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Article: Profile: The Labour Party: Blow out the candles and make a wish On its 100th birthday, the People's Party faces an identity crisis: can the grass roots win back its stolen soul?
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 27, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Is there much that Keir Hardie, Labour's first MP would recognise
about his party 100 years on? Leaving aside the enormous social
changes that have transformed a once overwhelmingly proletarian
movement into a more sedate party of largely public servants, the
answer is yes. But this would largely depend upon which Labour Party
he might be looking at: the Labour Party and its trade union
affiliates which voted last week for Ken Livingstone, or the "New"
Labour Party (circa 1994) which did all in its power to block him.
Of course Hardie would immediately recognise the former rather
than the latter, for although no slouch (Keir Hardie was a practical
man who preferred the possibilities ...