Lably
Skip to content

British left

Political parties and movements in the United Kingdom

  • 12 min read
  • 5 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Capitalism, Reform and Welfare state

Lab · Class 8National MovementLab · Class 11How Courts Work

History

Leftism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the aftermath of the English Civil War in the 17th century, represented by groups such as the 'True Levellers' or Diggers. Chartism was one of the first post-civil war left-wing movements. Notions of socialism in Britain have taken many different forms from the utopian socialism and philanthropism of Robert Owen through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Labour Party. The Great Unrest of the pre-World War I years and the strikes of 1919 represented surges in left-wing activity. The Attlee ministry's establishment of the welfare-state is often considered a victory for the left. The New Left of 1968 represented another wave of activity. The miners' strike of 1984–85 saw the most recent large-scale working class movement; the anti-Poll Tax campaign of the late 1980s/early 1990s was also a significant left-wing social movement. The alter-globalisation and Occupy movements had a presence in Britain in the early-late 2000s, anti-austerity campaigns made up the bulk of the left's activity in the 2010s, and Black Lives Matter as well as pro-Palestine movements remain the largest movements of the 2020s.

Historical

Sign in to keep reading

4 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in History

Church of EnglandAnglican church in EnglandWhite HouseResidence and workplace of the US presidentFrench Third RepublicGovernment of France from 1870 to 1940Western cultureWestern culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culEarly ChristianityHistorical era of the Christian religionOld NorseNorth Germanic language