The community action movement and party politics

Since the mid 1960s there has been a growth in community action of various forms. This has included the welfare rights movement, resistance against planning and redevelopment, the squatting movement, strategies to form alliances with trade unions, the local organisation of ethnic minorities, the development of feminist groups and demands for the devolution of decision-making in industry, politics and government. The guiding spirit of much of these developments has been the view that people should make decisions for themselves and have more control over their everyday environment. While people may have disagreed in detail about what needed to be done, there was agreement that existing arrangements were not satisfactory. In particular it was argued that the distribution of power and resources was both unjust and exploitative of many groups in society. There was also a distrust of large-scale bureaucracy and elitist political leadership. Though disparate and sometimes sectarian in their activities, their common emphasis on participatory involvement, changing consciousness and community action form part of what can be identified as an important social movement.