Structures of Memory: Parties and Their Pasts
Structures of Memory: Parties and Their Pasts
Chapter two examines the ways in which parties explicitly attempt to structure and preserve memory, through written histories, commemorations, party history groups and archives. It finds a striking degree of similarity between the three principal parties. Whilst there are differences of detail, of emphasis and of ideology, the overall picture is surprisingly homogenous. Whereas the parties once displayed ideologically distinct approaches to recording the past, their attitudes have now converged. This is a consequence of the increasing professionalisation of political parties, which tends to bring them together under a shared parliamentary narrative. It is significant that the widest divergence between the mnemonic cultures of the parties occurs at local level. Moreover, memory is largely maintained by a small group of interested individuals, outside the official party structures. This could be seen as institutional history recovered and preserved through individual memory work, rather than ‘institutional memory’ in any formal sense.
Keywords: Structures of memory, Archives, Commemoration, Conservative Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrat Party, SDP, Socialist history
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