The Historic Labour Party

In the general election of June 9th the Labour Party won a little over 28 per cent of the vote; in 1951 it had nearly 49 per cent and as late as 1966 48 per cent. Since then the decline in its vote has been continuous, (the decline was checked a little in the general election of October, 1974) and, as well, the Party has been in some sort of 'crisis'. What explains this? To answer that question it is necessary to examine the history of the Party's structure and the nature of the seventeen-year-old crisis this structure has produced. We should notice, in particular, three things: Labour's relationship to the trade unions, the social character of the Party's active membership, and, finally, the Party's legislative and ideological aspirations.