Failing to seek alternatives: qualitative socialists and Keynesians in the 1970s

Whatever the verdict on their interpretation of technocratic socialism, leftwingers enjoyed a tangible, if fleeting, sense that history in the form of capitalist crisis and rising industrial discontent might be on their side. Qualitative and Keynesian socialists, on the other hand, found themselves confronted by an economic and social environment that threatened their most cherished assumptions. The first part of this chapter considers Peter Towns-end’s defence of egalitarian fellowship in an increasingly cold climate while the second examines the demise of Keynesian socialism. Faced with internal disagreement and a hostile economic and political environment this strand of thought was effectively destroyed by the end of the 1970s.