Radicals

Britain's political Left grew out of the Industrial Revolution, when the working classes became the driving force behind demands for social change. Their influence reached well beyond the ballot box. It shaped political representation, the founding of the Labour Party and the campaign for women's suffrage, as well as the tradition of self-taught adult education and a good part of Britain's literary culture. In the decades that followed, working people stayed at the heart of British radicalism.

In Radicals, Geoff Andrews follows the story of the Left and the Labour Party through the ideas and careers of influential thinkers, writers, educationalists, trade unionists and politicians. His account moves from the Workers Educational Association to the General Strike and on to the Women's Liberation Movement, bringing forward the voices of the figures who mattered along the way.

The book presents itself as the first history of the Labour Party to put the working classes at its centre. Through that lens it also tells a broader story about their part in shaping British culture, politics and the movements that have pushed for social change.