With almost all of us stuck at home due to the Coronavirus lockdown, we have compiled a political education list of our recommendations of books you can read and videos you can watch to help pass the time by improving your knowledge of the Labour Party and its history. This second version of the list includes extra suggestions that our supporters have sent to us in response to the initial list.
We aren’t suggesting anyone will be able to read everything in the list, more that you will dip in and find something of interest. Please note that prices of some of the out of print books vary wildly on Amazon. Try searching for the titles that you want on websites of local bookshops in your area that do delivery as well.
Please do send us your recommendations for other books or videos to add to the list, particularly about non-UK subjects as this is very much focused on the UK and Labour so far. You can download a PDF version of this list here.
Unfortunately, there’s a lack of diversity in both the subjects and authors of the historical books I’ve listed, for the sad reason that until All Women Shortlists were brought in for parliamentary selections in the 1990s, Labour’s structures were dominated by white men – Nan Sloane has addressed the previously often unrecorded role of women in the party’s history in “The Women in the Room: Labour’s Forgotten History” - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Women-Room-Labours-Forgotten-History-ebook/dp/B07MX8THJT/
History
General History of the Labour Party
- Old Labour to New - The Dreams That Inspired, the Battles That Divided – Greg Rosen https://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-Labour-New-Inspired-Battles/dp/1842750453/
- A Strange Eventful History – Democratic Socialism in Britain - Edmund Dell https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strange-Eventful-History-Democratic-Socialism/dp/0006530567/
- Dictionary of Labour Biography – Greg Rosen https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-Labour-Biography-Greg-Rosen/dp/1902301188
- Leading the Left – Peter Shore https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leading-Left-Peter-Shore/dp/0297810960
- A Short History of the Labour Party – Henry Pelling https://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-History-Labour-Party/dp/1403993130
- Labour People – Hardie to Kinnock - Kenneth O Morgan https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labour-People-Leaders-Lieutenants-Kinnock/dp/0571259618
- The Progressive Dilemma – From Lloyd George to Blair – David Marquand https://www.amazon.co.uk/Progressive-Dilemma-Lloyd-George-Blair/dp/0753807068
- British Labour Leaders – Charles Clarke https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/1849548161/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-ghFEbHGGX8VX
- The Labour Party and the World: Labour's Foreign Policy – Rhiannon Vickers – 2 volumes
Pre 1945
- The Rise of the Labour Party 1880-1945 – Paul Adelman https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labour-1880-1945-Seminar-Studies-History/dp/0582292107
- Labour Inside the Gate – A History of the British Labour Party between the Wars – Matthew Worley https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labour-Inside-Gate-International-Political/dp/1845113322
1945-1951
- The Tortoise and the Hares – Attlee, Bevin, Cripps, Dalton, Morrison – Giles Radice https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tortoise-Hares-Attlee-Cripps-Morrison/dp/1842752235
1951-1964
- The Road to Brighton Pier – Leslie Hunter https://www.amazon.co.uk/road-Brighton-Pier-Leslie-Hunter/dp/B0000CK9QW (story of the infighting between the Bevanites and the moderates)
1964-1979
- The Heat of the Kitchen – Bernard Donoughue https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heat-Kitchen-Bernard-Donoughue/dp/1842750518 (autobiography of Wilson’s head of policy – his Downing Street Diaries are also excellent)
- Friends & Rivals – Crosland, Jenkins and Healey – Giles Radice https://www.amazon.co.uk/Friends-Rivals-Crosland-Jenkins-Healey/dp/0349117349
1979-1997
- Hammer of the Left - John Golding https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammer-Left-John-Golding/dp/1785900269/
- Fightback!: Labour's Traditional Right in the 1970s and 1980s - Dianne Hayter https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fightback-Labours-Traditional-Critical-Movement/dp/0719072719
- Faces of Labour – Andy McSmith - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faces-Labour-Inside-Andy-McSmith/dp/1859840930
- Four Years in the Death of the Labour Party – Austin Mitchell https://www.amazon.co.uk/Four-Years-Death-Labour-Party/dp/0413545504
1997-2010
- The Blair Supremacy – A study in the politics of Labour’s Party management – Lewis Minkin https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blair-Supremacy-Politics-Labours-Management/dp/0719073790
- Trio - Inside the Blair, Brown, Mandelson Project – Giles Radice - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trio-Inside-Blair-Mandelson-Project/dp/1848854455
- Servants of the People – The Inside Story of New Labour – Andrew Rawnsley https://www.amazon.co.uk/Servants-People-Inside-Story-Labour/dp/0140278508
- The End of the Party – The Rise and Fall of New Labour – Andrew Rawnsley https://www.amazon.co.uk/End-Party-Andrew-Rawnsley/dp/0141046147
