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Mandela
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The first concise, popular and readable book on Mandela with beautiful photographs spanning his life.
Mandela tells the life and legacy of one of the twentieth centuries most influential statesmen. Charting his development as a lawyer, a protester, and a political leader, Peter Hain MP takes an in-depth look at Mandela’s rise through the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) and subsequent imprisonment on Robben Island, where his increasingly vocal protests against the injustices of Apartheid brought his struggle against overwhelming prejudice and fear to the eyes of the world.
Encompassing his inauguration as South Africa’s first black president, his “retirement” campaigns for a solution to AIDS, poverty, and human rights, and above all his humanity and compassion, this book shows how Mandela has truly become a legend for our time.
ISBN: 1846013143
Publisher: Octopus (£12.99) (2010)
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The Future Party
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Since the Labour Party was first established over a century ago, the political
environment in which it operates has been transformed. The advent of the modern
mass media has created challenges and opportunities that could not have been
imagined by our founders – hundreds of TV and radio stations, 24-hour rolling
news and the birth of the internet, as well as a vibrant print media. And changes to
society have transformed the way that we relate to one another – with changing
patterns of work and family life, rising prosperity, increased geographical and social
mobility, more privatised lifestyles and new modes of communication.
ISBN: ISBN 1-904508-10-3
Publisher: Catalyst (2004)
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New Designs For Europe
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The EU is not simple. The founding fathers set out to devise a political and economic order for a highly developed, culturally diverse region of the world. They wanted to create a dynamic
framework – unique among international organisations – that would not just operate at the lowest common denominator of agreement. It has been remarkably successful: Europe’s peace and prosperity have been assured by the founding fathers’ vision of bringing us together to achieve common goals. But the corollary of
dynamism is popular consent. And the risk of projects as ambitious and complex as this one is that people feel they are in a fastmoving
car, without any influence over the controls.
Fifty years on, the founders’ goals remain essential and viable. But around them, the needs and expectations of our citizens have developed.
ISBN: ISBN 1-901229-35-1
Publisher: Centre For European Reform (2002)
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The End of Foreign Policy
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The world faces new international challenges, driven by the growing connections between economies, governments and increasingly active citizens, which define ‘globalization’, coupled with rising environmental pressures on the foundations of societies.
This is a world in which many of the most significant threats to stability, such as global warming or illegal drug use, do not stem from the ambition of some hostile power, but from the individual consumption decisions of everybody. It is a world in which threats arise from failures of whole systems, needing systemic solutions.
In this pamphlet Peter Hain – Minister of Stat at the UK Foreign Office – argues that these challenges will require the evolution of a radically new approach based upon global linkages, recognizing natural limits, and embracing global responsibility; a foreign policy for a world in which there is no longer any such place as abroad.
ISBN: 1-86203-131-2
Published: Royal Institute of International Affairs (2001)
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Sing the Beloved Country
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This is the story of South Africa's transformation from apartheid oppression to non-racial democracy, told by a man who played a unique part in it. Peter Hain's childhood was spent in South Africa under apartheid. His parents were harassed, jailed, banned and finally, forced into exile. In Britain, Hain became one of the leaders of the international struggle to defeat apartheid, returning in 1994 to witness the birth of a new South Africa, full of hope. This is a testimony to all those who fought to defeat what he describes as "absolute tyranny".
ISBN-10: 0745309968
Publisher: Pluto Press (4 Nov 1996)
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The Peking Connection
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Peter Hain's first venture into novel writing is a fast-paced political thriller, whose action ranges from China to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Britain.
What is the link between the mysterious Old Man from the Chinese Central Committee and Swanepoel, the superannuated BOSS agent living in Harare?
Jim Evans, an ordinary British scientist, accidentally stumbles across a network of international intrigue while on a delegation to China. His involvement in the unmasking of a terrifying nuclear conspiracy leads to a closer involvement with fellow delegate Jenny Stuart, which ultimately leads both of them into a life and death struggle in Zimbabwe and its South African borders.
ISBN: 0 85315 823 1
Publisher:Lawrence & Wishart Ltd (1996)
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Ayes to the Left
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A successful campaign by the right, coupled with an ignominious and unimaginative retreat by the left, has meant that socialism has taken a heavy political battering over the last two decades. Peter Hain, a leading figure in the current battle for the soul of the Labour Party, presents in this book the case for a modern and participatory socialism. He makes a case for a radical, popular and decentred socialism - an alternative to both the social democratic and communist traditions. This offers policies for regenerating the economy, democratizing the British state and creating a people's Europe.
ISBN-10: 0853158320
Publisher: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd (21 Aug 1995)
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A Putney Plot?
