UNIT 1 Britain in 1945 L

What is this unit about? A This unit focuses on what life in Britain in 1945 was like. In this unit you will: I • find out about life in Britain in the post war years, socially, politically and economically • be introduced to the differing types of sources historians work from and theR strengths and weaknesses of these sources. EDEXCEL Key questions E • What was Britain like socially and economically in 1945? • What were the key features of the British political system? T BY A Timeline

1939 September Outbreak of Second World War

1940 May Churchill becomes Prime Minister of a CoalitionM government

May/June Dunkirk – evacuation of the British Army from France 1941 Lend Lease inaugurates massive US aid to BritainE 1942 Publication of the Beveridge Report urging a system of national insurance and comprehensive welfare L 1944 June D Day – successful invasion of France by Britain and the USA August Butler’s Education Act P 1945 May Germany surrenders

July General election – Attlee forms the first majorityENDORSED Labour government M September Japan surrenders A The end of war S YET Britain of 1945 might appear in photographs and film as a strange, grey and deprived world. Its rubble-covered bomb sites, its queues for limited supplies of goods and its relative absence of cars, mark a society very different from today’s society. There are two reasons for this: NOT 1 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

• Britain was very different socially and economically. • the impact of the Second World War, even after peace had been declared, was in evidence everywhere.

The prospect of peace brought wild rejoicing as Sources A, B and C show. L

Source A A I R E EDEXCEL T BY A

Cartoon by MCarl Giles, Sunday Express 19 August 1945 [156Cartoons WWII]

Source B E L P ENDORSED M A S YET

VE celebrations in Piccadilly Circus, 8 May 1945 NOT 2 Britain in 1945

1111 2 Source C 3 4 5 6 L 7 8 9 A 1011 1 I 2 3111 4 R 5 6 EDEXCEL E‘VE street party 1945’ 7 by Edwin La Dell 8 9 T 20111 S IL S BUIL ER BY 1 K L D 2 1 In what ways do the three visual representations differA in value as 3 historical evidence? 4 2 Which in your opinion is the most useful and which the least? 5 3 How might the three be used together by an historian?M 6 7 8 A lost world 9 E 30111 Old industries 1 Working class men really did wear flat caps Land there were many more 2 engaged in heavy manual labour than there are today. Over a half a 3 million were members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and 4 coal mining was a major industry producingP over two hundred million tons 5 most years. The coal produced literally covered Britain with soot, 6 engraining buildings and contributing to the dank smog that enveloped 7 ENDORSED most cities. Coal was used to heat most houses and power most industries. 8 M It was a key component in the production of steel, the steel industry being 9 a major contributor to the British economy. It was also the fourth largest 40111 industry in the world. 1 A 2 British ship-building was still operating on a large scale, with production 3 second only to that in the UnitedS States. Coal mining,YET steel and 4 shipbuilding had experienced problems between the first and second world 5 wars but recovered during the second world war. There were still many 6 large textile factories operating in the North West of England working five 7 and a half day weeks, the hooter at midday on a Saturday signalling the 8222 start of the ‘the weekend’. NOT 3 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

New industries Industries such as motor cars and electrical goods, had grown up in the Midlands and around London. These factories were new and light compared to the heavy industries of the North, South Wales and Scotland but it was still the old manufacturing industries that dominated industrial output. L

Transport system A The transport system relied heavily on the railways. The road network was in its infancy and there were no motorways. ISteam engines puffed and chugged from one end of the country to the other. The railway closures of the 1960s were still two decades away and although there was much talk of modernisation and electrification, new steamR locomotives like the Britannia Class were still being built in the late 1940s and early 50s. E EDEXCEL Standards of living By the standards of the twenty-firstT century, living standards were low but they had been rising throughout the twentieth century as had life expectancy. In 1945, £5 per week was a good wageBY and marked a man as a well-paid worker. Few marriedA women worked especially if they had children and it was still widely accepted, even by women, that a ‘woman’s place was in the home’. Foreign holidays before the war had been extremely rare and during the war impossible, but the annual weekly holiday to the seaside hadM become established and was quickly resumed in the late 1940s.

