British Populism: The Labour Party and the Common Market Parliamentary Debate
The Common Market controversy in Great Britain has important implications for all students of Western "postindustrial" democracies because it is a case study of the phenomenon of populism. The meaning of populism is often elusive because, reflecting vague and contradictory feelings of discontent, it possesses little doctrinal coherence or common programmatic content. A basic working definition of populism is the belief that the majority 'opinion of the people is checked by an elitist minority. This view is reflected in parochial, conservative, and individualistic attitudes. Although the appeal of populism transcends party lines, it raises a particular threat to the power and unity of a country's major left-center party. Much of the mass working-class base -of the party is attracted to the antielitism of populism even though the attitudes associated with it seem contrary to "established" liberal principles. Moreover, the party's middle-class members, in reacting against what they consider these popular aberrations, begin to express doubts about the underlying wisdom of democratic majority rule, thereby further undermining liberal principles. Thus, a deep subterranean intraparty conflict has surfaced in modern politics, pitting populism against an elitist liberalism. Such a battle emerged in the late 196os and early 1970S in the British Labour party, shaped in large measure by its character and previous history. The usual power pattern within the party has found a middle-class right wing in control, supported by the leadership of the trade unions, where the mass of the member-