Many began to call in doubt that which before they had held for certain verity

In the case of many people, these natural feelings are suppressed by the individual even before they can crystallise into actual thought.  A kind of 'policeman' of the mind tells him: "No, attractive though that idea may be, you are not allowed to hold it!"  With others, the process may go a stage further: the policeman is disobeyed and feelings and thought become one.  'Heretical' opinions are actually held, with no inhibitions of the 'liberal' conscience suppressing them when they stir.  But they continue to be held secretly.  Thought of social ostracism, even harm to one's business or career, is a deterrent to open profession of faith.  In some there is even the preparedness to go further than this and actually give voice to such opinions, but even here there is a widespread reluctance to think through and acknowledge their full political consequences in terms of the national changes needed to give effect to such wishes.  The end is desired, but there is a shirking of the means.

And finally, there is the 'lesser-evil' syndrome.  The politically discontented individual still has the tendency to clutch at straws.  Even when he has reached the point of recognising the desirability of an entirely new political force in the country, the fact that he cannot at the moment see one on the horizon that is likely to win power within the short time-scale of his own thinking drives him back into the arms of whomever he sees as the least undesirable among the political options currently on offer.  He votes to influence the outcome of today's election rather than create possibilities for tomorrow's.

These are in the forefront of the difficulties we face, but none of them is insurmountable; they can be overcome by an intelligent grasp of the factors of mass psychology making for them, and then a determined application of the lessons thus learned.

The first and most vital point we must understand is that millions who do not support us while we are weak will in fact support us when we are strong.

The very evidence of the growth in the strength of a movement and idea confers a corresponding growth in the respectability of it.  Just as in business money makes money, so in politics strength generates strength.

I saw evidence of this tendency in the immediate aftermath of our party's council election victory in Millwall in 1993.  For several weeks afterwards, we enjoyed an unparalleled growth in membership, but the growth declined noticeably after we had lost the council seat eight months later.  Our policies had not changed; it was only that for a short while we were perceived to be 'winners', and then the next moment looked upon as 'losers'.  It was a good lesson in the psychology of politics.

The left understands these factors very well.  By harnessing them, it has made a great number of habits, cults and ideas which in the past were not accepted now widely accepted - by the simple method of persuading people that they constitute an irreversible trend, that so many now adhere to them they have become quite normal and cannot anyway be stopped!

We, on our part, must understand that only a little way beneath the surface is a vast wave of support for what we stand for, which today is witheld due to the thought that we are small and weak, but which will burst forth as we demonstrate that we are becoming larger and stronger.

Every great reforming movement in history has begun by being built around the nucleus of a tiny minority.  It has begun by being shunned by most people, not because of the repellant nature of what it stands for, but because of its weakness.  In that situation, only a few intrepid spirits join it.

Provided that those spirits stay together and retain their inner cohesion, while determinedly fighting to promote their ideas, a few more will, bit by bit, enlist in their ranks.  Initial progress may well be tortuously slow.  Some of those who joined will be discouraged by this and will drop out.  This should not be a matter for dismay, for it only indicates a sound process of natural selection at work, weeding out the weaker elements.

At times, whatever the energy with which the cause is promoted, progress may stand still - because existing conditions do not permit growth.  But always, if the cause is right and perseverance prevails, those conditions will change: some new event will occur which will alter the situation and give a new impetus to growth.

Gradually, the tiny nucleus will expand into a somewhat more substantial force.  The movement will still be very much outside the 'mainstream', and therefore will retain the aspect of 'non-respectability' - but not quite so much so as previously.  Its growth potential will correspondingly widen.

And so on until eventually it breaks through by the sheer force of its own crusading will, combined with the pressure of the events happening around it, which will vindicate its stand.  At every stage, it will be the magnetic pull of growing strength that will provide a large part of the impetus for development.  Without that strength, neither the dedication of its adherents nor the evidence of its intrinsic rightness, would ever provide the necessary attraction to the masses to support it.

I have always therefore seen our movement as having the task of breaking through a certain credibility barrier, which we have to do by demonstrating, not just the soundness of our ideas, but the evidence of our growing strength.  In terms of membership size, the first 10,000 is the hardest to recruit, the job of turning that 10,000 into 20,000 less hard, and so on.  In terms of votes at elections, it is the first 5 per-cent of the poll in any area that is the hardest to win.  After that, people are likely to become persuaded that we may eventually have a chance to get candidates elected, and thus will our vote be increased.

Tyndall, J  The Eleventh Hour, Third Edition, 1998, Welling: Albion Press, pp 525-7