Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Don’t be fooled again
We need to learn the lessons of the 1970s – when the state sabotaged the last left-wing Labour government, writes CHRIS NINEHAM
Harold Wilson and his wife Mary

FOR the first time in a generation, we have the chance of a radical Labour government.

To get an idea of what to expect and how the left should prepare, we need to know the history of the last such experiment.

The Wilson/Callaghan Labour government was elected in 1974 on the back of a wave of militant strikes.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference in The Hague, Netherlands, June 23, 2025 ahead of the Nato summit
Features / 24 June 2025
24 June 2025

As US hegemony crumbles and Trump becomes ever more unpredictable, European powers cling to the pact’s militarist agenda in a bid to disguise their own increasing irrelevance, writes CHRIS NINEHAM

A housing block is reduced to burning rubble by an Israeli a
Features / 2 October 2024
2 October 2024
CHRIS NINEHAM slams the deepening and dangerous Western hypocrisy in backing Israeli attacks while condemning any kind of resistance or retaliation, warning of a potential global conflict if we don’t take action immediately
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during his
Features / 31 July 2024
31 July 2024
As Israel targets Hamas and Hezbollah leaders beyond Gaza in a campaign of deliberate provocation, CHRIS NINEHAM calls for a global protest movement against Israel's Western sponsors to prevent a wider war
Features / 9 September 2023
9 September 2023
Stop the War Coalition's CHRIS NINEHAM explains why a resolution before Congress this year risks committing the labour movement to a policy of escalating the war in Europe
Similar stories
Veteran Labour politician, Tony Benn, in Grosvenor Square, L
Editorial: / 3 April 2025
3 April 2025
TURNING POINT: The anti-cuts plan put forward by Tony Benn (
Features / 31 March 2025
31 March 2025
Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
Features / 23 January 2025
23 January 2025
Britain’s first woman Chancellor delivers the same old fudge, as Labour’s commitment to economic orthodoxy, seen throughout its history, always betrays working people, writes KEITH FLETT
Harold Wilson arrives in Downing St, 1974
Features / 31 July 2024
31 July 2024
JOHN ELLISON looks back at the Wilson government’s early months, detailing how left-wing manifesto commitments were diluted, and the challenges faced by Tony Benn in implementing socialist policies