First published in 1983. This study draws upon empirical findings on party activists, members and voters. It examines the origins and nature of Labour's crisis in the 1980s, showing how the split leading to the formation of the SDP was merely a manifestation of deeply rooted problems which went back many years. It argues that this crisis had three distinct but interrelated aspects: first, the ideological schism within the party, which had grown in intensity over time; second, the electoral crisis, which produced the worst electoral performance at the 1983 general election since 1918; and, third, the membership crisis arising from the fact that the party had been losing more than 11,000 individual members per year on average since 1945. Using elite and mass surveys the book demonstrates the link between these crises and Labour's policy performance in office set against a background of rapid economic decline.
- ISBN10 0416338704
- ISBN13 9780416338706
- Publish Date 20 October 1983
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 2 October 2009
- Publish Country AU
- Imprint Law Book Co of Australasia
- Format Paperback
- Pages 250
- Language English