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In October 1975 Peter Hain was arrested and later tried at the Old Bailey for a bank theft he had not committed. The case was a major talking point at the time. Was he simply a victim of mistaken identity, as it was thought then? Or was he framed by the South African security services? If so, were they working with a section of MI5 as part of a much wider project to destabilize Harold Wilson's Labour Government and restructure British politics? In this highly readable book - a real life thriller - Peter Hain analyses new evidence, including revelations from former British intelligence officers. Peter Hain is Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Putney.
ISBN-10: 0851244718
Publisher: Spokesman Books (May 1987)
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Proportional Misrepresentation
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Few would dispute that Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system is unfair. It produces all sorts of anomalies and it means MPs and Governments get elected on minority votes. But would proportional representation be any better?
In this highly readable book, Peter Hain describes how PR works and assesses its advantages and disadvantages. He delves into the politics of the main PR lobbyists and examines pro-PR arguments from both the right and left.
Peter Hain argues that whilst PR would undoubtedly be fairer, it could actually be less democratic. He shows that the main PR systems proposed involve monster constituencies which break the local link between MPs and their constituents and centralise power in party bureaucracies. He also suggests radical reforms which, he argues, would be a much more effective alternative to Britain’s elitist, centralised and antiquated political system.
His is the first book which challenges the case for proportional representation in Britain and it is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of British politics.
ISBN: 0-7045-0526-6
Published: Gower Publishing Ltd (1986)
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Political Strikes: The State and Trade Unionism in Britain
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Was the General Strike a political strike? Were the disputes that brought down the Heath and Callaghan governments, or the 1984-5 battle between the miners and the Coal Board, also political?
The label 'political strike' has been used indiscriminately to categorize all kinds of disputes: indeed, the term has been so widely applied that its meaning has almost been lost.
Here Peter Hain questions the debased use of the term and redefines it by examining the histoiry of the strikes in Britain that have been seen to be political in aim or effect. He examines the role of the government and the criteria by which a strike is judged to be political, and asks whether these criteria are impartial or not. A full historical account of the role of the strikes in labour relations in Britain is tied to a survey of the current state of affairs, including the use of troops as strike-breakers, the role of unions among groups who cannot strike (such as the police and the armed forces) and the effectiveness of strikes as political weapons.
Political Strikes is both a fascinating and revelatory account of trade unionism and an articulate plea for an imaginative reassessment of traditional power structures and attitudes in Britain today.
ISBN: 0140079629
Publisher:Penguin Books (1986)
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Political Trials in Britain
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Is law enforcement founded on political decisions?
Peter Hain examines the crucial issue, analysing overtly political cases involving official secrecy, conspiracy, public order, trade unions, Northern Ireland and race relations, and changing the whole notion of the law as an impartial and technical instrument.
ISBN: 0-14-007935-1
Published: Penguin Books Ltd (1985)
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The Democratic Alternative
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Will democracy be increasingly eroded in Britain and in mass unemployment here to stay?
Peter Hain considers that both these situations are inevitable unless the electorate rejects the new right of Thatcherism and the social democracy of the SPD/Liberal Alliance in favour of a new up-to-date socialism.
The Democratic Alternative presents his blueprint for revitalised socialist doctrines and offers a critical assessment of the Labour Party today. In it, he argues powerfully for policies on decentralization, nuclear disarmament, ecology, the Women’s Movement and community action, which, if linked to the Labour Party’s traditional working-class base, would offer the best alternative for our society and its future.
ISBN: 0-12-006955-0
Published: Penguin Books Ltd (1983)
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Policing the Police Vol. 2
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Computer technology and surveillance, the highly controversial Special Patrol Group and the increasing tendency of the police to take decision with wide-ranging political consequences independently of the elected government of the day. These are the three vital areas of modern policing discussed in this second volume.
ISBN: 0-7145-3796-9
Published: J Calder (1980)
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Neighbourhood Participation
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The 1970s saw a widespread growth in public participation schemes in Britain, usually associated with aspirations for ‘more power to the people.’ But to what extent have these participation schemes genuinely devolved power? Or have they instead enabled government more effectively to monitor local opinion and control dissent? For public participation has not simply been advocated by neighbourhood activists – it has been officially sponsored as well.
Peter Hain challenges much of the ‘conventional wisdom’ about participation. He looks behind the idealised aspirations of the activists and examines the reality of government advocacy. What actually happens on the ground? Who benefits most from participation – the governors or the governed?
He analyses the general experience of public participation, focussing on neighbourhood councils and including a detailed case study of Covent Garden. There, community protests against the wholesale redevelopment of the area led eventually to a novel experiment in public participation – the setting up of an elected forum to enable the Greater London Council to consult local people.
