Imagining Labour Britain: 1945 … 2005 … 2065?

Summer 2005: Labour Britain

In this special issue of the Fabian Review, published to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the 1945 General Election, we look for the long-term vision needed to make as lasting an impact on British society as the government of 1945

In a special issue of the Fabian Review, published to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the 1945 General Election, we ask: Can today's Labour leaders make the same kind of lasting impact on British society as the government of 1945? What will Labour Britain look like in the twenty-first century? And what can Labour learn from its history in government?

Issue highlights

The Long View

Labour must rediscover the long-term strategic vision which animated its 1945 manifesto. Geoff Mulgan on the legacy of Michael Young.

Democracy

• Stephen Twigg learns that compulsory voting is the answer.
• Jonathan Heawood meets Labour's class of 2005.

Equality

• Patrick Diamond on why it's time to talk about equality
• The welfare state of the 1940s is not fit for the challenges of the twenty-first century, says David Blunkett.
• Write off graduate debt for teachers in the most challenging schools, says Mike Ion.

International

• Mark Leonard argues that it's time to invite India to join the G8.
• Roger Liddle on the British EU Presidency.
• David Miller, Gill Hubbard and Nicholas Bayne debate the G8 and whether the world's wealthiest countries really represent a force for good.
• The Summer 2005 issue of the Fabian Review was published by the Fabian Society on Monday July 4, 2005.
• Geoff Mulgan: the long view

"The 2005 manifesto did not attempt a longer perspective and excluded several of the most challenging issues. So what might we seek to achieve in the next 60 years? "

— Geoff Mulgan, Fabian Review, Summer 2005

"Unless we on the left have a narrative which addresses the world of 2050 and not that of 1950, we will allow the muddled eternalism and nostalgia of the Liberal Democrats and old style lefties on the one hand and the newly emerging radical thinkers on the Conservative right to engage in a pincer movement at our expense"

— David Blunkett, Fabian Review, Summer 2005

"It is vital that the rest of the world sees that democratic India is treated in a qualitatively different way from undemocratic China and autocratic Russia. Europeans need to go out of their way to reward India for its democratic freedom and to encourage other countries to think that the path to global power and acceptance is acquiring democracy rather than WMD.

— Mark Leonard, Fabian Review, Summer 2005