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MANY CONTEMPORARY OBSERVERS OF POLITICS ARGUE THAT THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT ARE ESSENTIALLY MEANINGLESS. THIS ESSAY ARGUES THAT WHILE THE BASIC LEFT-RIGHT DISTINCTION IS A CRUDE BINARY THAT ONLY ANNOUNCES THE FIRST OF A SUCCESSION OF DISTINCTIONS AND COMBINATIONS, IT IS NEVERTHELESS AN ESSENTIAL DIMENSION OF POLITICAL CHOICE. THE NEW POLITICS OF IDENTITY AND ECOLOGY DO NOT CHALLENGE THE LEFT-RIGHT DISTINCTION. ISSUES AND POINTS OF CONFLICT MAY CHANGE, BUT THE UNDERLYING EGALITARIANISM AND COLLECTIVIST IMPULSES REMAIN STRONG AND IMPORTANT.

This paper offers wide ranging commentary on the state of British politics in the aftermath of the comprehensive defeat of the Conservatives, & Labour's landslide majority victory in the House of Commons, in the British General Election. Many topics are addressed, including the role of the Conservative Party in its defeat, as well as the apparently successful strategies on the part of the Labour Party; the positions of the other liberal parties in Britain; the pending vote to determine whether or not a Scottish Parliament will be created; the possibility of voting reform; expectations of Labour now that they are in power, & the prospects for both radical change & conservatism during its tenure; the meaning of the election results for Britain's relationship with the European Monetary Union, & for possible adoption of the Euro; the pressures of globalization, & the relevance of Britain's relationship with the European Union; & the dangerous potential for New Labour authoritarianism in social matters. T. K. Brown

An obituary focusing on the writings of Raphael Samuel, a founder of the New Left Review, who died of cancer in 1996.

The death of Ernest Mandel in July 1995 meant the loss of a major figure in the postwar rebirth of critical Marxism. Provides a tribute, and Ernest Mandel's own account of his early life given in an interview. (Original abstract-amended)

Tribute to E. P. Thompson. His contribution to the British New Left of the fifties and sixties was essential and distinctive, stressing popular self-determination and action within civil society. Demonstrates his striving to wed his own sense of the blockages within British society, and a wary respect for the New Left cultural critique, to the radical populist accents of his American friend C. Wright Mills. Remarks on Poverty of Theory in this context.

Discusses the centrality and urgency of the demand for proportional representation, and the need for the left to seize the opportunities offered by the post-Maastricht phase of European integration. Sees PR as the best means to achieve a consensus of the left, and as the most democratic of the available electoral systems. (RSM)

Argues that for Russia's good, it is to be hoped that Yeltsin will not be as fixated on the West as Gorbachev has been. Russia's interests now lie in a 'grand bargain' with Japan and China. (SJK)

Examines why the Bolshevik revolution was doomed from its very implementation. Attempts made by both Lenin and Trotsky to answer criticisms by Kautsky belong to their most unconvincing exercises in polemic. Argues that those who wish for a future beyond capitalism cannot afford to ignore the political economy of the East. (SJK)

Studies of employment change have reported with varying emphasis, the superior job-generation performance of small compared with large firms. One deficiency in this area of research, however, is on the attributes of jobs in small firms and this has led to much speculation. Therefore, evidence is examined from a survey of 106 independent electrical and electronic engineering firms in Dorset (Class 33 and 34, 1980 Standard Industrial Classification). The job characteristics investigated include: their skill and gender composition; the full-time and part-time status of staff; the stability of the jobs they provide; their type of wage payment; and the incidence of training provision. A labour-market-segmentation framework is used to emphasise the importance of products, processes, and markets and to displace the notion of size as the prime causal factor in job quality. The central theme is that any stereotypical view of employment conditions in small businesses is misconceived.

Williams approached literature, cultural studies, communications and adult education in such radically new ways that he opened up fresh fields of study and practice. While this cultural work was linked to his conception of a democratic 'long revolution' its validity and importance were recognized by many who had no prior commitment to his anti-capitalist politics. Part of the value of Williams's work to the Left must be that it did not, and does not, belong to the Left alone. (DCL)