Young Liberal Influence and its Effects, 1970–74 Young Liberals provided the Liberal Party with activists, candidates and radical ideas. Ruth Fox examines the YL record of the early 1970s.
The years – were among the most successful and the Liberal Party to construct a wide political base for controversial in the history of the National League of Young electoral success. The YLs cultivated links with the emergent Liberals (NLYL). Condemned as ‘Red Guards’ in the late pressure groups of the period, particularly non-partisan s, the YLs in these years, while maintaining their radical organisations such as the National Council for Civil image, achieved a level of political potency unmatched by Liberties, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the youth section of a political party of any shade in the Friends of the Earth. Their campaigns were often run in years both before and after. In these years, although they conjunction with these groups, who provided factual were at loggerheads with the party’s parliamentary leadership, information and resources to supplement YL efforts. they were still able to exercise considerable influence on the direction of the party, through the mediums of Radical direct action politics, as embodied in community politics, direct action campaigning, and byelection successes. In so far as there was a Liberal revival this campaign, heralded an innovative in –, the YLs were partially responsible for it. development in political activity: the building The reasons for joining the NLYL were diverse. Some of political networks between single issue had been attracted by the ideas and integrity of Jo Grimond, others because of their disillusionment with the Labour pressure groups and the Liberal Party. Government of –. The Liberal activist visiting constituents on the doorstep also had an impact, while for Such direct action campaigns contributed to the split others steeped in liberal tradition, the party was their natural with the party leadership in these years, which went beyond home. The ideological direction of the movement in these the inevitable differences to be expected resulting from years lacked uniformity. Many described themselves as differing levels of political experience and age disparities. ‘libertarian socialists’ which was an amalgam of various Following the disappointment of the general election strands of political thought: from socialism they took their result, the leadership argued that the notorious activities of egalitarianism and analysis of capitalism; from syndicalism the NLYL had alienated floating voters who might naturally their understanding of worker control; from anarchism their have turned to the Liberals as an alternative. The YLs thus libertarian perspective and commitment to direct action became an easy but unsatisfactory scapegoat for the failing campaigning; and from pacifism their commitment to non- of others. Jeremy Thorpe had denounced the YLs as violence. hooligans for their sabotage of cricket grounds in January , and relations did not improve following the election Direct Action when YL leader Louis Eaks, rejecting the party’s traditional pro-Israeli stance, spoke in support of the Palestinian cause The Young Liberals were first catapulted on to the national and accused the Israelis of practising Zionist apartheid. stage in through their involvement in the ‘Stop the The next few years were marred by the existence of the Seventy Tour’ of the South African cricket team. The Te rrell Report. The work of a three-man commission prominent role played by YLs Peter Hain and Louis Eaks appointed by Thorpe in , it was an assessment of the guaranteed considerable publicity for the movement. Radical relationship between the YLs and the main party. Many direct action politics, as embodied in this campaign, heralded theories abound as to why Thorpe established the an innovative development in political activity: the building Commission, the general consensus being that it was set up of political networks between single issue pressure groups as a ‘lawyers’ cabal’ to try and remove both Eaks and Hain and the Liberal Party. It was seen as an extension of the from their positions within the YL movement. Thorpe’s Grimond idea of the party as an ‘umbrella’ under whose determination to prevent Hain becoming Chairman of the shade such single issue groups would find a conducive NLYL had been clear earlier in the year, when a covert environment in which to flourish, and which would enable operation run from his office was uncovered, revealing an
16 Liberal Democrat History Group Newsletter 14: March 1997 attempt to rig the leadership election in favour of Thorpe’s numbering on average one in four delegates. Well organised, preferred candidate, Chris Green, by organising an increase they caucused late into the night discussing strategy and in affiliations from YL branches in North Devon, who would preparing voting slates for the following day’s events. This then be eligible to vote in the YL elections. A subsequent combination of numerical advantage, and superior tactics party enquiry discovered that some of these affiliations came and organisation ensured they were well placed to push their from members’ cats! agenda and get resolutions passed. The Commission was initially welcomed by YLs angered The NLYL amendment at the Assembly proposed by the leadership’s smear tactics. They objected, however, to a shift away from a concentration on parliamentary the Commission reporting to the leader rather than the achievement in greater favour of municipal politics. Others National Executive, and were scathing of accusations in the party also favoured a change of direction, with John suggesting that some of Pardoe promoting the their members were ‘broad front strategy’ communists. They of fighting every seat condemned the at the next election. Commission as an While the YLs did illiberal McCarthyite want to fight every witch hunt in which seat, they believed that charges were made Pardoe’s idea without corroborative represented a ‘politics evidence. Terrell’s as usual’ approach on conclusions concerned a greater scale. They how to bring the were proposing a NLYL under greater much greater control at the centre diversification in and how to bring political activity. individual YLs under In the early greater control at the years the YLs and the constituency level. The party did have some independence of the success, although not NLYL was guaranteed all byelection victories by the party’s Young Liberals as the press saw them; the cover of the Guardian report on between and constitution, and any the Liberal Assembly, . were fought on a change required a two- community politics thirds majority vote at the assembly. Given the low turn-out basis. One of the most striking results was achieved at Sutton at assemblies, and the high proportion of YLs who made up and Cheam in December (see page ). The new that attendance, it would have been difficult for the leadership Liberal MP, Graham Tope, was a Young Liberal who fought to guarantee victory on such changes. Publication and the middle class Surrey seat with a community politics distribution of the report was suppressed. approach. Assisted by the increasingly experienced byelection bandwagon of Trevor Jones, and staffed by numerous YL YLs and Community Politics activists, the campaign was remarkable both for its organisation and outcome, achieving a swing of over % The election of Tony Greaves as the new chairman of the away from the Conservatives in the Liberals’ favour. When YLs to replace Eaks in assuaged some concerns among people began to speak of a new Liberal revival between the party leadership, but it also signalled the beginning of and , following five byelection successes, the YLs new problems, for Greaves was one of the chief exponents and community politics practitioners took substantial credit. of ‘community politics.’ While the YLs were not its sole At the local level, outstanding results were also achieved, architect, they were at the forefront of the fight to ensure it especially in Liverpool, where the Liberals went from one became the party’s main strategic focus, and it was their councillor in to become the single largest party in amendment at the Assembly that committed the party , overcoming the long-term socialist dominance of the to ‘help organise people in communities to take and use city. power’. The YLs were represented on all the major organs Ultimately, however, the YL strategy did not prove a of the party, but it was through the assembly that they credible political alternative for the party, as it did not exercised most influence. Throughout the s they establish solutions in the long term for the issues with constituted the single largest voting block in the party, which the electorate were most concerned, such as
Liberal Democrat History Group Newsletter 14: March 1997 17 unemployment and poverty. A local approach was too than any other party. They were the constituency activists, piecemeal to achieve this. The Wainwright Report the parliamentary candidates, and the ‘shock troops’ of the on the organisation of the party acknowledged that such byelection campaigns that lifted party spirits after the an approach required a prolonged campaigning effort that debacle. the party was organisationally incapable of sustaining. Their greatest assertion of influence within the party Other difficulties were encountered as a result of the remained the mobilisation of the rank and file in support of problems inherent in the strategy. The first dilemma lay in their community politics strategy at the Assembly, an how adequately to define a ‘community’, and how to deal achievement unsurpassed by any other political youth group. with the fact that communities are not automatically Their successes, however, only served to heighten the benign. The second obstacle was how to overcome political differences with the party leadership. The radicals were apathy if individuals were to play a constructive role in unconvinced of the potency of parliamentary politics, and community decision-making. Such problems meant that the parliamentarians simply did not understand municipal the strategy was never fully implemented as the YLs would politics, as few of their constituencies had a strong Liberal have liked. local council base. The party’s failure to make significant gains during the Young Liberal Policy general elections, coupled with the debate that arose in the party over the prospect of coalition agreements as a In their policy-making role YLs proudly promoted result of the Thorpe–Heath talks in February , meant themselves as far more radical than the party elders. In reality that the YLs were distanced from the main sphere of Liberal an examination of their policy programme shows that with activity in the years that followed, as the party’s concentration only nine exceptions the YLs subscribed to the same ideas returned to national rather than local politics. Municipal as the mainstream party. Only in the areas of disarmament politics further assisted the decline of the YL movement, and defence, Palestine, the abolition of head teachers, the when individuals, increasingly drawn into the minutiae of -day limit on prosecutions, the free legal aid service, the local council issues, became able to devote less time to the Invest-as-you-Earn community fund, and trade union and NLYL. Instead they looked to the ALC as a more suitable incomes policy were there any differences in these years. A focus for their activities, and it was this organisation that number of themes can also be discerned; the promotion of replaced the YLs as the radical arm of the party in the later a participatory democracy and ‘community’ interests, an s and early s. aversion to bureaucracy and limitations on individual freedoms, and the importance of ecological factors in all Ruth Fox is a Ph.D student at Leeds University, studying the areas of life. political strategy and philosophy of the Liberal Party –. She completed an M.A. thesis on ‘the Young Liberals –’. Their greatest assertion of influence within Notes: the party remained the mobilisation of the Reasons for joining, as expressed in interviews with the author, by Graham Tope, Peter Hain and Steve Atack. rank and file in support of their community Scarborough Perspectives (YLM Publications, ), p. . The Wainwright Report –: memorandum from John Spiller, politics strategy at the Assembly. retiring agent for North Cornwall, undated, p. .
Their programme as a whole however lacked consistency and coherence. Avowedly internationalist, they displayed protectionist tendencies in their support of import Archive Sources controls to protect British jobs, and their commitment to increased democratic participation did not sit easily with The Liberal Democrat History Group is aiming to develop and publish their opposition to referendums, proportional representation a guide to archive sources for students of the history of the Liberal and coalition government. In many areas of policy in these Democrats and its predecessors. years, the YLs were ahead of their time, such as Liberal Democrat archives are stored in the LSE Library, which also environmental politics, gay rights, and support for the contains much Liberal Party material; SDP archives are kept at Essex withdrawal of military forces from Northern Ireland. Devoid University. of responsibility, they could often say what others in the party were thinking but unwilling to articulate aloud. We would like to hear from anyone knowing the whereabouts of any Paradoxically, the YL experience in these years was that relevant archive material, including the records of local and regional the Liberal Party, which had the least political influence in parties, internal groups and so on. the country, offered its younger members greater influence Please write to Duncan Brack at the address on the back page.
18 Liberal Democrat History Group Newsletter 14: March 1997