ABSTRACT
In the early 1990s when Manchester Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS) emerged, Manchester was still a 'dirty old town'. Labour Manchester had suffered over the 1970s and 1980s losing 50,000 full time jobs between 1971 and 1981. The urban left grew through a community-based anti-cuts campaign, with the result that when, in 1984, the older leadership was deposed, the new council had a strong emphasis on internal democracy and equal opportunities. Labour's defeat in 1987 led to the transformation of Manchester from bastion of municipal socialism to the paradigmatic 'entrepreneurial city' where local movers and shakers 'get things done'. Entrepreneurial Manchester focused on winning high profile events, but also capitalising on Manchester's culture. Manchester's green community was the archetype of Alberto Melucci's sometimes hidden, sometimes visible, sometimes active, sometimes latent networks. The vibrancy of the challenge to the business or entrepreneurial orthodoxy that was now represented by the various shades of green opinion stood out in Manchester.
