17. Post War Dreams¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 17: Post War Dreams
The 1945 Labour landslide was a moment of profound working-class hope, promising a decisive break with capitalism. The TUC’s radical 1944 reconstruction programme and Labour’s manifesto pledge of a “Socialist Commonwealth” reflected this ambition. Unlike its predecessors, Attlee’s government enjoyed a crushing majority and faced a post-war boom, not slump. It delivered the Welfare State, the NHS, and nationalised the Bank of England, coal, railways, and utilities. Yet this was state capitalism, not socialism. Nationalisation only absorbed bankrupt industries, compensating former owners handsomely—coal owners received £164.7 million for their mines and £78.5 million in royalties. Profitable sectors remained untouched, and management boards were staffed by former managers, generals, and right-wing union officials, not workers. The government retained wartime Order 1305, criminalising strikes, and deployed troops to break walkouts on at least fourteen occasions between 1945 and 1951. Despite full employment and rising militancy, the TUC General Council enforced wage restraint until the 1950 Congress finally rejected it.
The Cold War deepened this betrayal. Britain subordinated itself to US imperialism through a “special relationship”, while the CIA financed the reconstruction of Europe’s trade union movement to ensure right-wing domination. By October 1948, the TUC General Council’s conservative majority, in collaboration with the CIA and Special Branch, launched a witch-hunt against communist influence. It denounced the Communist Party’s alleged sabotage of the European Recovery Programme and issued Defend Democracy, calling for the purge of CP members from key union positions. The General Council threatened to disaffiliate Trades Councils that refused. Arthur Deakin of the TGWU led the offensive, expelling militants involved in a Canadian dockers’ lockout. In July 1949, the TGWU’s Biennial Delegate Conference barred CP members from holding union office, reversing its earlier opposition to the 1934 “Black Circular”. Nine full-time officials were sacked within six months; lay officials had to sign a declaration. Even the left-wing Tribune supported the ban. The Cold War split the World Federation of Trade Unions, with Deakin leading the walkout to establish the pro-Western ICFTU. In 1951, Labour lost the general election despite its highest ever vote, due to crooked boundaries. The trade union hierarchy immediately entered fraternal relations with the new Tory government, continuing the class collaborationist policy from 1926.