8 ‘You have to start where you’re at’
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Daisy Payling
Abstract
In the 1980s, Sheffield became known as the ‘Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire.’ Underlying this radical reputation was a push for community-led activism and a City Council that attempted to answer to the community. But who this community included was up for debate among councillors and activists, as was the notion of Sheffield as a radical city. This chapter traces City Council-leader David Blunkett’s ideas on paper and in practice and how these were met by Sheffield’s activists. It shows that behind the rhetoric of radicalism, Sheffield’s politics was centred on more traditional notions of working-class community than the radical tendencies of the new urban left and the revolutionary left.
Abstract
In the 1980s, Sheffield became known as the ‘Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire.’ Underlying this radical reputation was a push for community-led activism and a City Council that attempted to answer to the community. But who this community included was up for debate among councillors and activists, as was the notion of Sheffield as a radical city. This chapter traces City Council-leader David Blunkett’s ideas on paper and in practice and how these were met by Sheffield’s activists. It shows that behind the rhetoric of radicalism, Sheffield’s politics was centred on more traditional notions of working-class community than the radical tendencies of the new urban left and the revolutionary left.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Revolutionary vanguard or agent provocateur 11
- 2 Not that serious? 30
- 3 Protest and survive 48
- 4 Anti-apartheid solidarity in the perspectives and practices of the British far left in the 1970s and 1980s 66
- 5 ‘The merits of Brother Worth’ 88
- 6 Making miners militant? 107
- 7 Networks of solidarity 125
- 8 ‘You have to start where you’re at’ 144
- 9 Origins of the present crisis? 163
- 10 A miner cause? 182
- 11 The British radical left and Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’ 201
- 12 The point is to change it 218
- 13 The Militant Tendency and entrism in the Labour Party 238
- 14 Understanding the formation of the Communist Party of Britain 258
- Index 277
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Revolutionary vanguard or agent provocateur 11
- 2 Not that serious? 30
- 3 Protest and survive 48
- 4 Anti-apartheid solidarity in the perspectives and practices of the British far left in the 1970s and 1980s 66
- 5 ‘The merits of Brother Worth’ 88
- 6 Making miners militant? 107
- 7 Networks of solidarity 125
- 8 ‘You have to start where you’re at’ 144
- 9 Origins of the present crisis? 163
- 10 A miner cause? 182
- 11 The British radical left and Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’ 201
- 12 The point is to change it 218
- 13 The Militant Tendency and entrism in the Labour Party 238
- 14 Understanding the formation of the Communist Party of Britain 258
- Index 277