- Brown at 10 – Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brown-at-10-Anthony-Seldon-ebook/dp/B006WAYVV6/
2010-
- Protest and Power – The Battle for the Labour Party – David Kogan - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Protest-Power-Battle-Labour-Party/dp/1448217288
- Comrade Corbyn - Rosa Prince https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comrade-Corbyn-Updated-Rosa-Prince/dp/1785903837/
Understanding Labour Party Conference
- The Labour Party Conference – A study in the Politics of Intra-Party Democracy – Lewis Minkin https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labour-Party-Conference-Intra-party-Democracy/dp/0713906227
Trade Union Link
- The Contentious Alliance – Trade Unions and the Labour Party – Lewis Minkin https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contentious-Alliance-Trade-Unions-Labour/dp/0748604049/
Biographies and Autobiographies
- Ramsay MacDonald – David Marquand https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ramsay-Macdonald-Biography-David-Marquand/dp/1860661130
- JR Clynes – A Political Life – Tony Judge https://www.amazon.co.uk/J-R-Clynes-Political-Tony-Judge/dp/1518761984
- Citizen Clem - John Bew https://www.amazon.co.uk/Citizen-Clem-Biography-Attlee-Winner/dp/178087992X
- Clement Attlee: The Inevitable Prime Minister – Michael Jago https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clement-Attlee-Inevitable-Prime-Minister/dp/1785902369
- Ernest Bevin – Alan Bullock https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ernest-Bevin-Alan-Bullock/dp/1902301854
- Herbert Morrison – Portrait of a Politician – Bernard Donoughue and GW Jones https://www.amazon.co.uk/Herbert-Morrison-Portrait-Politician-paperback/dp/1842124412
- Hugh Dalton – A Life – Ben Pimlott https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hugh-Dalton-Life-Ben-Pimlott/dp/000638417X
- Aneurin Bevan – Michael Foot https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aneurin-Bevan-Biography-Michael-Foot/dp/0689105878 (link is to the abridged single volume version – the full version is two volumes)
- Hugh Gaitskell – The First Moderniser – Brian Brivati https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hugh-Gaitskell-Moderniser-Brian-Brivati/dp/1843580993
- Wilson – Philip Ziegler https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wilson-Authorised-Life-Philip-Ziegler/dp/0297812769
- Tired and Emotional – The Life of Lord George Brown - Peter Paterson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tired-Emotional-Life-George-Brown/dp/0701139765
- Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon – Rachel Reeves https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alice-Westminster-Political-Life-Bacon/dp/1784537683
- Time & Chance – James Callaghan https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Chance-James-Callaghan/dp/1842751808
- The Time of My Life – Denis Healey https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-My-Life-Denis-Healey/dp/0413777960
- Red Queen: The Authorised Biography of Barbara Castle – Anne Perkins https://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Queen-Authorised-Biography-Barbara/dp/0333905113/
- Who goes home? Scenes from a Political Life – Roy Hattersley https://www.amazon.com/Who-Goes-Home-Roy-Hattersley/dp/034911692X
- Witchfinder General: A Political Odyssey – Joyce Gould https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witchfinder-General-Political-Joyce-Gould/dp/1849549753
- How to be a Minister – Gerald Kaufman https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-be-Minister-Gerald-Kaufman/dp/0571190804
- Neil Kinnock – Martin Westlake https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kinnock-Authorised-Biography-Martin-Westlake/dp/0316848719
- Kinnock – George Drower - https://www.amazon.com/Kinnock-Biography-George-Drower/dp/1897780419
- John Smith: A Life, 1938-1994 – Andy McSmith https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Smith-1938-1994-Andy-McSmith/dp/074939675X
- Momentum – Mo Mowlam https://www.amazon.co.uk/Momentum-Struggle-Peace-Politics-People/dp/0340793953
- The Autobiography – Betty Boothroyd https://www.amazon.co.uk/Betty-Boothroyd-Autobiography/dp/0099427044/
- A Journey – Tony Blair https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journey-Tony-Blair/dp/0099525097
- Blair – Anthony Seldon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blair-Anthony-Seldon/dp/0743232127
- The Third Man – Peter Mandelson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Third-Man-Life-Heart-Labour/dp/0007395302
- The Unfinished Revolution: How New Labour Changed British Politics Forever – Philip Gould https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0349138575/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tahFEbXNXSAR2?pldnSite=1
- My Life, Our Times – Gordon Brown https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Our-Times-Gordon-Brown/dp/1847924972
- Speaking Out: Lessons in Life and Politics – Ed Balls https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaking-Out-Lessons-Life-Politics/dp/1786330393
- Women of Westminster: The MPs Who Changed Politics – Rachel Reeves https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788312201/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_e7gFEb95SC3B5?pldnSite=1
Understanding the Hard and Far Left
- Militant - Michael Crick https://www.amazon.co.uk/Militant-Michael-Crick/dp/1785900293
