1945 marked a watershed for the Labour Party and for British society. The Labour
Party won an historic victory, with a 146-seat majority over all other parties.
It was won on the most radical election manifesto, before or since.
‘Let us face the future’ was Labour’s famous election manifesto. The main
plank of the programme was ‘jobs for air -a policy which was to involve
restoring industry to full capacity, raising consumption by raising wages,
planned investment via a National Investment Board and public ownership of key
industries such as the mines. Labour was able to use wartime controls which had
not yet been swept away, to implement price controls and priorities, such as
homes before mansions. It read
"The nation needs a tremendous overhaul, a great programme of
modernisation and re-equipment of its homes, factories and machinery, its
schools and services. All the parties say it -only Labour means it. "Its
preamble asserted that "Labour is a socialist party and proud of it. Its
ultimate purpose is the establishment of a socialist commonwealth of Great
Britain. " There were no fears about the word ‘socialism’ in
those days. Voters were told that they had a choice -the Conservative Party and
private economic interest or the Labour Party allied with the great trade union
and cooperative movements standing for the wise organisation and use of the
economic assets of the nation for the public good.
Support for the Labour Party was overwhelming amongst working class people,
in spite of the fact that the Party machine had all but collapsed during the war
years. There was a feeling that there could be no return to the 1930s and the
means test. Also the war had radicalised the population. During the war the
troops had been subject to political education from the Army Bureau of Current
Affairs. Discussion in rank and file organisations such as the Cairo Parliament
had shown the potential support for radical ideas. On the home front Shelter
Committees had been another form of organisation. The planning and conscription
of wealth had been popular ideas, and trade unions had been involved in Joint
Production Committees which had been able to jump on employers for making too
much profit. With the opening of the
Second Front the Soviet Union and the Communist Party had gained
respectability, the latter having over 2,000 factory branches and peaked in
membership. The Common Wealth Party led by Richard Acland gained 12,000 members
by opposing the participation of Labour in the wartime coalition government.
Throughout Europe, notably in Greece, and Yugoslavia, Communist Party backed
resistance movements had played a decisive role in the defeat of the Nazis.
In this situation there was no gratitude for Winston Churchill, as war
leader, who fought a vitriolic campaign against Labour, saying that the Gestapo
would be at your door if Labour won. The Tories with their record of mass
unemployment, class war and poverty would and could not head the post-war
reconstruction. Even sections of the ruling class saw that a Labour Government
was necessary to modernise British capitalism.
Red Flag
When Parliament was reassembled after the 1945 election, Labour MPs rose to
sing the Red Flag, much to the horror of the Tories. Many of the MPs were new,
and lacking in political experience. An increasing number were not from trade
union backgrounds. However they were in the main conviction politicians they
were out to convert, not to respond to the media. There was no central Party
organisation or the ‘Millbank Tendency’to have control over them.
In the main Labour’s programme was carried out. The National Health Service
was set up. One and a half million housing units were built between 1945 and
1951. 20% of the economy was nationalised. Living standards improved. Before the
war unemployment had stood at 11.6% nationally. After 1945 it did not rise above
2%. Average working hours fell to 46.3 per week. The government publication
‘Social trends’ estimated that the amount of money which could be spent on
leisure rose to 20% of average incomes.
Was this however the new Jerusalem? Many of the reforms carried out by Labour
were needed to reconstruct capitalist society. Other capitalist states,
nationalised industry and introduced welfare programmes. It was unlikely however
that the Tories would have been prepared to carry out these reforms. 86 Tories
voted against the National Health Service in committee. Much more could have
been achieved, given the support for socialism in 1945. Reforms carried out by
the Labour Government never had support from the Tories, many have just bided
their time to get them reversed. Marxists warned in 1948 that when capitalism
went into recession these reforms could be taken away. Given the strength of the
working class movement in Britain this took 40-50 years, but it is happening
nevertheless. The former owners of nationalised industries were given massive
compensation for industries which they had ruined. Many of them took this money
out of the country. There was no workers’ control in the nationalised
industries, part of Labour’s programme which had been abandoned. Ex-owners sat
on the boards.
