Militant

(Paperback)

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An all new edition of Michael Crick's political classic is an important historical document with a new introduction by the author, contextualising its subject's place in history.

When it was originally published in 1984, Militant was widely acclaimed as a masterly work of investigative journalism. Although the rise of Jeremy Corbyn is to be attributed to more than hard-left entrism, to some within the party, Crick's book must seem like a lesson from history.Militant was a secret Trotskyite organisation that consistently denied being a party, though at its peak in the mid-1980s it could boast around 8,000 members, all of whom also belonged to the Labour Party. Militant operated clandestinely inside the Labour Party, edging out moderates at grass-roots level and recruiting people to its own ranks. Whilst eventually most of its leaders were expelled, it caused damaging rifts within Labour. Crick's book explores the origins, organisation and aims of Militant. It also explores the famous boss politics of Derek Hatton and Militant in Liverpool, and the party hierarchy's determined and ultimately successful attempts to squash the tendency.An important historical document, it is today seen as a field guide to how hard-left factions can infiltrate the Labour party, with some in the centre of the party allegedly urging its supporters to treat the long unavailable book as a 'war manual'.

Reviews

"A compellingly good read." - London Review of Books; "An admirable book ... [a] readable and meticulous report from difficult territory." - Hugo Young, The Times Literary Supplement; "A must-read for Labour activists." - Tom Watson MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party

Author Bio

Michael Crick is journalist, biographer and broadcaster. After two years as a trainee journalist with ITN, he was a founder member of Channel 4 News in 1982, and later served as the programme's Washington correspondent. He joined the BBC in 1990, where he worked for Newsnight, winning many awards and earning a reputation for dogged investigative journalism and pursuing politicians. His books include Scargill and the Miners (Penguin, 1985) Manchester United: The Betrayal of a Legend (Pelham, 1989), Jeffrey Archer: Stranger than Fiction (Hamish Hamilton, 1995), Michael Heseltine: A Biography (Hamish Hamilton, 1997) and The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson (Simon & Schuster, 2002). He is the political correspondent for Channel 4 News.