In Europe, as in the United States, the dominant social democratic policy aims of the 1960s and 1970s--full employment, strong unions, and an economic safety net--have given way to a conservative consensus: inflation is the main enemy, the welfare state must be retrenched, unions should be cut down [...]

This new edition of Donald Sassoon's magisterial history of the Left in the twentieth century includes a substantial new introduction by the author. With unique authority and unparalleled scholarship, Sassoon traces the fortunes of the political parties of the left in Western Europe across 14 countr[...]