Quarterly Essay 49: Not Dead Yet: Labor's Post-Left Future

by Mark Latham

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Book cover for Quarterly Essay 49: Not Dead Yet

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With an election looming and criticism of the ALP now a national pastime, Mark Latham considers the future for Labor. The nation has changed, but can the party? With wit and insight, Latham reveals an organisation top - heavy with factional bosses protecting their turf. At the same time Labor's traditional working - class base has long been eroding. People who grew up in fibro shacks now live in double - storey affluence. Families once resigned to a lifetime of blue - collar work now expect their children to be well - educated professionals and entrepreneurs. Latham explains how Labor has always succeeded as a grassroots party, and argues for reforms to clear out the apparatchiks and dead wood. Then there are the key policy challenges: what to do about the Keating economic legacy, education and poverty. Latham examines the rise of a destructive and reactionary far - right under the wing of Tony Abbott. He also makes the case that climate change is the ultimate challenge - and even opportunity - for a centre - left party. Not Dead Yet is an essential contribution to political debate, which addresses the question: how can Labor reinvent itself and speak to a changed Australia?
"The grand old party of working - class participation has become a virtual party. In no other part of society ...could an organisation function this way and expect to survive. This is the core delusion of 21st - century democracy, that political parties can fragment and hollow out, yet still win the confidence of the people." - Mark Latham, Not Dead Yet
  • ISBN13 9781459668874
  • Publish Date 31 July 2013
  • Publish Status Unknown
  • Out of Print 21 April 2016
  • Publish Country CA
  • Imprint ReadHowYouWant
  • Edition Large type / large print edition
  • Format Paperback
  • Pages 176
  • Language English