Did the Attlee government 0f 1945-1951 have a coherent programme for changing Britain?

In answering this question I must look at the history of the Attlee government first before I Can comment on how coherent the programme for change in Britain was.

The Labour government’s period in office between 1945 and 1951 after a landslide victory over Churchill the commander of the allied forces after victory in the second world war the can be explained by the huge number of votes for the labour government by members of the forces wanting to can the country they left, labours office can be divided into two distinct periods. The first period saw the government attempting the extension of wartime economic planning, the implementation of their nationalisation programme, and a level of social planning concurrent with the organisation of the welfare state. The construction of the post-war 'consensus' rested on the Governments ability to deliver its aims of full employment, coupled to the provision of a comprehensive welfare state.

This was to be achieved through government being permitted to 'manage' the economy, and the implementation of its nationalisation programme, both with the cooperation of the Trade Unions Movement.

The Attlee years 1945-1951.

The economy was facing much strain after the war; the government was facing a “financial Dunkirk”. Although labour paved on with an extensive reform programme, just as they had promised in their campaign. The economic policy of the government was in favour of working class families. Rationing was still present in favour of keeping living cost down; development at regional level was pushed to avoid any returns of mass unemployment much of the surplus from the armed forces joined in on the development at regional level keeping the unemployment figures low as 9 million bodies were tied up in the armed forces after the war these people needed to be absorbed into the work force without having a period of wide spread unemployment. Progressive rates of tax were kept in place to keep the cost for the public low. Britain had to get used to not producing munitions and supplies for the army and start producing according to the publics demand, and as consumers had money saved from the war as they could not spend it they are ready and waiting to buy showing a possibility of “ a danger that the pressure of demand would become excessive and find vent in inflation” (A.Cairncross), and there were fears that full employment would lead to unions opening the doors on wage inflations, Attlee was able to convince the union to slow down union activity in the early post war years so the economy could get back on its feet. Not helping this matter was the fact that Britain had managed to incur the largest external debt in history, balance of payments after the war amounted to £10,000 million, a lend lease from America met half of this amount the rest had to be found my selling foreign investment and by borrowing sterling of dollars. However the debt after the war continued to escalate Attlee told the House of Commons “British earning form exports were currently no more than £350 million a year to which other receipts of foreign exchange might add a further £450 million. Total outgoings, on the other hand, including military expenditure abroad and the food and other supplies previously paid for by the United States, were running at the rate of £2000 million a year. This left a gap of £1200 million a year to be met by fresh borrowing abroad” (A. Cairncross The British economy since 1945). Forecast suggest that balance of payments would continue for a least three years and the figure of £1250 million extra was expected before balance would be restored. This meant that imports had to be kept below that of pre war days and exports had to be raised to that of pre war days as well, in order for the country to start making money again and get out of debt. However Britain needed to raise exports a considerable amount because exports in pre war days only covered 55% of the cost of imports, the rest was made up my net shipping earnings and foreign investment and with the lost of half of Britains merchant marine core during the war Britains exporting power had decreased severely. After the war much of the world economies were in deficient as other countries had to borrow from aboard namely America to sustain their imports and as these supplies cost dollars a shortage in dollars followed. Because of this Britains gold and dollars reserves depleted, even though there was enough sterling around the world to pay for Britains exports if payment were made in sterling this also hindered to pay back America The worldwide dollar shortage affected Britain due to dollars being favoured over sterling in international dealings and hindered the repayment of America. After the war it was clear that Britain needed assistance in terms of finance and as the United States was in a position to help and a loan or grant was needed. After negotiations a loan was secured with conditions attached to it Under the Brentton Woods Agreement Britain would be free to defer making the pound convertible until the end of the period of transition, however this was brought forward to mid 1947. The loan lifted some pressure

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Several major industries were taken into public ownership private companies were not running these industries well and nationalisation was popular. Nationalisation was prominent in the fuel and power industries as well as transport and communication. Nationalisation cost the government huge amount of money to bring them up to speed this in a time when public spending should be kept to a minimum, however this is justified in the coal industry as coal was in high demand after the war both at home and abroad as the need for fuel was high in Europe and increased our exports. It is ...