Entertainment E Entertainment centred around the radio, which most families possessed, and the cinemas,L which drew millions of viewers every week. The Daily Mirror or the Daily Express were likely to be the paper of choice for those working-class families which took a daily paper. In many households these ended up tornP into strips and used in the lavatory. The public house attracted many men but alcohol consumption had fallen sharply since Edwardian times as taxes onENDORSED beer and spirits had been increased. Sport was a nationalM obsession. Football matches drew vast crowds of supporters and the Wembley cup final was a major national occasion blessed by the presence of the royal family. In summer, cricket transcended all classes. LargeA numbers played in village and club teams and the likes of Yorkshire’s Len Hutton were national heroes. YET TheS class structure The better off working class shaded into the middle class but the badges of class were still distinct. White shirts, not blue, marked the middle class as did the bowler or trilby rather than the flat cap. The possession of a car, just over two million in 1940, or of a telephone, just over three million, NOT 4 Britain in 1945

1111 and a bank account were middle class traits. The Victorian badge of 2 middle-class respectability, servants, was disappearing but it was the 3 middle classes who enjoyed the new labour saving devices, such as the 4 vacuum cleaner. The type of house clearly pointed to the occupants’ class. 5 Detached or even semis conferred respectability. Newspapers like the Daily 6 Telegraph, or in the North, the Manchester Guardian, signalled middle- L 7 class status. 8 The middle classes shaded into the upper or ruling class. Here a private 9 A education at one of the more established public schools followed by three 1011 years at Oxford or Cambridge were features of the upper classes as was 1 I ownership not just of an imposing house but also an estate. Wartime had 2 imposed all manner of hardships but key aspects of the old lifestyle 3111 survived such as membership of a London club, participation in shoots and 4 R hunts and the possession of servants. Churchill’s private secretary, John 5 Colville, records his return home in May 1945. EDEXCEL 6 E 7 8 Source D 9 T 20111 Wednesday 2 May 1945 BY 1 Went home to find the married couple whom mother has engaged had arrived 2 A and also that she had discovered that the man had just completed a three year 3 sentence for fraud and embezzlement. This was something of a shock, but we 4 decided after dining at the ‘Good Intent’, that we ought to give him a chance to 5 make good. Besides his wife seems honest and hardworking.M All the same, an 6 ‘old lag’ for a butler with several previous convictions, is something of an 7 experiment. Mulberry Walk now begins to look charming. 8 9 From Sir John Colville The FringesE of Power, Downing Street Diaries 1939–1955 published 1985 30111 1 L 2 3 The awareness of class was a pervasive aspect of British society at the SKILLS BUILDER 4 time, commented upon by many writersP and journalists. The American Source D is from a 5 reporter Ed Murrow wrote in 1946 about his impressions of England on his diary. Does this make 6 arrival in the 1930s: ‘I thought your streets narrow and mean; your tailors it more or less useful 7 ENDORSED over-advertised; your climate unbearable; your class-consciousness to the historian who 8 M offensive.’ is researching British 9 society at the end of 40111 the Second World 1 Education A War? 2 The education system both reflected and helped to reinforce class 3 differences. System is perhapsS misleading implyingYET some element of 4 planning. Education had received some reform in 1870 and 1902 but 5 in general had evolved rather than been part of a long term strategy. 6 In the 1930s most children attended state elementary school, which they 7 left at 14. Only 14 per cent went on to attend secondary schools and 8222 half of these paid fees, even if they went to the state grammar schools. NOT 5 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

Therefore, grammar schools tended to draw from the middle and lower middle classes. A few children were fully paid for by the state or local authorities through scholarships. By means of scholarships, a handful of bright working-class boys and girls could get on the ladder of social advancement. At the top end were public schools which were expensive and generally only patronised by the upper middleL and upper classes. Less than 3 per cent of an age group went on to university and there had been hardly any improvement in the university system since 1918. Education was clearly ripe for reform. A Education had in part been influenced by religion.I The rivalry in the nineteenth century of the state church, the Church of England, and the non-conformist chapels, prevented the setting up of a wholesale education system, such as had been established in Rthe USA and Prussia. Religion still remained a force in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s despite a decline in church attendance. Churches and chapels often servedEDEXCEL as centres for social activities whether amateur dramaticsE or sport. Ministers of religion exercised considerable influence on the communities they served and there was a widespread belief in God. FieldT Marshall Lord Alanbrooke, Churchill’s chief military adviser as Chief of the ImperialBY General Staff from 1941 to 1945, recorded inA his diary: Source E 8 May 1945 M I am not a highly religious individual according to many people’s outlook. I am however convinced that there is a God all powerful looking after the destiny of this world. I had little doubt of this before the war started, but this war has convinced me more thanE ever of this truth. Again and again during the last six years I have seen his guiding hand controlling and guiding the destiny of this world toward thatL final and definite destiny which he has ordained. The suffering and agony of war in my mind must exist to gradually educate us to the fundamental law of ‘loving our neighbour as ourselves.’ When that lesson has been learned,P then war will cease to exist. From War Diaries 1939–1945: Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke ed A. Danchev ENDORSEDand D. Todman, published in 2001 M I SKILLS BU LDER MoralA codes What are the The whole value system of British society differed from that of the twenty- problems for the first century in manyYET important ways. It was a much more communal and historian in using collectiveS age. Most people travelled by public transport and not in the diaries as a source of privacy of their own car. They watched the screen together in the cinema. evidence? Families lived much more on top of one another, children sharing bedrooms, or even beds, with their siblings. Even the very wealthy shared their mansions with their servants from whose eyes they could not escape. Moral codes were clear and by the standards of later times repressive. NOT 6 Britain in 1945