Britain remained a class divided society. Working class leisure time was
spent on beer, dogs and cinemas. The middle class almost exclusively continued
to benefit exclusively from higher education, and attendance at the theatre, the
opera and so on. In fact the increasing capitalist domination of the leisure
industry meant that the tradition of self-education encouraged by the labour
movement before the war tended to die out. This was a blow for all those whose
vision of socialism contained a better quality of life for all. The Tories
finally made a comeback, organising open air meetings to mobilise middle class
opposition to ‘austerity’ and ‘drab socialism’, particularly in relation to the
coal shortage of 1947. Big business mounted campaigns against nationalisation of
steel, road haulage and sugar.
Direction
What direction was Labour to take? By 1949 the American loan, as part of the
Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe had run out and a balance of
payments crisis followed. Stafford Cripps, Minister of Economic Affairs proposed
an austerity budget including a ‘profit and pay standstill’. ‘ Cuts were made in
all proposed social expenditure projections including cuts in food subsidies.
Finally inroads were imposed on the free National Health Service by introducing
charges for spectacles and dental treatment. The latter two measures caused the
resignation of two left-wingers from the Cabinet, Nye Bevan and Harold Wilson.
At the same time defence spending increased. This was due to a change in foreign
policy and the start of the Cold War. The division of the world into Soviet and
US camps by Stalin and Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference signified the end of
any deals with the Stalinist regimes. Britain under a Labour Government was
pulled firmly into the US camp and did the bidding for US foreign policy. This
change of policy had started with the dispatch of British troops into Athens in
1944 to fight against former allies the Greek resistance movement, ELAS and to
impose an unpopular exiled king on the Greek people. This provoked the Greek
civil war and the American troops finally went in to finish the job off. Later
British troops were sent to fight the ‘communists’ in Malaysia and Korea. Labour
foreign minister Ernest Bevin played a part in the setting up of NA TO. This
rabid ‘anti-communist’ foreign policy was matched at home with a witch-hunt
atmosphere within the ranks of the labour movement, whereby a proscribed list
was set by Labour Party head office, and any supporter of a Communist Party
‘front organisation’ or sympathiser was under the threat of expulsion from the
Party. Communists were banned from holding office in the Transport and General
Workers Union under the right wing leadership of Deakin.
The government was running out of steam, having carried out its programme of
reforms, it was carried along by the needs of British capitalism. There was
little opposition from within the Labour Party itself except from the small ‘Keep
Left’ group which had the support of 15 MPs. It was itself split on the
Korean War. However it mounted a semi successful campaign on the issue of
conscription, reducing the conscription period demanded by NATO for intervention
in the Korean War. Indeed former left-wingers from the 1930s such as Stafford
Cripps were in the Cabinet. The left-wing journal Tribune ingratiated
itself with Transport House. There was little opposition from the trade unions
even to the voluntary wage freeze. However this was due to the fact that real
wages were rising. The level of strikes was lower than in wartime. Wartime
legislation was kept on the books and used against dockers who were jailed for
striking and troops were used to break a dispute. In this situation the
Tories were able to gain the initiative. The Keep Left programme of
rolling forward with more nationalisation was rejected. Hence the labour
leadership had little left to offer. No further nationalisation was proposed in
the 1950 or 1951 elections. The sugar industry mounted a huge ‘Mr Cube’ anti-
nationalisation crusade, and the Tories succeeded in denationalising steel after
1951.
1951 election
The Tories won the autumn 1951 election, although the Labour vote remained
high at 14 million. In 1950 Labour had received 48.8% of the vote, this went up
to 55% in the next local elections. But Labour was to be out of office until
1964, another 13 years. In 1955 the Tories increased their vote as Macmillan won
the election on the slogan ‘You’ve never had it so good.’ The Tories did not
dismantle the welfare state, most industries nationalised by Labour stayed in
public hands, and full employment
remained. The post-war boom remained the key to these developments. With full
employment the welfare state could be afforded. For a whole generation life was
getting better -and everyone believed that this would last forever. This had an
impact on the labour movement. For some 1945 had been a mission accomplished,
for others it had been a lost opportunity. For the Labour leadership (Atlee had
now been replaced by Hugh Gaitskell) there was little left to do. The ‘mixed
economy’ was an accepted fact. When Anthony Crosland wrote ‘The future of
socialism’ in the 1960s he argued that the days of class struggle were over.
Unemployment and poverty would never return. The main objective of socialists
was to improve the quality of life – more cafes on the South Bank for instance.
