ABSTRACT
The pensioners' movement's persistent attempts to mobilise older people around the single issue of restoring the link between pensions and earnings has had relatively little impact. Three key problems for the political effectiveness of the pensioners' movement emerge: the diversity of interests with a stake in the pensions issue, the problems of organising older people on a national basis, and cultural issues about old age and its identification as an appropriate basis for political solidarity. The important areas of social difference that can inhibit older people in achieving political cohesion include class, age, gender, ethnicity, benefit status, savings and health. Two cultural aspects to the effectiveness of the pensioners' movement also emerge as particularly important: the cultural evaluation of old age itself and the political culture of the UK. Older people's organisations share problems with other radical and campaigning organisations, but they also have their own specific problems.
