How a pub meeting in Coventry birthed a national movement
In short: In 1972, thirteen people met at a pub and were asked to leave because they were being too loud. Instead of moving on, they stayed to form a political party. This small, overwhelmed group eventually laid the groundwork for the UK's first Green party.
The Green Party's origins trace back to a group called PEOPLE, founded in Coventry in November 1972. The spark was an August 1970 interview with overpopulation expert Paul R. Ehrlich, which inspired solicitors Tony and Lesley Whittaker to dedicate four years to building a new political movement. The founding group, known as the 'Thirteen Club,' included surveyors and property agents who sought to challenge the UK political establishment from an ecological perspective.
The party's early philosophy was rooted in 'zero growth' or 'steady state' economics. By 1974, it published the 'Manifesto for Survival,' inspired by The Ecologist magazine. Despite early struggles—including a 1974 election where the party lost all its deposits—the movement survived through strategic pivots. A key turning point occurred in 1979 when the party fielded 53 candidates to secure television and radio broadcasts. This risky move succeeded, jumping membership from 500 to over 5,000 and avoiding financial insolvency.
The 1980s were a period of both growth and internal strife. The party rebranded as the Ecology Party in 1975 to gain recognition, then became the Green Party in 1985. While it faced internal 'wounds' from the 'Maingreen Affair'—a semi-covert power struggle between decentralists and organizationalists—it achieved a major breakthrough in the 1989 European elections. Winning 15% of the vote and over 2.2 million votes, the party forced mainstream politics to adopt 'Green policies' to counter its rising influence.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Green Party (UK)
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