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After 1942 when the Beveridge report was published it was clear by the reaction of the public that the next government needed a reform. And the Attlee’s government responded by a rapid reform in welfare much of which was set up by the coalition government but the labour government was left to give depth to these ideas, payments of these services was met by national insurance contributions by way of the National Insurance Act. This brought together benefits to insure against sickness, unemployment, and housing, after the war many house were destroyed and due do and increasing population help by the baby boom houses were needed. However maybe the most important reform was the National Health Service (NHS), this introduced free access to hospitals and general practitioner services effectively free care from cradle to grave

1949 saw the devaluation of the pound in order to make British exports more competitive overseas, above all in America markets. The opposition said that the devaluation was humiliation and further added that the country was under mismanagement. The nation sway can be seen in the results of the 1950 general election, although Attlee stayed in office there was a swing towards the conservative party.

1950 saw the Korean War this event coincided two other major developments that eventually became over shadowed by the War, the Schuman plan and the emerge ion of the European Payments Union. Rearmament became a major issue and the government wanted to expand munitions by four fold during a time when there was little raw materials and “primary commodities of all kinds had risen steeply in price and the terms of trade were in coarse of shifting against the UK by nearly 20%, this lead to a two year long sterling crisis”(Cairncross), the labour government lost power half way through this crisis. The event saw cracks in a previously solid government as some labour MPs felt that the reason for fighting this war on communism was to show America support because of the amount of money lent to us by the States, a tear in ranks turned into a major split when a large defence budget was announced. Rearmament issues gave way to much criticism for the government. More discontent can be see when S. Cripps proposed cut backs in the NHS to spend on rearmament, which Bevan refused to accept. Bevans resignation showed a split and division over strategy and the fragmentation of the party was noticed, leading to the Tories regained power at the election in October 1951.

There are two types of consensus about Attlee reign. One side believe it went some of the way towards satisfying wartime demands for a change in Britain. The economy recovered from the ravage of war while avoiding a return in mass unemployment, and the government followed through their promised to implement the Beveridge report. The other side claims the Attlees government disillusioned its members by its modest reform, and lack of breaking down class barriers and that the party was not true to its socialist ideas and was not left wing enough.

Another criticism is that the government introduce to much socialism and if the government concentrated on rebuild itself industrially rather than concentrate on welfare reform. This opinion was taken my the conservative government in the 80’s to undermine the labour party and its achievements, how every economic history shows that labour boosted industrial production, manufacturing output and the volume of exports.

Conclusion

Labour did so much for the working class the people of its party during this period, the working class who made up the majority of the population enjoyed job security fresh opportunities opened up in education for the youth, pensions approximated as never before to a living income. Affordable, decent housing came within the react of thousands of lower income families and the NHS treated millions of patients. The changes to the country that were needed after war was largely met by the labour government by the end of its term. The enormous rearmament programme towards the end of Attlee’s labour government life over shadowed this position. The economy although at a deficit would return back to balance as soon as terms of trade returned to normal levels. The consumer boom came after the government left office but it showed that the action the government took was correct. The labour government succeeded in what it set out to do in difficult conditions. Although I am not saying it was all plain sailing, 1947 brought endless crises for Attlee and the government seemed happy for the balance of payments situation to deplete the reserves. Much of parliaments time and money was spent on moving a number of industries from the private sector to the public sector without any real understanding on how to run them themselves. Post war policy did not save Britain but avoided complete disaster and set the stage for the boom that followed.

The Labour government made several changes ones which were immense and long lasting. In little more than five years, the Labour Government managed to nationalize nearly one-fifth of the British economy in a largely "peaceful, almost uneventful, fashion," nationalization which survived virtually intact until Margaret Thatcher. Alongside this achievement was the Labour Government's creation and marked expansion of the Welfare State. While some of the reforms such as the National Insurance Act built directly upon wartime and pre-war initiatives, others such as the National Health Service went far beyond the scope of any wartime policies or suggestions in the Beveridge Report.

Yet despite these massive changes, in the aggregate Labour's changes were a "mosaic of reform and conservatism." Education, while reformed in 1944 due to the Churchill War Government's Butler Act, for the most part still remained untouched as an institution in British society, and the class structure changed very little between 1945 and 1951. Nevertheless, the Welfare State and nationalization, with all of its perhaps inevitable warts, "offered a basis for future social advance."(Morgan), In the end the Labour Government offered to the British people "a new concept of citizenship, universal and comprehensive"(Morgan) for the first time. I believe Attlee did have a coherent plan for Britain however obstacles got in the way of where the Labour Government wanted to finish.