Papers of the Labour Party Manifesto Group

LP/MANIF

Papers of the Labour Party Manifesto Group

1974-1992

The collection consists of a wide variety of documentation in textual format of the business of the three groups and the related activities of their members. Includes agendas, minutes of group meetings, correspondence, newspapers and news cuttings, statements and pamphlets along with their drafts, briefing papers, copies of speeches, leaflets, notes, lists of members of the group, advertisements, balance sheets, questionnaires, drawings, compliment slips, mailing lists, invoices, bank statements, timetables, reports, nomination forms, postcards, fax, envelopes. Together, they provide an illustration of the activities of moderate groups and opinion within the Labour party in the late between 1974 and 1984.

The papers have been arranged into files based on subject matter. These have been described according to ISAD(G) 2000.

English

2 boxes

Open to view with an appointment: archive@phm.org.uk

Deposited with the National Museum of Labour History by George Robertson in 1993.

The papers of the Manifesto Group were kept in the possession of George Robertson until their donation to the National Museum of Labour History. These papers were then rearranged into thematic order by archive staff.

The papers in this collection comprise records of three separate bodies: the Manifesto Group, the Campaign for Labour Victory and the Labour Defence and Disarmament group.

The Manifesto Group

The Manifesto Group of the Labour party was formed in December 1974 in an effort to support the government, uphold its manifesto against attacks from the Left and balance the Tribune Group after the latter's success in the elections to the PLP Liaison Committee and in view of its domination of other PLP subject groups. While not a descendant of, the Campaign for Democratic Socialism, it occupied the moderate centre ground of the party through the second half of the Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties.

Its aims and objectives, as stated in its founding documents, were:

"1. To work for the implementation of the policies set out in the Labour Manifesto and to support a Labour Government in overcoming the country's acute economic difficulties

2. Act as a forum for constructive discussion designed to relate democratic socialist philosophy to the needs of the present age.

3. To endeavour to achieve a truly democratic socialist society through our democratic and representative parliamentary system."

Eligibility for participation in the group was originally restricted to members of the Parliamentary Labour Party but soon expanded to included Peers taking the party whip, though not current ministers. Its organisational structure consisted of a chairperson, three vice chairpersons, an honorary secretary and a treasurer, all of whom held their position by virtue of election by simple majority at the start of the parliamentary session. In addition, from 1977- 1979 their staff consisted of a single researcher, John Wakefield. Its meeting were held each Wednesday evening during the parliamentary session and were open to all group members. Occasional open meetings were held which all members of the PLP were free to attend. The finances of the group, other than the three-year grant from the Joseph Rowntree Trust, which paid for the services of the researcher, were constituted by membership subscriptions and minor amounts from sales of its booklets, its main means of disseminating its ideas, although it had not regular publishing programme. The main titles consist of a series of statements and pamphlets including: What We Must Do: A Democratic Socialist Approach To Britain's Crisis (1977); The Wrong Approach: A Critique Of Tory Policy (1978); The Future Of Counter-Inflationary Policy (1979); Priorities Of Labour (1979).

The Manifesto Group ended in 1984.

Campaign for Labour Victory

The Manifesto group worked along with the Campaign for Labour Victory from the latter's inception in February 1977. The CLV shared similar views, supporting the Labour government of the time while upholding a social democratic perspective. The two worked together on a number of occasions, notably at the issue of a joint statement, Reform and Democracy (see LP/MANIF/5), although they had no formal connections. The CLV, however, worked at the level of the Constituency Labour Parties and held as part of its aims the regeneration of the party membership and organisation.

Labour Defence and Disarmament Group

The collection also contains papers of the Labour Defence and Disarmament Group which was officially launched on the 26th May 1982 under the presidency of Jim Callaghan, with George Robertson as Treasurer and Paul Backhouse as secretary, but had existed in embryonic form from December 1981 under the name of Labour Sense in Disarmament. Its steering committee was formed of these group officers and the chair of its working parties. These working parties were divided into two sections. The first was concerned with campaigning in (1) Trades Unions, (2) constituencies, (3) the Parliamentary Labour Party and its National Executive Committee, and (4) amongst the Young Socialists groups. The second was occupied by studying a series of issues: nuclear defence, conventional defence, disarmament, third world defence problems, NATO and the Warsaw Pact and, finally, the logistics of defence such as manpower, budgets, etc. Each working party met at least bi-monthly and with the chairperson charged with reporting back to the steering committee on a regular basis.

Its aims were study issues in defence and disarmament by providing research papers to encourage a realistic discussion of the question and to campaign in the Labour Movement for multilateralism with the aim of preserving peace and promoting disarmament. It put forward loyalty to NATO as the basis of defence policy and accepted the need of both nuclear and conventional weapons.

Membership was open to all Labour Party Members, including ordinary party members, and by 1984 included former ministers, members of parliament, local councillors, Trades Union Officers and local party officers.