Attlee’s 1945
Labour Government at Seventy: What is the historical balance sheet?
One Day Event organised by the London Socialist
Historians Group
Wolfson
Room
Institute
of Historical Research
Senate
House, Malet Street London WC1E 7HU
Saturday
28 February 2015
From
11.30am
In 1945 Labour was returned to office
with a large majority in the election that marked the end of World War Two and
the coalition Government that had ruled from 1939.
Contrary to many expectations Tory
leader Winston Churchill was swept from power and replaced by Clement Attlee’s Labour Government. Many socialists look
back on the Attlee Government as an example of what a left-wing
Government can achieve. The Welfare State was introduced, including the NHS,
and industries were nationalised. Much of this is captured in Ken Loach’s
excellent film The Spirit of ‘45
Yet the record was not all positive.
The Attlee Government sent troops to break strikes, worked on developing a
British nuclear bomb and laid the basis for the Cold War in Britain.
This conference, looking back over 70
years, will seek to draw a balance sheet of the positives and negatives of the
1945 Labour Government in a bid to contribute modestly towards a useful and
working, historically focused agenda for the left in the present day.
Speakers include:
Francis Beckett, Biographer (Clem Attlee)
John Newsinger
Ian Birchall and others
For more information contact
keith.flett@btinternet.com
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