- As soon as this pub closes … - Chus Aguirre & Mo Klonsky https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/critiques/sullivan/As-soon-as-this-pub-closes.pdf
- Defeat from the Jaws of Victory – Richard Heffernan and Mike Marqusee - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Defeat-Jaws-Victory-Inside-Kinnocks/dp/0860915611 (attack on Kinnock years by the Hard Left)
- Labour and the Benn Factor – Michael Cocks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labour-Benn-Factor-Michael-Cocks/dp/0356186547
- Tony Benn’s diaries – multiple volumes
- Party Animals – My Family and other Communists – David Aaronovitch https://www.amazon.co.uk/Party-Animals-Family-Other-Communists/dp/0099478978
- The far left: An exposé of the extreme left in Britain – Blake Baker https://www.amazon.com/far-left-expose%CC%81-extreme-Britain/dp/0297780336
Understanding left wing Antisemitism
- The Left’s Jewish Problem – Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-semitism – Dave Rich https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lefts-Jewish-Problem-Jeremy-Anti-Semitism/dp/1785901206
- Institutionally Antisemitic: Contemporary Left Antisemitism and the Crisis in the British Labour Party – Prof Alan Johnson https://fathomjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Institutionally-Antisemitic-Report-FINAL-6.pdf
- Contemporary Left Antisemitism – David Hirsh https://www.amazon.co.uk/Contemporary-Left-Antisemitism-David-Hirsh/dp/113823530X
Theory
- The Future of Socialism - Tony Crosland https://www.amazon.co.uk/Future-Socialism-Changed-British-Politics/dp/1845294858
- Choose Freedom: The Future for Democratic Socialism – Roy Hattersley https://www.amazon.co.uk/Choose-Freedom-Future-Democratic-Socialism/dp/0140104941
- New Labour's Old Roots: Revisionist Thinkers in Labour's History 1930-1997 – Patrick Diamond - https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Labours-Old-Roots-Revisionist/dp/0907845894/
- Crosland and New Labour – Edited by Dick Leonard https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crosland-New-Labour-Dick-Leonard/dp/0333739906
- A Theory of Justice - John Rawls (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theory-Justice-John-Rawls/dp/0674000781
- The Blair Revolution – Peter Mandelson and Roger Liddle https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blair-Revolution-Can-Labour-Deliver/dp/0571178189
- Corbynism: A Critical Approach – Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corbynism-Critical-SocietyNow-Matt-Bolton/dp/1787543722 (Marxist critique of Corbynism’s conspiratorial analysis of capitalism)
- Rebuilding Social Democracy – Core Principles for the Centre Left – Edited by Kevin Hickson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebuilding-Social-Democracy-Principles-Centre/dp/1447333179
- Remaking the Labour Party – From Gaitskell to Blair – Tudor Jones https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remaking-Labour-Party-Gaitskell-Blair/dp/0415125502
- The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy – Anthony Giddens https://www.amazon.co.uk/Third-Way-Renewal-Social-Democracy/dp/0745622674
- New Labour - Stephen Driver and Luke Martell https://www.amazon.co.uk/Labour-Revised-Updated-Stephen-Driver/dp/0745633315
- Talking to a Brick Wall: How New Labour stopped listening to the voter and why we need a new politics https://www.amazon.co.uk/Talking-Brick-Wall-listening-politics/dp/184954056X
Film and Podcasts
- Labour - The Wilderness Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XrO72C1WQ0&list=PLBD1ADBFF6B7FD052
- Debate - John Spellar, Austin Mitchell, Peter Taffe & Tony Mulhearn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOAJ9G4iytU
- The Deal https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-deal/on-demand/36432-001
- Corbynism: The Post-Mortem - Oz Katerji https://audioboom.com/channels/5016299
- Thames TV archive of 1981 Deputy Leadership election https://www.youtube.com/user/ThamesTv/search?query=tony+benn
US Politics
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson – Robert Caro – 4 volumes so far and another on the way
- My Life – Bill Clinton https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Life-President-Bill-Clinton/dp/0099441357
- What Happened – Hilary Clinton https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Happened-Hillary-Rodham-Clinton/dp/1471166945
- The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation – Miriam Pawel https://www.amazon.co.uk/Browns-California-Family-Dynasty-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07FQSS5WY/
- Believer : My Forty Years in Politics – David Axelrod - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Believer-My-Forty-Years-Politics/dp/0143128353/
Free Resources
- Progress archive site http://archive.progressonline.org.uk/
- The Fabian Society https://fabians.org.uk/publications/
- Tides of History https://tidesofhistory.wordpress.com/
- The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) https://www.ippr.org/research/publications
- Policy Network https://policynetwork.org/
- Unions 21 https://unions21.org.uk/ideas/publications
- New Local Government Network http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/section/publications/
- Luke’s back catalogue on Labourlist https://labourlist.org/author/luke-akehurst/
- The Social Review https://www.thesocialreview.co.uk/