The membership of the Labour Party peaked at 1 million members after 1952 (‘Labour’s
high noon} and then started to drop. That is not to say that the 1950s were
devoid of political activity on the left -the Bevanites organised successful
brains
trusts mainly on the question of foreign policy which brought them into
conflict with the Labour leadership. The-Socialist Fellowship organisation had
attracted up to 30,000 members in 1948-49 but was proscribed in 1954. By 1957
the number of strikes was on the increase with strikes in the mines, docks and
the car plants. Under Gaitskell the Labour Party swung to the right. Clause 4,
Part 4 was attacked, although defended successfully by the trade union movement.
Gaitskell also considered breaking the trade union links but again was defeated.
Many thought that there was little to choose between the parties. The level of
activity within the Labour Party declined, partly through disappointment, partly
through apathy due to the ever-increasing standard of living. Activists turned
to groups such as Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The Soviet invasion of
Hungary in 1956 caused havoc in the Stalinist parties and further weakened their
credibility as a force on the left. In the absence of an alternative the right
wing in the labour movement was able to use this to build UP their position.
Sleaze
The general election campaign of 1964 had some similarities with that of
1997. The Tories had been in for years, and were tarred with sleaze and
corruption from the Profumo scandal. Harold Wilson now leader of the Labour
Party appeared dynamic. The theme of Labour’s election campaign was ‘modernisation’
-a classless, apolitical theme running through Labour’s 1945, 1964 and 1997
election campaigns. This was to impress the British ruling class who were tired
of the Tories. In 1945 however the Labour leadership could combine this with
carrying the support of its socialist rank and file as this modernisation
contained measures which had long been Labour Party policy such as
nationalisation. In 1964 there was little nationalisation on offer. It was ‘the
white heat of the technological revolution. The commanding heights were not
to be nationalised but controlled by planning agreements, and ‘the old grouse
moor mentality’ of Tory Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was to be done
away with. Labour’s programmes contained reforms which were popular such as the
State Earnings Related Pension Scheme, widows pensions, and comprehensive
education. But even these were ‘modern’ as much as they were socialist
measures.
Comprehensive education was to enable children from working class backgrounds
to achieve their full potential as members of a skilled workforce which Britain
needed to compete.
The beginning of Harold Wilson’s government saw a run on the pound and he was
approached by the governor of the Bank of England, Lord Cromer and told that
increasing child benefits was out. Instead of appealing to his supporters,
Wilson abandoned his programme of social reform. The latter years of the Wilson
government were dominated by disputes with the trade union movement. The
government commissioned the Donovan Commission on the trade unions aimed at
curbing rank and file militancy. The Minister for Labour, Barbara Castle took
this on board and introduced ‘In place of strife’ which was abandoned after
pressure from the unions. Further conflict with the unions was initiated by the
wage freeze introduced by the government. By the end of the 19605 Labour was not
seen as a radical force for changing society. There seemed to be little to
choose between the Tories and Labour. Youth took to single-issue campaigns,
anti-apartheid, squatters movements, and opposition to the Vietnam War. It was
left to pressure groups like Shelter to show to the nation that poverty and
homelessness were still around. However for most the economy was still granting
them the affluence of the post-war boom. The 19705 were to change all that.
The election of the Tories in 1970 had a dramatic impact on the labour
movement. It coincided with the end of the post war boom and the beginning of
mass unemployment. Unemployment rose to halt a million, unprecedented since the
19305. The Heath Government was pledged to attack the trades unions by the
establishment of an Industrial Relations Act. The imprisoning of 5 dockers under
these legislation led to a near general strike situation as thousands of workers
downed tools and walked out. From this day onwards the Act was put on ice. But
the main confrontation was between the government and the miners. A second
miners’ strike called in the winter of 1973/74 led the Heath Government to have
to implement power cuts and a three day week in industry. The labour movement
rallied around the miners’ pay campaign. A general election was called by the
Prime Minister Ted Heath on the issue ‘who runs the country-the government or
the unions?’ The Labour Party won the election in February 1974, and went on
to increase its majority in the second general election in October 1974.
Changed
In the ten years since 1964 the political scene had changed dramatically.
