The Radical Alternatives: the Right and the Left

Abstract

The recession of 1974 produced a sharp turn towards neo-liberal policies throughout the dominant capitalist countries — as well as the present wave of local economic initiatives. Britain was no exception: in 1975 the Labour government inaugurated the present era of neo-liberalism with a policy of deflation through control of the money supply, cuts in public spending and a reorientation of the welfare state. This was continued by the Conservative government, which gave it a more explicit ideological basis: to restore the disciplines of the market and the dynamism of enterprise, and as far as possible remove the state from economic and social affairs; we term this the strategy of the Right.