Labour's Grass Roots: The Politics of Party Membership. (book reviews)

American Political Science Review, June, 1993 by Studlar, Donley T.

The internal organization and electoral appeal of the British Labour party have fascinated social scientists for over 30 years. Studies range from Abrams, Rose, and Hinden's Must Labour Lose? (1960) and McKenzie's British Political Parties (1964) down to the two current well-matched volumes. In the 1960s, Butler and Stokes's Political Change in Britain (1969) foresaw Labour becoming the natural governing party in the British two-party system. How different things look from the perspective of 1993!

The election of 1970, which Labour lost, was notable for two things: (1) it marked the highest absolute and percentage vote Labour was to receive for the next seven parliamentary elections, through 1992; and (2) it was the end of the two-party system in the electorate (if...

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