Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network

Episode: Matt Myers, "The Halted March of the European Left: The Working Class in Britain, France, and Italy, 1968-1989"
Host: Morteza Hajizadeh
Guest: Dr. Matt Myers
Date: September 30, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Matt Myers, lecturer in Modern European History at Oxford, discussing his new book The Halted March of the European Left: The Working Class in Britain, France, and Italy, 1968–1989 (Oxford UP, 2025). The conversation centers on re-examining traditional narratives regarding the decline of the European left, the role of structural economic changes, the impact of social and demographic shifts, and the dynamics within labor movements in these three countries during the critical post-1968 period.

Myers challenges the prevailing historiography that views the decline of the European left as inevitable and foregrounds the contested, subjective experiences and choices within the labor movement.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Origins and Purpose of the Book

• Myers’s Motivation ([02:19]):
  • The book is the outcome of years of research, including in-depth archival work across Britain, France, and Italy.
  • Myers was dissatisfied with dominant narratives that treated the 1970s as a "hinged decade" primarily as a period of decline for the left due to deindustrialization and cultural change.
  • He aimed to foreground subjectivity—the experiences, hopes, and strategies of left actors—over deterministic structural accounts.

“I wanted to bring subjectivity back into that experience because the people I was reading about in the archives... were finding is a very dynamic culture, a very exciting culture…”
— Dr. Matt Myers [04:34]

Rethinking Hobsbawm’s “Forward March of Labour Halted”

• Hobsbawm’s Thesis ([07:59]):
  • Hobsbawm’s famous 1978 lecture argued that advances of the British labor movement halted due to deindustrialization and cultural fragmentation, especially the decline of the classical industrial working class.
  • Myers’s archival research found that in the 1970s both the margins of the working class—immigrant, female, and young workers—and white-collar sectors were growing and energizing left politics.

“At both margins, the working class seems to be expanding rather than contracting in the 1970s, as perceived by those deeply involved in the movement.”
— Dr. Matt Myers [12:39]

Causes of the Left’s Weakening: Structure vs. Agency

• Structural vs. Political Explanations ([15:08]–[18:53]):
  • Myers critiques explanations that blame deindustrialization and identity politics for the left’s decline.
  • He argues that marginalized groups in the workforce (migrants, racialized minorities, women) often invigorated class solidarity and labor struggles.
  • Fragmentation and emphasis on particular identities arose after structural defeats in the late 70s and 80s, not before or inevitably.

“The idea that diversification of the working class had led to a fragmentation... I didn’t take seriously how there was often subjects at the margins who had most to gain from the advance of the trade union and movement on the left more generally.”
— Dr. Matt Myers [16:54]

The Left’s Complicity in Restructuring

• Managing Fordist Restructuring ([19:37]):
  • Contrary to the image of the left as mere defenders of labor, Myers finds that as communist and socialist parties gained influence, they participated in—and sometimes orchestrated—industrial restructuring and productivity drives.
  • Left leaders faced dilemmas: Should they cooperate with management to modernize industries (sometimes at the expense of militant rank-and-file workers) or resist and be branded as irresponsible?

“In fact, it was the expansion of the left and working-class influence that placed a series of choices on the desk of the left.”
— Dr. Matt Myers [22:55]

Automation, Power Shifts, and Internal Divisions

• Impact of Automation ([27:22]):
  • While automation’s disruptive effects were not new, the 1970s saw heightened tensions over how technological change affected workplace democracy.
  • Left leaders and union officials often saw automation as potentially liberatory, provided it was managed by labor.
  • In practice, automation sometimes weakened the shopfloor power of manual workers and created divisions between rank-and-file and a growing class of technically-educated union officials ([32:37]).

“Automation did not seem to have this... gloomy, debilitating effect. In fact, many of the communists and socialists... saw automation and technological processes as one of the great strengthening forces…”
— Dr. Matt Myers [28:28]

• Arrival of University-Educated Unionists ([32:59]):
  • A new generation of university-educated, managerial-oriented party and union officials brought different expectations and values, gradually shifting the left’s internal culture and priorities.
  • This contributed to the marginalization of traditional, grassroots activists and to greater centralization.

Opinion Polls and Political Professionalization

• Rise of Technocratic Unionism and Professionalization ([36:45]–[46:16]):
  • Unions and parties began using opinion polling and professional political marketing to manage internal dissent and circumvent democratic debate, sidelining organic forms of participation.
  • Mass meetings and robust grassroots engagement persisted into the 1970s, but central leaders increasingly used new techniques to legitimate their authority and strategic pivots—developments paralleling technocratic trends in today's labor organizations.

