ADV INFO - Labour Party Divisions

Question 1

Who was Hugh Gaitskell

Answer 1

leader of the Labour party from 1955

Question 2

who were the bevanites

Answer 2

followers of Aneurin Bevan’s policies, a policy of the old left which focused on Marxism and large public spending

Question 3

Who were the left-wingers

Answer 3

people on the left side of the Labour Party who opposed Gaitskell and supported more government spending and left-wing policies

Question 4

Who were unilateralists

Answer 4

people who supported one-sided action, such as one-sided nuclear disarmament

Question 5

what was the CND

Answer 5

campaign for nuclear disarmament

Question 6

What was Labour split over

Answer 6

the extent to which socialism should go

Question 7

What were the two big factions in the Labour party

Answer 7

between the followers of Gaitskell and the Bevanites

Question 8

Who resigned over the introduction of NHS charges

Answer 8

Bevan and Wilson

Question 9

who became the focus of Labour dissent

Answer 9

Bevan, especially after his rival Hugh Gaitskell assumed the Labour leadership in 1955

Question 10

when did Harold Wilson become the leader of the labour party

Answer 10

1963

Question 11

what was the most divisive issue for Labour

Answer 11

defence

Question 12

what did Bevan do in 1950s

Answer 12

support by Wilson, Richard Crossman and Barbara Castle, they opposed the official pro-nuclear, pro-American policy

Question 13

how many MPs were seen as Bevanites

Answer 13

32 MPs

Question 14

what had happened to Labour relations by 1952

Answer 14

57 labour MPs risked dismissal after ignoring the party whip on defence issues

Question 15

what did Bevan do in 1954

Answer 15

he defied Attlee’s instructions to support proposals in the Commons for the manufacture of a hydrogen bomb

Question 16

what was another controversial issue within the party

Answer 16

public ownership of industry

Question 17

what did Gaitskell hope to rewrite

Answer 17

Clause IV of the party’s constitution, which had committed it to wholesale nationalisation

Question 18

who supported Gaitskell’s move to rewrite Clause IV

Answer 18

Labour right-winger Tony Crosland, believed in a bigger welfare state, but funded by economic growth and built on the efficiently managed industry within a mixed economy

Question 19

what did the issue of Clause IV lead to

Answer 19

intense conflict at successive Labour conferences during Gaitskell’s period as leader.

Question 20

who opposed any abandonment of the commitment to nationalisation

Answer 20

Arthur Deakin (transport and generals workers union leader), Tom Williamson (municipal workers leader) and William Lawther (miners’ union leader)

Question 21

what happened in 1957 to suggest relations were improving

Answer 21

Bevan was appointed Shadow Foreign secretary and made a devastating speech promising that, if, in power, he would not allow future Foreign secretaries to go naked into the conference chamber’ - a reference to the possibility of unilateral nuclear disarmament

Question 22

what was the issue with Bevan’s speech

Answer 22

it outraged his former supporters on the left, who maintained their opposition to the leadership

Question 23

what did Gaitskell say during the 1959 party conference

Answer 23

he would fight, fight and fight again to save the party that I love

Question 24

What was Gaitskell defeated over

Answer 24

the issue of Clause IV by an alliance of unions and left-wingers

Question 25

what happened to Gaitskell in 1960

Answer 25

he also lost the conference vote against unilateral disarmament