1111 • Abortion was illegal and the shame of pregnancy outside marriage 2 devastating. 3 • Homosexuality was a criminal offence and prosecutions common. 4 • The theatre was still carefully regulated by the Lord Chamberlain’s 5 Office and anything salaciously sexual was deleted from plays. 6 L 7 • Novels like D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, written in the 1920s, 8 were banned from publication in Britain. 9 • The press censored itself in reporting the lives of the rich and famous A 1011 and as long as a man or woman avoided the divorce court, no breath 1 of scandal would be publicised, even where it was common knowledgeI 2 amongst politicians and journalists. No hint of the private life of 3111 Robert Boothby, Tory MP and friend of Churchill entered the public 4 domain. His long standing affair with the wife of Harold Macmillan,R 5 another Tory MP and future Prime Minister, and his homosexual liaisons EDEXCEL 6 within the London underworld never surfaced till a much later,E more 7 open age. 8 If it was more repressive it was also more law abiding and fundamentally 9 T cohesive. 20111 BY 1 • The British thought of themselves as ‘decent’ and on the whole behaved 2 decently. A 3 • Most of the population, regardless of their party political loyalty or class, 4 were attached to their society and its customs. To many the monarchy 5 had successfully come to express this stability. M 6 • There were no incidences of genocide such as disfigured Russia and 7 Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, nor even anything equivalent to the 8 isolated atrocities perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan in the United 9 E States 30111 1 It was also riddled with snobbery, prejudice Land hypocrisy. 2 • Jews were often excluded from such places as golf clubs and sometimes 3 were the victims of racial abuse but in general there was a horror of the 4 brutalities inflicted on Jews by the Nazis.P 5 • In Northern Ireland, Glasgow and Liverpool the tribalism of 6 Catholic–Protestant antagonism existed. In other placesENDORSED such as 7 Manchester it subsided into sectarian football rivalry. 8 M 9 40111 The political system 1 The British had evolved a very effectiveA method of governing themselves. 2 It delivered order with freedom, two desirable goals very difficult to obtain 3 at the same time. Britain hadS enjoyed nearly fourYET hundred years of 4 economic growth. It had not had a civil war since 1648, nor a revolution 5 since 1688. Since1688, the population had multiplied by a factor of eight, 6 to reach over 40 million. Living standards and life expectancy had risen 7 dramatically and it had conquered a fifth of the globe and settled many 8222 areas of it with emigrants. English was fast becoming the world’s first NOT 7 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

language. The political system which appeared to be so successful was not easy to comprehend. There was no written constitution, as in the USA. Yet there were rules and respect for rules and the rule of law was perhaps one of the key elements in its success. L Monarchy The British monarchy persisted when much of Europe had followed the French example and removed theirs. Yet the monarchyA had virtually lost all political power and was merely decorative. It seemed nonetheless to function as a focus of loyalty and robbed theI wielders of real political power of the adulation they might receive in a republic. Hitler was always grateful to the German Socialists, who he otherwise despised, for removing the German monarchy and leaving the fieldR open to him. The king in Britain in 1945 was George VI. He was a shy, stuttering chain smoker who had his own ration book, number CAE 570011. Only veryEDEXCEL rarely did he exercise a direct political influence on events. For example, when Churchill proposed to visit the newly invaded France on D Day, at great personal risk, the king stopped himT by insisting that he would accompany his Prime Minister. In July 1945, he influenced Clement Attlee’s choice in Cabinet appointments by suggesting that Ernest BevinBY be made Foreign Secretary and Hugh Dalton ChancellorA of Exchequer, rather than the other way round as Attlee proposed. It was only a suggestion but one that Attlee King George VI chose to follow. M Biography

Clement Richard AttleeE (1883–1967) Clement Attlee went to Haileybury school and then Oxford University and afterwards trainedL as a barrister before serving in the First World War and reaching the rank of Major. He became committed to social work in the poorer areas of London and joined the Labour party. He was elected an MP for Limehouse inP 1922. He held office in the Labour government of 1929–31 and was one of the only Cabinet members to survive the election of 1931.This led to his election as party leader in 1935,ENDORSED a position he held until 1955. Attlee wrote a charmingM limerick on his career Few thought he was even a starter There were many who thought themselves smarter, ABut he ended PM CH and OM S An earl and a knightYET of the Garter

