The British Left: for and against Europe? A historical survey

This article reviews the three main shifts in the European policies of the British Left – taken to include the Labour Party, the TUC and the wider trade union movement, anarchist organisations, communist, green, nationalist and socialist parties, pressure groups and think tanks – over the 1945 to 2005 period: from a position of indifference to support for European integration in the 1940s, from support to opposition in the 1970s and from opposition to support in the 1980s. It evaluates these changes using a Marxian political economy approach. It is an invited paper submitted to ‘The Left and Europe’ special issue of 'Capital and Class'.