“Opinion polling essentially enables the leadership... to speak over and above the organized institutional form of democratic process.”
— Dr. Matt Myers [41:12]

Racialization, Migration, and Turning Points

• Immigrant-led Strikes and Striker Marginalization ([52:18]–[65:27]):
  • Landmark strikes, often led by immigrant or marginalized workers (Grunwick in Britain, Citroën/PSA in France, Fiat in Italy), were flashpoints in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
  • In each case, the left’s response was ambivalent or complicit in the face of employer/government crackdowns and right-wing narrative framing, ultimately leading to defeat for labor and loss of momentum for left-wing renewal.
  • These defeats pivoted national politics to the right and marginalized class identity in favor of racial, ethnic, or cultural categories.

“In each of these cases, they are epochal, partly because you see all of the different processes that we've been talking about and indeed the outcomes highlighted in quite stark terms.”
— Dr. Matt Myers [63:27]

Feminism, Youth, and the Challenge to Traditions

• Co-optation and Repression ([65:52]):
  • Feminists, migrants, and youth raised demands to change the culture and structure of unions and parties—sometimes seeking practical reforms (e.g., changing meeting venues/times to increase inclusivity).
  • Leadership often responded with co-optation or repression, but more fundamentally, there was a broad structural disempowerment after pivotal defeats.
  • The left was unable to mediate the growing diversity within its constituencies, paving the way for future fragmentation.

“It didn’t seem to me that what was happening was a clash that you can characterize as simply one of class and identity, but between different kinds of workers...”
— Dr. Matt Myers [66:55]

Reflections on Contemporary Prospects

• Revival and Future of the Left ([69:12]–[72:54]):
  • Myers notes some echoes of renewed class-based activism in the past decade, driven by frustration with inequality and crises since 2008.
  • However, contemporary mobilizations often lack the institutional roots and class framing of the 1970s.
  • A possible lesson from the past is the importance of building robust, participatory institutions—an ongoing challenge for unions and left parties today.

“There does seem to be political and economic movements that are seeking empowerment of working class people... But that doesn't mean that there hasn't been a process of political radicalization to certain degrees.”
— Dr. Matt Myers [70:21]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I was not wholly convinced that that decade [the 1970s] was conceived in the way that I thought would be justified, given its importance.” — Dr. Matt Myers [02:19]
• “Some of the key strike cases I looked at... these migrant or immigrant workers... used class as a unifying category, but didn’t deny the diversity of where they’d come from and who they were.” — Dr. Matt Myers [16:58]
• “Do you restore... productivity of industry by participating alongside management... or do you defend your old and core working class supporters?” — Dr. Matt Myers [21:32]
• “The 70s highlights that it’s a very messy process, but one that requires participation.” — Dr. Matt Myers [52:04]
• “In each case, the left’s response was complicit in legitimizing the narratives set by more hostile, anti-striker forces.” — [Summary, based on Dr. Matt Myers [56:00–63:00]]

Key Timestamps

• 02:19 – Myers explains his research aims and critique of the dominant historical narrative.
• 07:59 – Hobsbawm’s contribution and where Myers diverges.
• 15:08 – Discussion on structural explanations vs. agency in weakening the left.
• 19:37 – The left’s role in managing—rather than just resisting—industrial restructuring.
• 27:22 – The complex impact of automation on labor politics and working-class power.
• 32:59 – The arrival and influence of managerial/educated layers in unions and parties.
• 36:45 – Polling, professionalization, and the diminution of organic democracy within unions.
• 52:18 – Racialization and the fate of immigrant-led strikes in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• 65:52 – Internal challenges from feminists, youth, and migrants; pattern of co-optation.
• 70:06 – Myers’s thoughts on the left’s prospects today and the importance of organization.

Conclusion

Dr. Matt Myers’s The Halted March of the European Left urges a rethinking of the post-1968 era in European labor history. Rather than a tale of inexorable decline at the hands of market forces and cultural change, Myers documents a period of dynamic contestation, internal dilemmas, and missed possibilities—many of which still resonate in today’s labor politics. Through granular archival research and a focus on lived agency, Myers argues for re-centering the voices and conflicts within the left, challenging narratives of inevitable defeat and offering lessons for present-day efforts to rebuild class politics.

For a deep dive into the intertwined stories of labor, politics, identity, and power in late 20th-century Europe, this episode is required listening.