Today’s fight for control of the Labour Party doesn’t look all that different from the battles that raged in the 1980s. The rhetoric of Deputy Leader Tom Watson could have been taken word-for-word from Neil Kinnock’s “modernizing” crusade against the far left three decades ago.

After Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 victory, many on the Left believed that the parliamentary struggle was, at least temporarily, a dead end. Throughout the 1970s, the Labour left had been constantly frustrated as the Harold Wilson and James Callaghan cabinets either ignored or circumvented their policies.

Activists began to look to local government, forging a municipal socialist strategy that aimed to redefine the relationship between local communities and governments, creating sites of resistance to encroaching monetarism. They sought to undo the paternalism associated with state relations and institute more responsive and democratic community development.