The book describes the problems of any such attempt to produce genuine neighbourhood participation: the huge discrepancy in scale and power between a neighbourhood council and the bureaucracy of government; the tension between the aims of a pressure group, legitimately pressing the interests of one section, and a body attempting to reconcile the interests of all sections of the community; class divisions amongst the participants; and the ways in which the local state can seek to use such exercises to mobilise consent for policies already decided on or determined by financial interests.
Peter Hain argues that insufficient attention has been paid in the debate on public participation to inequalities of resources, political power and class. Until these shortcomings are reversed, he argues, then the promise of participation will not be fulfilled. Towards that end he suggests a radical change in both the analysis of participation and the strategy of neighbourhood activists.
ISBN: 0-85117-198-2
Published: M.T. Smith (1980)
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Debate of the Decade: The Crisis and Future of the Left
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On 17 March 1980 almost 3000 people packed into the Central Hall, Westminster, to take part in ‘The Debate of the Decade’ – a unique debate on the crisis and future of the left in Britain. Tony Benn, Stuart Holland and Audrey Wise put the case for the Labour Left. Tariq Ali (International Marxist Group) Paul Foot (Socialist Workers Party) and socialist feminist Hilary Wainwright argued for the revolutionary left.
The result was a vibrant clash of socialist ideas. What is the future of socialism? Are we facing a severe crisis of the left as well as of the capitalist economy? What relationship, if any, is there between extra-parliamentary struggle and pressure within the system? What priority does unity on the left have at the moment? On what basis can it be built?
‘The Crisis and Future of the Left’ is an edited account of the debate, with an introduction by Peter Hain. It raises questions which are central to a new impetus for socialist politics.
ISBN: 0-86104-313-8
Published: Pluto Press (1980)
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Policing The Police Vol. 1
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Are the police becoming a law unto themselves? This volume examines the manner in which police powers can be exceeded with worrying implications for democracy. The reluctance of the police to allow independent investigations of public complaints against the Force is analysed, as is the disturbing way in which the sweeping powers of the Anti-Terrorism Act have been applied on a generalized basis to limit still further the rights and liberties of the ordinary citizen. Peter Hain has drawn on his own experience of mistaken identity to pin-point uncomfortable aspects of modern police practices. He also argues that democratic community control of the police force is needed to curb a growing political independence that could otherwise so easily slide into repression.
ISBN: 0-7145-3624-5
Published: J Calder (1979)
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Mistaken Identity: The Wrong Face of the Law
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A first-hand account of Hain's bizarre trial (acquitted on a bank theft charge over identification evidence), describing the nightmare of an innocent person prosecuted in split-second eyewitness evidence. It includes an analysis of the 'current' legal situation, not only drawing on lessons from the past (Patrick Meehan, George Davis, James Hanratty), but suggesting reforms for the future. The book ends with important advice - if you find yourself a victim of mistaken identity.
ISBN: 0704331160
Publisher: Quartet Books 1976.
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Community Politics
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The inexorable rise of bureaucracy and of the power of the State, with the centralisation and computerisation of authority, has made many people aware of the gradual erosion of their freedoms and of the quality of their lives, as planning authorities with grandiose schemes run rough-shod over human values, building new roads or allowing developments, the usefulness of which is often questionable, and as authority in one way or another interferes with our lives. Out of these dissatisfactions, a new popular movement has grown which is generally designated as Community Politics. This volume charts the growth of that movement, giving the historical background of similar activities in the past and an account of how, in different parts of Britain, local activists, usually starting with nothing other than a sense of grievance, have gradually learned how to thwart authority, fight back against undesirable bureaucratic and planning projects and generally taking responsibility for running their own communities. The volume is also a useful handbook to the methods likely to be most successful, both in political and non-political terms.
ISBN: 0-7145-3543-5
Published: Calder Publications Limited (1976)
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Radical Regeneration
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There is a crucial need, argues Peter Hain, for the greater political involvement of ordinary people. In this lively, refreshing book he explains how direct action has evolved from the ‘youth revolt’ of the 1960s to become the only effective response to government by ‘experts’, bureaucrats and unrepresentative politicians. He shows how it can be organized at shop-floor and local levels to provide a long-overdue regeneration of individual and community participation in politics.
ISBN: 0-7043-1231-X
Published: Quartet Books (1975)
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Don't Play With Apartheid: Background to the Stop the Seventy Tour Campaign
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The 1969-70 Rugby season in Britain witnessed the eruption of what was undoubtedly the most successful protest campaign to stop the projected tour of Britain in 1970 by a 'Whites only' South African cricket team. The author describes the realities of apartheid in sport - the grim racial discrimination that lies at the heart of the South Arican sports system.
ISBN: 0043010318
Publisher: 1971. Allen & Unwin.
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