NOT 8 Britain in 1945

1111 2 Biography Biography 3 4 Ernest Bevin (1881–1951) Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton (1887–1962) 5 Ernest Bevin started work at 11 in the docks at Bristol. Edward (Hugh) Dalton was brought up at Windsor 6 He became the national organiser of the Dockers’ Castle where his father wasL tutor to the future George 7 Union and then general secretary of the mighty V. Dalton was educated at Eton and Cambridge. After 8 Transport and General Workers Union in 1922, then training as a barrister and service in the First World 9 the biggest union in the country. He became an MP in War, he became a lecturerA at the London School of 1011 1940 and a crucial member of Churchill’s wartime Economics (LSE) andI was elected a Labour MP in 1 Cabinet as Minister of Labour. He supported Attlee 1924. Clever and a great patron of young MPs, he was 2 within the Labour party and ensured his survival as not always trusted by his colleagues but he served in 3111 leader. He was tough and hard working and became the wartime CoalitionR government of Churchill, 4 one of the greatest of British foreign secretaries to holding many posts and was one of the leading 5 which office he was appointed in July 1945. Stalin figures in the Labour party by EDEXCEL1945. 6 criticised him ‘as not a gentleman’. E 7 8 9 The Prime Minister T 20111 Real political power is centred in the position of the Prime Minister. BY 1 The holder, in theory, is appointed by the monarch and this is still 2 A respected with a ceremonial visit to Buckingham Palace by a newly- 3 appointed Prime Minister for their position to be confirmed. The Prime Definitions 4 Minister then exercises most of the powers that a monarch in the sixteenth 5 or seventeenth century would have exercised. The monarchM cannot Conservative party 6 appoint whom they wish. A Prime Minister has to have the support of a 7 The name ‘conservative’ majority of MPs in the House of Commons in order to pass laws etc. This 8 dates back to the 1830s means that the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party in 9 E and was devised by Sir the House of Commons. In 1940, in rather special circumstances, the king 30111 Robert Peel as a way of appointed a leading member of the largest party in a war government 1 repackaging the old ‘Tory’ when the existing Prime Minister and leaderL of the Conservative party, 2 party and making it more Neville Chamberlain had lost the confidence of many MPs. Winston 3 acceptable to the Churchill thus become Prime Minister in May 1940 and formed a Coalition 4 increasingly influential government, uniting all the parties in theP House of Commons. When 5 middle classes. It was Chamberlain died in November of that year, Churchill was promptly 6 traditionally the party of elected Conservative leader, restoring normality. 7 ENDORSED the landed gentry and the 8 A British Prime Minister has great powersM in making appointments in Church of England. It 9 government but they can be removed by a vote in the House of Commons. gradually became more 40111 In reality, they have to govern with the consent and cooperation of the middle class with 1 senior members of their party whomA they appoint to the Cabinet. The business men replacing 2 relationship of the Prime Minister to Cabinet colleagues varies with landed gentlemen and 3 personality. For example, ChurchillS was a largerYET than life figure, capable of aristocrats as its leading 4 brilliant speeches and flashes of wit and genius but he was also known for members. All the leaders 5 his interminably long monologues and for time wasting. It was a brave from 1911 to 1940 had 6 man who could inform him of his short comings. Clement Richard Attlee, business backgrounds. 7 the Labour party leader and deputy Prime Minister in the Coalition was 8222 such a man, as Source F makes clear. NOT 9 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

Biography

Winston Churchill (1874–1965) Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the grandson of the Duke of Marlborough. He trained as an L army officer and saw action in India and the Sudan and was a journalist during the Boer War where he was captured but made a daring escape. He was electedA Conservative MP for Oldham in 1900, but in 1904I changed parties to become a Liberal and served as a leading Liberal Cabinet minister before, during and after the First World War. He rejoined the Conservatives in 1924 asR was Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1929. He was regarded with deep suspicion by many in the Conservative party and EDEXCEL it was with deep reluctance that many acceptedE him as Prime Minister in the Coalition government formed in November 1940. Churchill lost power in the 1945 election but remained leader of the ConservativeT party becoming Prime Minister again in 1951. In 1953 he won the NobelBY Prize for Literature reflecting hisA other passion, writing.

