Communication and political power
- London jonathan cape 1966
- 288p.
Methods of communication are receiving ever increasing attention from politicians. In this timely book, Lord Windlesham analyses political communication and considers it in the light of party and Government policies. An account of how the Conservative Party presented itself to the electorate before the 1959 and 1964 General Elections is followed by an examination of the campaign conducted inside the Labour Party by a group of Hugh Gaitskell's supporters after the Scarborough vote for unilateralism in 1960. The activities of the controversial Campaign for Democratic Socialism and their place in the reversal of Labour's Defence policy are described in full for the first time.
The author also examines the origins and methods of two groups active during the Common Market negotiations in Brussels-the Common Market Campaign and the Anti-Common Market League-and considers the impact of public opinion on policy. Communication as a political right is discussed, and instances are given of how the principal media of mass communication-newspapers and television-can transcend their role as bearers of information and become direct influences on political opinion.