Protest and Power: The Battle for the Labour Party

'A meticulously researched and balanced history' The Times 'Highly-readable and well-researched' The Sunday Times 'Faultless account of the twists and turns undertaken by the hard left of the Labour Party to retain relevance and the hope of power' James O'Brien, TLS 'A very good book, probably the most even-handed of all the accounts of Corbyn’s rise to power' Guardian 'Timely new book about Labour' Independent The battle for the Labour party is dramatic and intense. This is its definitive history. Labour has shifted from the New Left, to New Labour, to Corbynista Labour. Now, it may see power again with a most unlikely group of activists from the 1970s becoming the fourth generation to win power since 1945. Only Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair have won power from a sitting Conservative government. Of the ten general elections since 1979, Labour has won three, all under Blair. This record of failure, if applied to any other walk of life, would raise the fundamental question of why continue to fight a losing battle? For Labour, it asks whether it is a party of protest – designed only to be a voice from opposition, commenting on the flaws and falsities of Conservative police – or a party of power? Including exclusive interviews with key party members from the 1970s to today including Neil Kinnock, Tony Blair, Ed Miliband and Jon Lansman; and the party's recent struggles with antisemitism and Brexit, this book chronicles the conflicts within the Labour party, the schisms between ideologues and pragmatists, and how these fissures seem destined to keep Labour in opposition.

Table of Contents:
Preface Interviewees 1981 and 2018 Abbreviations Part One: Protest; the Rise and Fall of the New Left 1. Vladimir’s Plan 2. The Years that Changed Everything 3. The High-Water Mark – The Benn Campaign and its Aftermath 4. The Reaction and the Response Part Two: The Counter-revolution 5. The Dream Team 6. The Wilderness Years Begin Part Three: Power; the New Labour Revolution 7. The New Generation 8. New Labour Takes Control Part Four: New Labour; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly 9. What was New Labour? 10. The Good 11. The Bad and the Ugly 12. Conflict 13. Opposition – The Left, the Unions and the Media 14. The Beginning of the End 15. Gordon Brown – The End of New Labour 16. Judging New Labour Part Five: The Miliband Interregnum; Between Power and Protest 17. The Last Electoral College 18. Where are the Milibandites? 19. Falkirk and Collins 20. The Road to 2015 21. The 2015 General Election Part Six: The Four Summers of Jeremy Corbyn; the Summer of Love 22. The Establishment 23. The Insurgents 24. Throwing it Away Part Seven: The Four Summers of Jeremy Corbyn; the Summer of Redemption 25. From Swarm to Momentum 26. Learning on the Job 27. The Referendum 28. The Chicken Coup 29. The Importance of 2016 Part Eight: The Four Summers of Jeremy Corbyn; the Summer of Fun 30. The Apotheosis – The 2017 General Election 31. Consolidation Part Nine: The Four Summers of Jeremy Corbyn; the Long, Hot Summer 32. The Baggage of the Past 33. The Dialogue of the Deaf 34. The Wheel Turns Part Ten: Brexit and Beyond 35. The Shadow of Brexit 36. The Fault Lines Exposed 37. Epilogue Acknowledgements Index

About the Author :
The historian David Kogan has worked in the UK and US media as both a journalist and a senior executive at the BBC, Reuters Television, Granada, Reel Enterprises which he founded, Wasserman Media Group and Magnum Photos as CEO. His first book, The Battle for the Labour Party remains essential reading about the Labour party. He lives in London.

Review :
‘If you want to understand Corbyn’s long march to take control of Labour this is the only book to read. Kogan turns on its head our understanding of Labour’s history over the past 50 years. A tour de force’ If you want to understand how Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour left turned decades of protest into the once unthinkable - the prospect of power - this is the definitive account Brilliant and highly entertaining A meticulously researched and balanced history by a writer with sources at the highest level across different wings of the party Highly-readable and well-researched Faultless account of the twists and turns undertaken by the hard left of the Labour Party to retain relevance and the hope of power while the spotlight and momentum were so often elsewhere David Kogan's absorbing history, the only one to cover the period from Old Labour via New Labour to this hard-Left ascendancy ... invaluable to future historians [Protest and Power] is an excellent overview and dispassionate analysis of the past 40 years of Labour party history…David Kogan's book should be mandatory reading for all those concerned about antisemitism in the Labour party Under the eyes of Kogan's cool, fair-minded intelligence, the struggles of the Labour party go from a pub brawl to an Icelandic saga. New insights, vivid interviews, granular, often objectively funny details, combine to build a portrait of the British left that is both honest and dignifying Protest and Power brilliantly brings to life the political drama of the popular uprising that is Corbyn’s Labour party, from its beginnings in the 1970s to the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands by what became Momentum This is a no-nonsense, straightforward account of what has happened within the party over the last four decades – and it’s truly thorough. You’ll get to the bottom of each page and think, ‘I need to remember every word of this’. Or at least I did A tremendously good read and very enlightening, 5 stars Protest and Power is a very good book, probably the most even-handed of all the accounts of Corbyn’s rise to power ... and definitely the book that best explains Corbyn in the context of the 40-year battle by the left in Labour to seize control of the party David Kogan combines piercing political insights gained over four decades, strong personal contacts and experience, and rigorous integrity to produce this vital, honest and accessible analysis of the origins and nature of Labour now An empirical, balanced and exhaustive account of political conflicts Timely new book about Labour