  
Union Government

For the past 13 years there has been an aggressive anti-union government in the United Kingdom. Yet despite this fact, very real advances have been made in the area of working-class activity over the issue of workplace hazards. Trade unions, because of membership concern and activity, have been forced to keep this topic on their agenda. The European Community has been a big factor in these advances. This article describes some of the issues and elements of the fightback. In the 1990s, with the rediscovery of environmental issues, the hazards movement of the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, is here to stay and set to expand.

Competition-Based Reform of the National Health Service in England: A One-Way Street?

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Reynolds ◽  
Amir Attaran ◽  
Tamara Hervey ◽  
Martin McKee
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Scottish Government

The Conservative-led government in the United Kingdom is embarking on massive changes to the National Health Service in England. These changes will create a competitive market in both purchasing and provision. Although the opposition Labour Party has stated its intention to repeal the legislation when it regains power, this may be difficult because of provisions of competition law derived from international treaties. Yet there is an alternative, illustrated by the decision of the devolved Scottish government to reject competitive markets in health care.

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