ABSTRACT
The inevitable outcome of Democracy is the control by the people themselves…
Sidney Webb Fabian Essays (1889) It might be thought that the left would have been the natural leaders of a democratic kulturkampf in Britain. In part-and a substantial part-this had indeed been the case. It was from the left that the historic battle for universal suffrage was most energetically waged and it was on the left that the fruits of a democratic politics were most confidently expected. An enfranchised people would sweep away privilege and vote its way to socialism (or at least to the Labour Party’s version of it). Indeed, this was precisely why those on the right got themselves into such a lather at the prospect of democracy and did their utmost to resist its progress. There might not seem to be a great deal more to be said about these ideological dispositions, beyond the fact that the expectations based upon them have been so comprehensively confounded.
