Earlier Labour split

[AgentRudda]

In what ways and when could the Labour Party split before the Gang of Four in 1981? Ideally, the split would come some time between 1945 and 1980. Two possibilities I can think of are: a split in the 1950s, by either the Gaitskellites (creating the Reform Party) or the Bevanites (forming a left-wing party); or a left-wing, anti-EEC split in the mid-1970s, possibly when Roy Jenkins succeeds Harold Wilson following a Labour victory in 1970.

Is it inherently more likely for the right of the party to have split, or the left? Is also another interesting question.

 

[Nomad]

In what ways and when could the Labour Party split before the Gang of Four in 1981? Ideally, the split would come some time between 1945 and 1980. Two possibilities I can think of are: a split in the 1950s, by either the Gaitskellites (creating the Reform Party) or the Bevanites (forming a left-wing party); or a left-wing, anti-EEC split in the mid-1970s, possibly when Roy Jenkins succeeds Harold Wilson following a Labour victory in 1970.

The best chance I see is essentially an earlier version of the SDP in the 1970s, by having the party turn to the left earlier. Maybe Labour lose in 1974, or Wilson retires early in 1970 and is succeeded by someone more toward the left like Foot, or Benn, who might be able to win among the PLP before he went full on hard left. The problem with anything before that is that the previous splits of the 1930s were still within the memory of most people, and given that the consequences had been pretty catastrophic for all sides, there was no real desire to do it all again in the decades that followed.

Is it inherently more likely for the right of the party to have split, or the left? Is also another interesting question.

Not necessarily, but the circumstances of the 1970s and 80s made it highly unlikely the left would leave. The right split in the early eighties because control of the party was shifting to the left, which was something that has been under way since the 1960s, due to wider societal trends that it would take a pretty big PoD to prevent. The left would be highly unlikely to split during this time, because they knew that if they remained within Labour, control of one of two main parties of government would fall into their lap.

The one thing I could see provoking a substantial left wing split would be some sort of national government forming between Labour and the Tories, as was suggested by Ted Heath and others during this time period. The left probably wouldn't back such a government, but if the rest of Labour did, they would have little choice but to leave the party. It is easy to see a large left wing party evolving out of that.