Source F M

I have for some time had it in mind to write to you on the method or rather lack of method of dealing with matters requiring Cabinet decisions… You have set up a number of committees,E over some of which I have the honour to preside to deal with various aspects of our affairs… I doubt if you realise the length of time and the amount of workL entailed on busy ministers, not only by attendance at these committees, but by reading the relevant papers and by seeking advice from SKILLS BUILDER persons of knowledge… The conclusions of the committees are brought to the Cabinet in memorandaP which we try to keep as short as possible in an attempt to What are the save members the trouble of reading long disquisitions. problems for the historian in using What happens then? ENDORSED letters as sources of FrequentlyM a long delay before they can be considered. When they do come evidence? before the Cabinet it is very exceptional for you to have read them. More and more often you have not read even the note prepared for your guidance. Often halfA an hour and more is wasted in explaining what could have been grasped in two or three minutes reading of the document. Not infrequently a phrase catches your eye which givesYET rise to a disquisition on an interesting point only slightly Sconnected with the subject matter. The result is long delays and unnecessarily long Cabinets imposed on Ministers who have already done a full day’s work and who will have more to deal with before they get to bed. Letter from Clement Attlee to Winston Churchill, 19 January 1945 NOT 10 Britain in 1945

1111 Attlee was the opposite of Churchill. Small and lacking in charisma, he was 2 a poor orator so was at his most effective chairing committees. He became 3 leader of the Labour party in 1935 following a devastating election in 1931 4 in which all senior Labour figures had lost their seats. Attlee was elected 5 leader for want of anything better and regarded as a stop-gap. Churchill 6 referred to him as ‘A modest little man with much to be modest about’. L 7 His great loves were cricket, the Times crossword and his wife, Vi, who 8 acted as his driver. He was often brief to the point of silence – ‘never using 9 one word where no word would do’, as one colleague pointed out. AneurinA 1011 Bevan, a colourful left-wing Labour MP and editor of the left-wing Labour 1 magazine, Tribune, wrote this about the leader of his party in 1945. I 2 3111 Source G 4 R 5 Mr Attlee has consistently underplayed his position EDEXCEL 6 and his opportunities. He seems determined to make E 7 a trumpet sound like a tin whistle. He brings to the 8 fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a 9 lazy afternoon at a cricket match. T 20111 From an article by Aneurin Bevan in BY 1 Tribune published February 1945 2 A 3 4 Source H 5 M 6 7 8 9 E 30111 1 L 2 3 4 P 5 6 7 ENDORSED 8 M 9 40111 1 A 2 3 S YET 4 5 ‘Not just a Committee-man’ by David Low 1947 6 7 Perhaps not surprisingly Attlee’s leading party colleagues almost 8222 overshadowed him as this cartoon makes clear. NOT 11 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

Attlee’s senior colleagues, shown in Source H, were all much more charismatic and colourful than their leader and many felt that they should replace ‘little Clem’. For example, Hugh Dalton, Ernest Bevin, Herbert Morrison and Sir Stafford Cripps. L Cabinet The Cabinet is at the heart of government in Britain. It is a committee of the senior members of parliament meeting regularlyA under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to discuss and approve the general line of government policy. Senior ministers likeI the Foreign and Home Secretaries and the Chancellor of the Exchequer would always be Cabinet members. Sub committees of the Cabinet are often established for more detailed work and these report back. GovernmentR ministers not in the Cabinet are normally referred to as junior ministers. E EDEXCEL Advisers Definitions Beneath the senior politicians whoT take the big strategic decisions, are the professionals, civil service ‘mandarins’ and military advisers. By the mid Civil service ‘mandarins’ twentieth century, Britain had acquired a very sophisticatedBY and skilled corps of such professionals to Aadvise and assist the elected politicians. Two Copy to come… of Churchill’s closest collaborators in the conduct of the Second World War were: • Field Marshall Alanbrooke,M Churchill’s principal military adviser and moderator. • John Colville, Churchill’s private secretary who wrote letters sent out under Churchill’s name and as he describes in one of his diary entries, became very skilledE at imitating Churchill’s style. Colville played a significant part in defusing tension between Churchill and Attlee over the letter of complaintL Attlee sent (see Source F). Civil service P Senior civil servants can have an enormous impact on policy. One of the most influential civil servants was Sir William Beveridge. He had been a Definitions civil servant before and duringENDORSED the First World War and then served as the DirectorM of the London School of Economics. He returned to Whitehall Whitehall during the Second World War. He played a leading role in devising the Copy to come… rationing system which fairly and efficiently allocated scarce resources. He wasA then asked to undertake a survey on the reform of the existing welfare system. It was intended as a tidying up operation, however Beveridge’s report YETpublished in November 1942, had an enormous impact sellingS 100,000 copies within a month and ultimately 635,000 copies. A modern history text on the period describes the essence of its 200,000 words.

