Labour's Doorstep Politics in London

Labour's Doorstep Politics in London was first published in 1978.Through participant observation and the analysis of part documents, census reports, and questionnaire data, the author studied three local Labour parties in different socio-economic contexts: Bermondsey, safe Labour territory; Fulham, a marginal district; and South Kensington, 'hopeless' Conservative terrain. Associating himself with these parties for nine months, he examined the impact of environment upon the political organizations and how each responded to the environmental challenge.The study focuses upon organizational patters, leadership roles, the recruitment of members, policy-making at the local level and the political campaigns for a local election and a parliamentary election. The author also analyses the outlooks of the activists on key issues, carefully distinguishing between patterns that can be accepted with some confidence and those that are merely suggestive for future investigation. The book raises such questions as: What sort of people become involved in local party work? What is he distribution of 'ideological enthusiasts'? What were the apparent motivations and aspirations of the party workers? To what extent were the parties able to employ an 'inducement' system in order to elicit assiduous effort from their activities?The author examines some of the literature on incentive systems in voluntary organizations; being based largely upon the American experience, it is found to be inapplicable to ideological parties that seriously compete for power and fails to take account of the 'mixed' motivations that one encounters in field research. The opening chapters on this book are designed to acquaint the American reader with the organization and operation of the Labour Party at the local and national levels. The treatment of the national Party is from the vantage point of the local parties, and the author has introduced some new materials pertaining to the national organization. Scholars have long felt the need for 'grass roots' studies of local parties in Britain. This book helps to fill that need.