Attlee’s 1945 Labour Government at Seventy:
What is the historical balance sheet?
A one day event organised by the London Socialist Historians Group
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.
Proposals [no more than 500 words] for
papers should be sent to Keith Flett at keith.flett@btinternet.com by 1 December 2014.
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