Intergenerational memory, The Labour Party, and The Ghost of the Two Tony’s Daniel James Lewis MA by Research University of York History July 2018 Abstract This dissertation will examine the Labour Party memberships’ understanding of its own history. By use of an online survey the individual grassroots membership was contacted and asked to give their opinion regarding certain major leaders, figures, internal and external events in the recent history of the party. These results were cross referenced with published studies carried out by Seyd and Whiteley in the 1980s and 90s. The results illustrate that there is a generational split in the collective memory of the party between two groups, basically these two groups are younger and older party generations. This split can be explained by the ‘reminiscence bump’ which is a concept from the world of psychology. Those who identify with a particular ideological section of the party are much more likely to have a different perceptions of the past compared with other sections. As Whiteley has shown, people join the party for either instrumental or expressive reasons and that those two reasons become manifest in different perceptions of the two figures of Tony Blair and Tony Benn. These differing perceptions reinforce the idea that the past is always viewed through the lens of the present. This dissertation offers a framework for historians to use when analysing popular cultural perceptions of history with generational memory at its heart. 2 List of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….p2 List of Tables, Graphs and Images……………………………………………………..p4 Declaration…………………………....…………………………………………………...p8 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..…..p10 Historiography……………………………………………………….…………………..p13 Part Two Construction of the Survey………………………………………………….p31 OMOV and CLIV…………………………………………………………………….…p104 The Ghost of The Two Tony’s………………………………………………………..p130 Where Next?........................................................................................................p142 The Future of History………………………………………………………………….p145 List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………..p151 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………p152 3 List of Tables, Graphs, and Images Tables Table 1.1 - Leaders General……………………………………………………………………...p49 Table 1.2 - Figures General………………………………………………………………………p50 Table 1.3 - Internal Events General……………………………………………………………...p52 Table 1.4 - External Events General…………………………………………………………..…p53 Table 2.1 - Acquiring Bump Labour Leaders Ratings…………………….……………………p58 Table 2.2 - Post Bump Labour Leaders Ratings………………………………………………..p59 Table 2.3 - Acquiring Bump Labour Figures Ratings…………………………………………..p60 Table 2.4 - Post Bump Labour Figures Ratings………………………………………………...p60 Table 2.5 - Acquiring Bump Labour Internal Events Ratings…………………………….……p61 Table 2.6 - Post Bump Labour Internal Events Ratings………….……………………………p62 Table 2.7 - Acquiring Bump External Events Ratings……………………………….…………p63 Table 2.8 - Post Bump External Events Ratings…………………………………….…………p63 Table 3.1 - Leaders ‘Soft’ Bennite……………………………………………………………….p79 Table 3.2 - Leaders ‘Hard’ Bennite………………………………………………………………p79 Table 3.3 - Leaders ‘Soft’ Blairite…………………………………………………………..……p79 Table 3.4 - Leaders ‘Hard’ Blairite……………………………………………………….………p80 Table 3.5 - Figures ‘Soft’ Bennite…………………………………………………………….…p80 Table 3.6 - Figures ‘Hard’ Bennite………………………………………………………………p81 Table 3.7 - Figures ‘Soft’ Blairite……………………………………………………..……….…p81 Table 3.8 - Figures ‘Hard’ Bennite……………………………………………………….……...p82 Table 3.9 - Internal Events ‘Soft’ Bennite……………………………………………….………p83 Table 3.10 - Internal Events ‘Hard’ Bennite…………………………………………….………p83 Table 3.11 - Internal Events ‘Soft’ Blairite…………………………………………….………...p84 Table 3.12 - Internal Events ‘Hard’ Blairite…………………………………………….…….…p84 Table 3.13 - External Events ‘Soft’ Bennite………………………………………….…………p85 Table 3.14 - External Events ‘Hard’ Bennite…………………………………………….……..p85 Table 3.15 - External Events ‘Soft’ Blairite……………………………………………….…….p85 Table 3.16 – External Events ‘Hard’ Blairite…………………………………………….……..p86 4 Graphs Graph 1.1 - When Did You First Join the Labour Party? General……………………………p45 Graph 1.2 - What Age Range Are You In? General……………………………………………p45 Graph 1.3 - Have You Resign Your Membership At Any Time Following Your Decision To Join? General………………………………………………………………………………………p44 Graph 1.4 - If Yes, What Year Did You Leave? General………………………………………p46 Graph 1.5 - What Was Your Main Reason for Leaving? General…………………………….p48 Graph 1.6 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing General…………...