By Ralph Miliband
Ever since its first publication in 1961, Parliamentary Socialism has been widely acknowledged as one of the most searching and challenging accounts ever written of "the politics of Labour" in this century. With material drawn from many sources, the book presented a detailed and scholarly record of the Labour Party's thinking and of its role in British politics from 1900 onwards, and no other work has so far provided a more cogent explanation of Labour's performance both in opposition and in government. Reviewing the book on publication, Michael Foot described it as "the most important contribution made for many years to the study of the way the Labour Party works"; and in the light of Labour's record in the last ten years and of its present sense of crisis, Ralph Miliband's account has lost none of its relevance - rather the reverse. For this re-issue of the book, the author has added a Postscript which analyses the last ten years of Labour in opposition and in office, and which also discusses "what may or may not be expected of the Labour Party in the coming years". His arguments and conclusions, whether one agrees with them or not, demand close attention, particularly from anyone who is seriously concerned with the future of British socialism.