Searching for Socialism: The Project of the Labour New Left from Benn to Corbyn

(Paperback)

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Jeremy Corbyns rapid ascent to the leadership of the Labour Party, driven by a groundswell of popular support particularly among the young, was met at the time by a baffled media. Just where did Jeremy Corbyn come from In Searching for Socialism, Leo Panitch and Colin Leys argue that it is only by understanding Corbyn's roots in the Bennite Labour New Lefts long struggle to transcend the limits of parliamentary socialism and democratise the party, as a precondition for democratising the state, can you understand his surge to become leader of the party. Offering a lucid and gripping history of the Labour New Left from its origins in the inter-party struggles of the 1960s until today, Panitch and Leys show how the defeat of that project paved the way for the embrace of neoliberalism under New Labour, but also how new political forces came to coalesce for a renewed socialist political mobilisation in the twenty-first century.

Reviews

Searching for Socialism will be extremely useful to socialists and Labour members for years to come. It will be required reading for those new to socialist politics. -- Elliot Dugdale * The World Transformed *
Panitch and Leys have understood a lot of what happened and what went wrong - including the dysfunction at the very top, the full story of which has yet to be told. -- Mike Phipps * Labour Hub *
Leo Panitch and Colin Leys ... confront the weaknesses of Corbynism against the background of the strengths which it shares with Bennism and which distinguish both from the previous experiences of more traditional Labour lefts. -- Stephen Marks * Labour Briefing *
Throughout the book the authors emphasise the importance of extending democracy both within the Labour Party and in society, and in this they are to be applauded. -- David Lane * LSE Review of Books *
Searching for Socialism is extremely articulate and well researched. It should be widely read by socialists both within the Labour Party and outside. -- Camilla Royle * Socialist Review *

Author Bio

Leo Panitch is Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University, and editor of The Socialist Register. He is the co-author of The Making of Global Capitalism.Colin Leys is Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at Queens University, Canada, and an Honorary Research Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London.