NOT 12 Britain in 1945

1111 2 Source I 3 Stripped to its core the Beveridge Report was targeted on ‘Five Giants on the 4 Road to Recovery’ which he identified in bold, capital letters: WANT, DISEASE, 5 IGNORANCE, SQUALOR and IDLENESS. To defeat them Beveridge devised a 6 comprehensive welfare system (though oddly, he never cared for the phrase ‘the L 7 welfare state’ preferring to call it ‘the social service state’,) based on ‘three 8 assumptions’ – a free national health service, child allowances and full A 9 employment (which he defined as less than 8.5% unemployment). 1011 1 From Peter Hennessy Never Again: Britain 1945–51 published 1992I 2 3111 The report became the basis of much of the post-war Labour government’sR 4 reforms and it shaped the whole nature of post-war Britain (see page 5 00–00). EDEXCEL 6 E 7 In 1938 there were 376,491 civil servants, rising to 1.1 million at the end of 8 the Second World War. Without such a large body, with very able men and 9 women at the top, the efficient government of Britain would haveT been 20111 impossible. BY 1 A 2 Members of Parliament (MP) 3 Civil servants might propose schemes to ministers or implement schemes 4 passed into law, but the law makers are the ordinary Members of 5 Parliament and members of the House of Lords. MPsM who are not holders 6 of a government position are known as ‘back benchers’ because in contrast 7 to ministers who sit on the front benches of the House of Commons and 8 House of Lords, they sit behind the front bench. In 1945 there were 635 9 E MPs. Most of these MPs were middle or upper class in origin and had 30111 attended private school. The largest single group by profession were 1 lawyers and this was across all parties. Most LMPs followed their leaders 2 hoping for promotion to government office or other rewards such as titles 3 and honours. 4 P 5 The country is divided up into constituencies. Local political parties 6 operate within the constituency to select candidates to stand as MPs in 7 by-elections or general elections. Sometimes the choiceENDORSED was determined by 8 tradition. For example, a member ofM the Cavendish family standing as a 9 Conservative MP traditionally represented West Derbyshire. However, this 40111 tradition came to an abrupt end with the election of an Independent left- 1 wing candidate in the by-electionA of 1944. In places like County Durham 2 and South Yorkshire, the National Union of Miners traditionally selected 3 MPs. In other areas without Sa dominating interest,YET local activists competed 4 for the vote. Throughout the country only a minority of people were 5 involved in political activity, the majority only becoming interested during 6 a general election or when some great issue surfaced and determined the 7 public mood. The Beveridge Report is an example of when public interest 8222 forced politicians to respond to a mood change in the electorate. NOT 13 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

In 1945, all men and women over 21 could vote. Turn out tended to be over 70% and sometimes reached over 80%. Under the Parliament Act of 1911, elections were to take place every five years. Because of the war, the election due in 1940 was postponed. By 1945 there were signs that the Definitions Labour party was gaining in popularity and the Conservatives losing popularity. Since 1935 the Conservatives had lost inL twenty seven by- elections. The prediction was that the 1945 general election was likely to Turn out be exciting. Copy to come… A The impact of war I It is difficult to exaggerate the impact of the war in shaping the mentalities of all those who fought and struggled in it. In Source J Denis Healey talks about the experiences of war on post-warR politicians. Healey was a Labour MP between 1952 and 1987 and held various posts in the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet. E EDEXCEL Source J T Working in an office as part of a large headquarters was something for which my war-time experience BY prepared me well. I found my armyA staff training SKILLS BUILDER invaluable – as did other ex-officers at Conservative Party headquarters, such as Enoch Powell and Reggie What are the Maudling. Indeed post-war politics in both parties problems for the was largely shaped by menM who had learned a new historian in using way of looking at problems as a result of their memoirs as sources practical experiences in the services during the war. of evidence? That is why ‘Rab’ ButlerE was able to covert the Conservative Party to economic planning and the welfare state. Thatcherism became possible only when the wartimeL generation was passing from the stage. P From Denis Healey The Time of My Life published 1989 ENDORSED By 1945M Britain had been at war for six years and in many ways the war had been, in Churchill’s famous phrase, the country’s ‘finest hour’. Britain had declared war on Germany in 1939 to prevent Germany dominating Europe.A When Germany unexpectedly defeated France in six weeks in 1940, Britain might have been expected to make peace. Hitler was preparedS to offer generousYET terms yet Churchill persuaded the nation to fight on and was backed by the Coalition he led. The country was mobilised into undertaking an heroic crusade for liberty with the vision of a better world emerging. On 18 June 1940, as France prepared to surrender, Churchill delivered one of the greatest speeches in the English language. NOT 14 Britain in 1945

