Working Class Adult Education in Yorkshire 1918 – 1939 Christine Pushpa Kumbhat Submitted in accordance with the requirements for degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of History December 2017 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Richard Whiting and Professor Malcolm Chase for their patience, encouragement and calm guidance over the course of my PhD research. Richard Whiting’s observations, comments and suggestions have always brought clarity to my thoughts and arguments. His unruffled, measured, incisive and constructive approach kept me on track for the duration. Malcolm Chase’s recommended readings throughout added quality and depth to the final thesis. My navigation of the seas of historical research had the potential to be stormy. With the supervision I received, the outlook was generally clear and the going good. For his good humour, kindness, encouragement and unwavering support, my thanks to Peter, always. iv Abstract This thesis considers the place of workers’ adult education in the world of the British labour movement, and what impact it may have had on worker-students as citizens. It concentrates on three voluntary working class adult education organisations – the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), The National Council of Labour Colleges (NCLC), and the Co-operative. The WEA delivered an impartial, non-sectarian, non-political programme of education in the liberal arts and humanities with the support of universities and Local Education Authorities. The NCLC promoted a programme of Marxist education, and accepted support only from working class organisations, predominantly trade unions. The Co-operative wished to develop ‘Co-operative character’ through education as a means to building a ‘Co-operative Commonwealth.’ This thesis explores the extent to which each organisation made an impact in Yorkshire between the wars. It does this in a variety of ways; by analysing the diversity of thought on socialism and democracy in the intellectual world of the labour movement during the inter-war era; presenting a historiographical context of workers’ adult education in Yorkshire from the nineteenth to the twentieth century; evaluating the Co-operative’s success at establishing a Co-operative Commonwealth through education; exploring the relationship between the trades councils of Yorkshire and the three adult education organisations; researching the biographies of municipal public students known to have been worker-students; analysing the value of workers’ adult education from the perspective of the regional press; and studying the lived experience of workers’ adult education from the perspective of worker-students, tutors and administrators. The resounding theme that emerges by the end of the thesis is how working class adult education was connected consistently with democracy – that workers’ adult education, whatever form it took, supported a democratic model of active participatory citizenship based on idealism, as well as ethical and moral interpretations of social democracy. v Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................ iv Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Intellectual Life of the Labour Movement and Workers’ Adult Education ............. 11 Chapter 2: Workers’ Adult Education in the 19th and 20th Century: Continuity and Change .......... 28 Chapter 3: Learning Together? The Co-operative, The Workers’ Educational Association and the National Council of Labour Colleges ............................................................................. 51 Chapter 4: Trades Councils and Labour Colleges in Yorkshire ....................................................... 78 Chapter 5, Part I: A Record of Public Service: The Adult Student as Citizen .......................................... 106 Chapter 5, Part II: A Record of Public Service: Analysis ........................................................................... 144 Chapter 6, Part I: Workers’ Adult Education and the Press in Yorkshire ................................................. 159 Chapter 6 Part II: Adult Education in Yorkshire: The Intellectual and Historiographical Context ........... 192 Chapter 7: The Experience of Adult Education ............................................................ 209 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 250 Appendix 1 .................................................................................................................... 257 Appendix 2 .................................................................................................................... 259 Appendix 3 .................................................................................................................... 262 Appendix 4 .................................................................................................................... 263 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 265 vi Abbreviations ABF – Arbetarnas bildnings forbund AEU – Amalgamated Engineers Union ASLEF – Associated Society of Locomotive Steam Enginemen and Firemen ASRS – Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants ASSET – Association of Supervisory Staffs Executives and Technicians AUBTW – Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers BIAE – British Institute of Adult Education BNO – British Newspapers Online Archive BTC – Bradford Trades Council CLC – Central Labour College CPGB – Communist Party of Great Britain HTC – Halifax Trades Council ILP – Independent Labour Party IWCE – Independent Working Class Education LEA – Local Education Authority LO – Landssekretariatet LRC – Labour Representative Committee LSE – London School of Economics LTC – Leeds Trades Council LFH &LSL – Leeds Family History and Local Studies Library NCA –National Co-operative Archive NCLC – National Council of Labour Colleges NUDAW – National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers NUR – National Union of Railwaymen PLP – Parliamentary Labour Party SAP – Socialdemokratiska arbetarpartiet SDF – Social Democratic Federation SLP – Socialist Labour Party SLSL – Shefield Local Studies Library STC – Sheffield Federation Trades and Labour Council SWMF – South Wales Miners Federation TGWU – Transport and General Workers Union TUC – Trade Union Congress ULA – University of Leeds Archive vii ULL – University of Leeds Library USSC –University of Sheffield Special Collections WEA – Workers’ Educational Association WETUC – Workers Education Trade Union Committee WYAS – West Yorkshire Archive Services YA & LSL – York Archive & Local Studies Library YMA – Yorkshire Miners Association YFTC – Yorkshire Federated Trades and District Councils Newspaper Abbreviations DT – Driffield Times, HDM –Hull Daily Mail LEP – Lancashire Evening Post LM – Leeds Mercury LWC – Leeds Weekly Citizen QoS –Quality of Sheffield STDI –The Sheffield Telegraph and Daily Independent SDI – The Sheffield Daily Independent ST – The Sheffield Telegraph YPLI – Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer YP – Yorkshire Post YEP – Yorkshire Evening Post YEPr –Yorkshire Evening Press YG – Yorkshire Gazette YGH –Yorkshire Gazette and Herald viii List of Tables Table 1 ...... Stuart Macintyre’s Definitions of Labour Socialism and Marxism ............. 13 Table 2 ...... WEA Expansion in Yorkshire District (1918–1929) ................................... 40 Table 3 ...... WEA Expansion in Yorkshire District North and South (1930–1939) ........ 41 Table 4 ...... WEA Nationwide Expansion: all Classes and Students (1919–1939) ......... 41 Table 5 ...... Summary of NCLC Yorkshire Division 7 Activity (1926–1930) ................ 47 Table 6 ...... Class Arrangements NCLC Division 7 January–March 1934 ..................... 47 Table 7 ...... NCLC National Education Statistics 1939 ................................................... 47 Table 8 ...... Co-operative Education National Statistics (1918 – 1939) .......................... 65 Table 9 ...... Range of Subjects Taught in Co-operative Classes ................................ 66-67 Table 10 .... Analysis of WEA Students in Public Service ............................................ 111 Table 11 .... Analysis of WEA Students in Public Service North and South Yorkshire.113 Table 12 .... WEA Students as Citizens Sample (Leeds, Sheffield, York) ................... 144 Table 13 .... WEA Students as Citizens Sample (Leeds, Sheffield, York) .................... 144 Table 14 .... WEA Students as Citizens: Occupational Status & Probate ............... 145-146 Table 15