………p54 Graph 1.7 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing General…………………p55 Graph 1.8 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? General………………….p56 Graph 1.9 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success General…………………….……………………………….p57 Graph 1.10 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s General…………………………………………………...…………………………………………p58 Graph 1.11 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Middle Class in the 1990s General…………………………………………………………………………………….………..p59 Graph 1.12 - Did ‘New’ Labour Mark a Decisive Break with the History, Heritage and Traditions of The Labour Party? General………………………………………….…….………p59 Graph 2.1 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing? Current Bump………..…p66 Graph 2.2 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing? Post Bump…………...…p67 Graph 2.3 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing? Current Bump……...…p67 Graph 2.4 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing? Post Bump……….……p68 Graph 2.5 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? Current Bump…….……p69 Graph 2.6 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? Post Bump………………p70 Graph 2.7 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success? Current Bump………………………………………….…p70 Graph 2.8 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success? Post Bump…………………………………………..……p71 Graph 2.9 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s? Current Bump…………………………………………………………………………………………..……p72 Graph 2.10 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s? Post Bump.………………………………………………………………………………………….……p72. Graph 2.11 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Middle Class in the 1990s? Current Bump………………………………………………………………………………………….……p73 5 Graph 2.12 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Middle Class in the 1990s? Post Bump………………………………………………………………………………………....…..…p73 Graph 2.13 - Did ‘New’ Labour Mark a Decisive Break with the History, Heritage and Traditions of The Labour Party? Current Bump……………………………………..…..….….p74 Graph 2.14 - Did ‘New’ Labour Mark a Decisive Break with the History, Heritage and Traditions of The Labour Party? Post Bump………………………………………..…….…….p75 Graph 3.1 - Age Range ‘Soft’ Bennite…………………………………………………….....…..p76 Graph 3.2 - Age Range ‘Hard’ Bennite…………………………………………………..…..….p77 Graph 3.3 - Age Range ‘Soft’ Blairite…………………………………………………………….p77 Graph 3.4 - Age Range ‘Hard’ Blairite………………………………………………….….…….p78 Graph 3.5 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing ‘Soft’ Bennite………….…p87 Graph 3.6 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing ‘Hard’ Bennite……………p87 Graph 3.7 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing ‘Soft’ Blairite………..……p88 Graph 3.8 - Perception of 1980s Members that Were Left Wing ‘Hard’ Blairite……….……p88 Graph 3.9 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing ‘Soft’ Bennite…….……..p89 Graph 3.10 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing ‘Hard’ Bennite……...…p89 Graph 3.11 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing ‘Soft’ Blairite……..……p90 Graph 3.12 - Perception of 1990s Members that Were Right Wing ‘Hard’ Blairite…...….…p90 Graph 3.13 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? ‘Soft’ Bennite……..…...p91 Graph 3.14 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? ‘Hard’ Bennite…………p93 Graph 3.15 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? ‘Soft’ Blairite………...…p93 Graph 3.16 - The Labour Party Should Focus on Gaining Power? ‘Hard’ Blairite…….……p93 Graph 3.17 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success ‘Soft’ Bennite……………………………………………….p94 Graph 3.18 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success ‘Hard’ Bennite………………………………………………p95 Graph 3.19 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success ‘Soft’ Blairite…………………………………………..……p95 Graph 3.20 - The Labour Party Should Always Put Commitment to its Principles First Even at the Expense of Electoral Success ‘Hard’ Blairite………………………………………….……p96 Graph 3.21 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s ‘Soft’ Bennite………………………………………………………………………………………………p97 Graph 3.22 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s ‘Hard’ Bennite……………………………………………………………………………………..……….p97 Graph 3.23 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s ‘Soft’ Blairite…………………………………………………………………………...………………….p98 6 Graph 3.24 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Working Class in the 1980s ‘Hard’ Blairite………………………………………………………………………………..…………….p99 Graph 3.25 - The Labour Party Membership Was More Middle Class in the 1990s ‘Soft’ Bennite…………………………………………………………………………………………….p100 Graph 3.26