1111 2 Source K 3 Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends 4 our own British life, and the long continuity of our Empire. Hitler knows that he I 5 will have to break us on this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all SKILLS BU LDER 6 L Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit How far do Sources I, 7 uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, J and K suggest that 8 including all we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new the war years helped 9 A Dark Age, made more sinister by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore to create an 1011 brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and expectation of reform 1 I its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say: ‘This was their finest in Britain. 2 hour’. 3111 4 From a speech by Winston Churchill,R broadcast over the radio 18 June 1940 5 EDEXCEL 6 E 7 8 Churchill and his colleagues were gambling that the USA would ultimately 9 T come to Britain’s rescue. In the meantime everything was turned to the 20111 war effort and war production soared. By 1941 Britain was out-producing BY 1 Germany in planes and other war equipment but at a heavy cost of 2 A mortgaging the future. In frustration with Britain’s refusal to make peace, 3 Hitler turned against Russia in June 1941. The result was a two-front war 4 for Germany of the sort that Hitler had always warned against. The assault 5 on the Soviet Union brought relief to Britain as the GermanM air force 6 moved east. The Soviet Union now became Britain’s ally and Stalin became 7 known as beneficent ‘Uncle Joe’. As Churchill pointed out at the time, 8 ‘If Hitler invaded hell I would at least make a favourable reference to the 9 E Devil’. With the Soviet Union as an ally there was some hope of victory 30111 and a great boost was given to the credibility of left-wing politics and 1 principles in Britain. L 2 3 However, if the Soviet Union gave hope it was the United States that 4 provided the crucial aid to keep Britain fightingP and make ultimate victory 5 possible. By 1941, Britain was almost bankrupt, unable to pay for essential 6 imports. The US, through the Lend Lease Agreement ofENDORSED 1941, made money 7 and credit available. £5billion of goods were borrowed from the USA. Definitions 8 This was a colossal sum in the 1940s.M When Hitler declared war on the 9 USA in December 1941, Churchill claimed that he could sleep easily in his Red Army 40111 bed for the first time as victory was assured in the long run. During 1942 1 troops and goods trickled from theA US but they became a flood in 1943 and Copy to come… 2 1944. Trucks and radios modernised the Red Army and food and even 3 railway engines enabled theS Soviet economy toYET continue to work miracles 4 of production. US products helped to modernise Britain. For example, 5 Ferguson tractors which were being manufactured by Henry Ford in the 6 US, were being shipped over in ever greater numbers helping British 7 farmers to increase food production. The arrival of US troops and military 8222 equipment made possible the re-invasion of France in 1944. NOT 15 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

The Education Act, 1944 The war was sold as a crusade for liberty and a better world. The power of government which had been increased in the quest to defeat Hitler would, it was hoped, be turned to domestic social engineering. It was not only Liberals like Beveridge or socialists like Morrison and Dalton who embraced state power to produce a better life Lfor ordinary people. R A Butler, a talented young Tory, appointed by Churchill as Minister of Education, was determined to solve some of theA deficiencies in the British education system and he produced a far reaching Education Act in 1944. The main points of the Act were: I • the abolition of fees in state secondary schools extending the opportunities for bright working class Rgirls and boys. • raising the school leaving age to 15 • the provision of three types of state secondary schoolsEDEXCEL shaped to the different requirements of children Eof different aptitudes – grammar schools (academic institutions) for those who passed an exam called the 11Plus T – secondary modern schools for those who didn’tBY pass the 11 Plus – technical schools (very fewA of these were actually built). For all the later criticism of the Butler Act in producing division it was a major step forward in the provision of state education and promoted social mobility. Many from poor homes were to benefit from the new opportunities provided byM the free grammar schools. It appeared that conflict had created consensus for reform.

The cost of war E Victory, however did not come without an horrendous price. The war had cost Britain muchL more than the First World War. Less lives were lost but that was because most of the fighting on land was undertaken by to the Russians. NeverthelessP a huge air force had been created and a navy of Source L ENDORSED In the secondM World war (sic) the British people came of age. This was a people’s war. Not only were their needs considered. They themselves wanted to win… The British were the only people who went through both world wars from beginning to Aend. Yet they remained a peaceful and civilised people, tolerant, patient and generous. Traditional values lost much of their force. Other values took their place. Imperial greatnessYET was on the way out; the welfare state was on the way Sin. The British Empire declined; the condition of the people improved. Few now sang ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. Few even sang ‘England Arise’. England had risen all the same. From A. J. P. Taylor English History 1914–45 published in 1965 NOT 16 Britain in 1945