Class struggle not seen since the 1920s was back on the agenda. The
radicalisation of the trade unions also had an impact on the ranks of the Labour
Party. Socialist ideas were discussed and supported within the Party .The level
of activity increased. The move to the left in the Party carried on under a
Labour Government. The Labour Government settled the dispute with the miners and
went on to construct a ‘Social contract’ with the trade unions. This social
contract was to guarantee social expenditure in return for voluntary pay
restraint. The unions’ commitment to this was to last through 3 phases, right up
until 1979 and there was a temporary lull in industrial militancy. However the
Labour Party had taken office at a time of crisis. The International Monetary
Fund demanded that the Chancellor of the Exchequer impose substantial cuts in
public spending. This revived memories of 1929/31. Would the Labour Party split
again and a national government be formed? Marxists in the party warned of this
danger. The cuts radicalised public sector trade unionists, thousands of whom
marched on the streets in the winter of 1976. It also brought condemnation
within the Labour Party itself, as General Management Committees up and down the
country passed resolutions criticising the cuts and calling for a socialist
planned economy. For the first time for decades it was possible to get
conference resolutions calling for the nationalisation of the commanding heights
of the economy passed. The Labour Party Young Socialists spear- headed this
movement to the left in the Party and received tremendous support amongst party
activists. The ideas of Marxism gained support within the Party.
After the unions rejected Phase 4 of the government’s pay policy, the
strategy of the Labour Government collapsed and it was defeated in the general
election of 1979. By that time, unemployment had risen to over a mil/ion and was
continuing to rise. The incoming Conservative government led by Thatcher was
elected on a programme of trade union ‘reform’, monetarism and cuts in
the welfare state. For the first few years this heightened the class struggle
and the Labour Party continued to move to the left. The Party now led by former
left-winger Michael Foot, organised three demonstrations against unemployment.
Tony Benn came within a percentage of the vote of becoming deputy leader of the
Party, against right-winger Denis Healy. The Tories second election victory in
1983, against a background of the Falklands crisis and an economic turning of
the tide (the beginning of the mid 1980s boom unnoticed at the time!) was to
reverse that process.
Thatcher
The Tory governments of Thatcher and Major carried out what was thought to be
impossible by the Labour leadership and also by some sections of the Tory Party.
Monetarism was not for instance popular with the Confederation of British
Industry! However much of the 1945 reforms have been dismantled. Industries have
been denationalised, services privatised, trade union rights emasculated and the
welfare state severely undermined. How has this come about? Marxists in the
Labour Party in 1945-1951 warned that the 1945 Labour Government’s reforms were
not safe under capitalism. Rabid right-wingers of the monetarist school could
use the weaknesses- such as the bureaucracy in the nationalised industries-as a
means of mobilising popular support for privatisation. Even so, it has not been
easy for the Tories to do this. Their programme was not supported by the
majority of the British people, and it has been impossible to fully dismantle
the National Health Service. A series of serious defeats for the labour movement
such as the miners’ strike of 1984/85 boosted the confidence of the Tories.
Also the speculative boom of the mid 1980s which meant that real wages rose for
those in work, and house prices rose even faster, masked for many workers the
scale of the attack which had taken place on workers’ rights in the workplace
and the level of the insecurity now faced. Now in the 1990s the full reality has
been revealed – the Tories have taken us back to the 19th century in
terms of casual labour force and the rolling back of welfare state. This is why
they now face defeat.
Prospect
The prospect facing an incoming Labour Government is that the majority of the
electorate would like to see this reversed. However the Labour Party is not
committed to renationalising a single industry. Many of the Tory counter-reforms
in health, education and the workplace will stay intact under a government led
by Tony Blair. But what is the alternative? There are no soft options. The right
wing leadership of the labour movement has always acted as an agent of the
ruling class when in office. When it was possible to grant reforms, as in
1945-51, by carrying out some of Labour’s ideals it was relatively easy for the
membership and the leadership to be reconciled. In the present time of crisis
this is not the case. Labour will immediately face potential opposition from a
trade union movement with which it is historically and intrinsically linked.
The gains of 1945 have been severely knocked back. Labour’s organisational
machine which was built on socialist policies and the ‘natural’ support of
millions of workers who formed their political ideas in the 1930s and after
cannot any longer be taken for granted. Workers can only learn from their own
experiences. The lessons of the history of the labour movement have to be
retained by Marxists for future generations. At the beginning of the 20th
century social- ism was seen as a new movement, which shaped the politics of the
century. However it has been led up the blind allies of both reformism and
Stalinism. In both these cases they have been seen not only as compromises or
distortions of socialist policies, but also they have not prevented the return
of capitalist counter-reform. In the struggle to save the labour movement in the
years ahead, it is ‘back to basics’ in the form of the socialist ideas on which
the movement was originally founded.
