From Young Socialists to Young Labour: The changing face of left-wing youth politics in Britain
Abstract
For many years Labour’s youth section was a constant headache for the adult party. This state of affairs reached a climax in the 1980s. Under the influence of Militant, the Labour Party Young Socialists were openly hostile to the leadership of the party. However, by the mid-1990s, Young Labour, as the youth wing was renamed, had become a loyal supporter of New Labour. This startling transformation can be put down to a number of factors including the changing face of the Labour Party itself and the emergence of a new generation of activists who had grown up in very different ideological and political context to their predecessors.