1111 2 Source M 3 And so it was that, by the time they took the bunting down from the streets after VE Day and turned from the war to 4 the future, the British in their dreams and illusions and in their flinching from reality had already written the broad 5 scenario for Britain’s post-war descent to the place of fifth in the free world as an industrial power, with 6 manufacturing output only two fifths of West Germany’s, and the place of fourteenth in Lthe whole non-communist 7 world in terms of annual GNP per head. 8 9 As the descent took its course the illusions and dreams of 1945 would fade one by Aone – the imperial and 1011 commonwealth role, the world power role, the British industrial genius, and, at last New Jerusalem itself, a dream 1 turned into dank reality of a segregated, subliterate, unskilled, unhealthy and institutionalisedI proletariat hanging 2 on the nipple of state maternalism. 3111 From Corelli Barnett The Audit of War published 1986 4 R 5 929 major warships. Britain was a great power in terms of armaments 6 EDEXCEL but the economy had weakened. Exports were considerably lowerE and 7 twice the amount of overseas assets had been sold off as had been sold in 8 SKILLS BUILDER 1914–18. It was as if the country had been on an almighty binge and was 9 T likely to wake with a massive economic hangover. Why might the 20111 BYauthors of these three 1 For twenty years or so after the ending of the war the prevalentA view texts, Sources L, M 2 amongst historians was that the war had been a positive experience for and N, see the legacy 3 Britain. This was probably most famously expressed by the left-wing of the Second World 4 historian A. J. P. Taylor. War in starkly 5 However, the consensus engendered by the war brokeM down in the different ways? 6 1970s as Britain’s economic failings became more obvious. Some historians 7 began to take a more jaundiced view of the war as a disaster for Britain, 8 leaving her with an exaggerated view of her importance and strengthening 9 E damaging traits within British society and the economy. Such traits 30111 identified were: more powerful trade unions who were hostile to 1 innovation; an expectation of welfare benefitsL without the economic 2 Definitions performance to pay for them; and an overblown state inefficiently 3 interfering in the economy. The conservative historian Correlli Barnett 4 Polemical reflected these attitudes in a famous polemicalP work The Audit of War. 5 A word meaning strongly 6 More recently another historian Juliet Gardiner, in her detailed study of critical. 7 wartime life finishes on a different note. ENDORSED 8 M 9 40111 Source N 1 A 2 But even with a husband taking his seat in the reform-minded new Labour House 3 of Commons, and with her ownS hopes for a revitalisedYET post-war Scotland, Naomi 4 Mitchison still recognised sadly that ‘we are going to have hell trying to get 5 people to work the peace, trying to give people a worth-while-ness in their peace 6 time lives comparable with the worth-while-ness of working together during the 7 war. We shall probably fail.’ 8222 From Juliet Gardiner Wartime Britain 1939-45 published 2004 NOT 17 Consensus and Conflict: British Political History 1945–90

Unit summary

What have you learned in this unit? In this unit you have learned about some of the ways in which Britain in the mid-1940s was different to Britain in the twenty-first century. You have encountered the most important features of how BritainL was governed. Finally you have been asked to think about and understand what the impact of the Second World War was on BritainA and its political system. What skills have you used in this unit? I You have been introduced to different types of sources and asked to consider their strengths and weaknesses as evidence for historians. You have compared and contrasted sources inR order to answer a specific question. E EDEXCEL Exam style question This is in the sort of question youT will find appearing on the examination paper as an (a) question where only the sources BYare used and where own knowledge is not required. A Study Sources F, G and H How far do the sources support the view that Attlee was ‘a modest little man with much to be modest about’? Explain your answer using the evidence of Sources F, GM and H.

Exam tips E • Don’t include your own knowledge. All (a) questions focus on the analysis, cross-referencingL and evaluation of source material. Your own knowledge won’t be credited by the examiner, and you will waste valuable time writing it. • Do rememberP that the only own knowledge you should introduce will be to put the sources into context. This means, for example, that you might explain that Source G is from the magazine Tribune which being a left-wing magazine would have been prejudiced.ENDORSED • Don’Mt describe (or even re-write) the sources: the examiner will have a copy of the exam paper! • Do draw inferences from the sources concerning what they show about Atlee, Aand cross-reference the inferences for similarity and difference. • Do reach a supported judgement about ‘how far’ Sources F and H support S Source G by carefullyYET weighing the similarities and differences.

NOT 18 Britain in 1945

1111 2 RESEARCH TOPIC 3 4 The General Election of 1945 5 Many parties contested the 1945 General Election. However there were 6 three main parties: L 7 8 • Conservative 9 • Labour A 1011 • Liberal 1 I 2 Use books, articles and the Internet to find out what these parties stood 3111 for in 1945. 4 R 5 EDEXCEL 6 E 7 8 9 T 20111 BY 1 2 A 3 4 5 M 6 7 8 9 E 30111 1 L 2 3 4 P 5 6 7 ENDORSED 8 M 9 40111 1 A 2 3 S YET 4 5 6 7 8222 NOT 19