Beyond the Vote (1984)

Amber Current Affairs Unit

Beyond the Vote (1984)

Amber Current Affairs Unit

Documentaries examining the relationship between the Labour Party and its voters, through exploration of the 1984 Chesterfield by-election and the early days of the Miners' Strike which began shortly after.

Film and Video
Politics & Struggles
Place
Work & Unemployment
1980 – 1989
UK

Amber Current Affairs Unit, 22 minutes, 1984

An exploration of how left wing campaigning could be developed in the context of a hostile media, Beyond the Vote drew on the analyses associated with the Glasgow Media Group around the language of media as biased against workers and worker's rights. Upon release these videos were accompanied by a set of user notes, suggesting ways in which they could be used to raise discussion of the the election process.

The project was a co-production between Amber Current Affairs Unit and Swingbridge Video.

Beyond the Vote examines the relationship between the Labour Party and its voters, with the Chesterfield by-election of March 1984 as the setting. It follows the election process of the local party away from the political personalities and into the homes of residents of Burbage Road, a small street to the north of the constituency. There are also interviews with local party members and the Labour candidate Tony Benn.

The Chesterfield by-election reinvigorated the local Labour Party. During the campaign, it doubled its membership and developed new forms of organisation which challenged the traditional expectations that working people’s votes were automatically cast in favour of Labour.

Beyond the Vote chronicles these changes, and by comparing the Chesterfield experience with Labour’s election performances since the war, proposes that active participation in political issues by Labour supporters is as essential to realise it’s aims.

This programme also features music by Tyneside’s Ray Stubbs.