POLITICAL CULTURES IN BRITISH TRADE UNIONISM AND THEIR DISSEMINATION: 1931 – 1951 SALLY ANN RICHARDSON Ph.D. Thesis 2016 i Political Cultures in British Trade Unionism and their Dissemination: 1931 – 1951 Sally Ann Richardson Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Salford School of Arts and Media 2016 ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... 1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................ 2 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 4 Trade Unions and Politics ...................................................................................... 7 Ideology ............................................................................................................... 18 Disseminating Ideology: The Role of the Press ................................................... 24 Approach and Theory ........................................................................................... 26 Sources ................................................................................................................ 29 Union Journals .................................................................................................. 31 The NUGMW Journal .................................................................................... 34 The AEU Journal ........................................................................................... 36 The New Propellor ......................................................................................... 38 Chapters and Themes .......................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 1. DEPRESSION AND BURGEONING FASCISM: 1931-1936 ............ 43 Economic Conditions and Consequences ............................................................ 45 The Economy Under the National Government ................................................... 50 Banks and Financiers ....................................................................................... 55 The WWI legacy, the League, Pacifism, and War ................................................ 58 International Fraternity ...................................................................................... 68 The Rise of Fascism, and the European Situation ............................................... 70 Germany ........................................................................................................... 70 Italy and Abyssinia ............................................................................................ 73 British Fascism ................................................................................................. 76 United Front and Communism ............................................................................. 79 Russia .................................................................................................................. 83 Worker Control ..................................................................................................... 84 Education ............................................................................................................. 86 CHAPTER 2. CONSCRIPTION FOR MEN BUT INDEMNITY FOR WEALTH: 1936-1940 ............................................................................................................... 90 The Spanish Civil War .......................................................................................... 90 Interpretations of the Wider International Situation and Britain’s Responses ....... 96 Munich .............................................................................................................. 98 Arms Embargos .............................................................................................. 100 Popular/ United Front ...................................................................................... 103 iii The Nazi-Soviet Pact ...................................................................................... 105 Conditions in the Fascist States ...................................................................... 108 The Impact of the International Situation on the Economic Sphere ................... 110 Employment Issues ............................................................................................ 116 Army Recruitment, the National Register, and Conscription .............................. 117 Women ............................................................................................................... 122 War .................................................................................................................... 125 Education ........................................................................................................... 130 CHAPTER 3. NO GOING BACK: 1940-1945 ....................................................... 134 The Economic Environment ............................................................................... 136 The Impact of War on Industry ........................................................................... 138 Women ........................................................................................................... 143 Joint Production Committees .......................................................................... 146 Attitudes to Communists .................................................................................... 149 The International Scene ..................................................................................... 153 Attitudes to the Second Front ......................................................................... 156 Internationalism .............................................................................................. 158 The End of the War in Sight ............................................................................ 159 International Organisations - Bretton Woods/ Atlantic Charter / UN ............... 161 Attitudes to Germany ...................................................................................... 163 Hopes for the Post-War World ........................................................................... 166 Education ........................................................................................................... 175 1945 Election ..................................................................................................... 178 CHAPTER 4. OPTIMISM AND SOCIALISMS: LABOUR IN OFFICE 1945- 1951. ..................................................................................................................... 181 Health and Social Policy .................................................................................... 183 Women ............................................................................................................... 184 Industrial Production and Planning..................................................................... 186 Profits, Wages and Prices ............................................................................... 192 Economic and Fiscal Measures ...................................................................... 195 Nationalisation v Socialisation ............................................................................ 198 Coal ................................................................................................................ 200 Steel................................................................................................................ 205 Communism ....................................................................................................... 207 Britain’s Financial Position, the American Loan, and Marshall Plan ................... 210 International Sphere ........................................................................................... 214 Empire ............................................................................................................ 214 The Wider International Scene ........................................................................... 216 Liberated Countries ........................................................................................ 220 Greece ......................................................................................................... 220 Attitudes to Germany ...................................................................................... 221 Relations with Russia ......................................................................................... 224 Korea .............................................................................................................. 226 Education ........................................................................................................... 229 Diminished and Lost Power: the 1950 and 1951 Elections ................................ 232 iv 1951 Election .................................................................................................. 233 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 234 Temporal Contexts ............................................................................................. 235 Russia