Authoritarian populism

The Sun on the sinking of the Belgrano in May 1982.

1. Authoritarian populism was a term coined by the cultural theorist Stuart Hall to describe Thatcherism. He argued that Thatcherism was a popular reaction to the British post-war settlement, mobilized along right-wing lines and aiming to strengthen the State.

Criticism

A good deal of evidence from opinion polls suggests, as demonstrated notably in the work of Ivor Crewe, that Mrs. Thatcher had little success in winning over the population. Indeed, polls suggest that opposition to Thatcherism grew as time went on.

Bob Jessop et al. argue, along similar lines, that "Thatcherism must be seen less as a monolithic monstrosity and more as an alliance of disparate forces around a self-contradictory programme."

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Thatcherism involves a passive revolution rather than mass mobilization - let alone a fascist mass mobilization. Where are the Thatcherite 'new model' unions, the Tebbit Labour Front, the Thatcherite Youth, the women's movement, Thatcherite sports leagues, rambling clubs, etc., which might consolidate and fix a mobilized working class?

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Further reading

• Stuart Hall, 'The Great Moving Right Show', Marxism Today, January 1979.
• Stuart Hall, Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke and Brian Roberts, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan (1978).
• Bob Jessop, Kevin Bonnett, Simon Bromley and Tom Ling, 'Authoritarian Populism, 'Two Nations' and Thatcherism', New Left Review, I/147, Sept.-Oct. 1984.
• Stuart Hall, 'Authoritarian Populism: A Reply to Bob Jessop et al', New Left Review, I/151, May-June 1985.
• Bob Jessop, Kevin Bonnett, Simon Bromley and Tom Ling, 'Thatcherism and the Politics of Hegemony: A Reply to Stuart Hall', New Left Review, I/153, Sept.-Oct. 1985.