Attlee's Labour Administration 1945-51

Question 1

Eric Hobsbawn’s thesis

Answer 1

-‘The Golden Age’ the USA and West Europe after WW2 level out society. [Mainly UK West Germany and France.]

• By 1970 the majority of people are middle class
• Education goes up [university centres]
• workers’ rights increase
• Living standards higher than at any point in history [mainly measured by housing.]

-was this caused by the war or Attlee?

BUT
- GB’s physical occupation of NW Germany cost the British taxpayer £1 million a day until 1949 when West Germany was founded. Infrastructure and modernisation was not focused on by Attlee but was by other countries so by 1970 the German economy is bigger than GB’s.

Question 2

1945 context

Answer 2

• the labour party won a landslide victory in 1945- this is the first opportunity they can pass legislation.
• the labour government had promised to construct socialist policies to create a ‘welfare state’
• Britain had overspent its own income by £2,000 million a year during the war.
• British exports in 1945 stood at a third of their already low 1939 level.
• Keynes said that Britain were heading for a ‘financial Dunkirk’
• in June 1945, the labour government secured a $3.75 billion dollar loan from the US. The condition of this loan was that the pound would become convertible to the dollar by 1947.
• in 1947 America passed the McMahon Act stating that no nuclear material or ideas would be shared with any other nation.

Question 3

Labour’s ‘let us face the future’ government

Answer 3

• majority government
• 6/20 members of Attlee’s cabinet were union sponsored.
• The Labour government inherited the severe economic problems of the pre-war period with the added burden of the economic destabilisation of war.
• legislation covered three main areas- nationalisation and economic planning, social welfare, trade union laws.
• 1945-47 the majority of legislation was passed

-funding came from the /empire (exploiting resources in order to sell them to the US market-food, rubber and oil), tax, US Aid and kept rationing.

Question 4

Ernest Bevin in the Labour government 1945

Answer 4

• believed that Britain’s post-war economic weakness was temporary
• the government should follow a policy both at home and abroad that would help to facilitate the restoration of Britain’s world role.

Question 5

Focus of British foreign policy in the labour government 1945

Answer 5

focused on economic recovery and soviet expansion.

• The focus meant that Empire, in particular Africa, became very important.
• The US was keen to force Britain to become leader of a West EU- both Bevin and Attlee were keen to defend Britain’s ‘unique global role’.
• Focused on the development of a nuclear weapon (3rd country to get one)
• retained National service until 1957 which enabled the maintenance of a large army and show how important the maintenance of its international role was.

Question 6

The establishment of a welfare state by Attlee

Answer 6

• set up alongside the NHS soon after the war and this led to a revolution in care services
• included secondary education which was freely available to all children
• programme for more public housing.
• based on the Beverage report: aimed to provide care ‘from cradle to grave’

Question 7

National insurance act 1946

Answer 7

National insurance act 1946- outlined the structure for a welfare state. The act came into force in 1948. Employers, employees and the government should pay funds and the benefits were used to pat for those who couldn’t work or had retired.

• it offered maternity leave, funeral cover and widow’s pension.
• the focus on maternity and health allows for career and family and helped lower the high infant mortality and birth rate.

Question 8

Examples of the universal benefits system

Answer 8

• 1945 Family Allowance Act was passed which provided benefits for under 15 year olds, 15 to 18 years olds in education and children over 15 years old who were not in employment – aim to break the cycle of poverty by keeping children in school.
• 1948 National Assistance acts was passed, which established a benefits system for those who hadn’t paid insurance contributions but were unable to work due to reasons beyond their control.

Question 9

Education in the welfare state

Answer 9

• the labour government enforced the education act of 1944 this increased the age of free education for 14 to 15 meaning that the working class were able to receive education for another year without having to pay.
• the act also meant that all local authorities had to provide primary, secondary and further education. Many were concerned that academic education would be harmed by combining it with less academic subjects.

Question 10

The 1946 National Health Act

Answer 10

• the scheme included free treatment and medicine from GPs, hospitals, dentists and eye specialists.
• nurses were appointed, an ambulance service and vaccinations for babies were the responsibilities of local councils.
• the service was funded through general taxes and some contributions.
• biggest pharmaceutical company, Imperial Chemical Co Institute, was founded
• cost a lot to set up as doctors had to be compensated for moving from private to public.

Question 11

Housing under Attlee and the housing crisis

Answer 11

-shortage of materials, workers and debt.
Set up prefabricated houses- prefabs-157,000 built from 1946-1950.

• Housing Act 1949 enabled governments to buy houses in dismay [bombed in WW2] and make repairs so that it could be inhabited again.
• Homeowners could apply for their house to be improved.
• council houses were built by local authorities. From 1945-51, 8000 houses were built every year, 87% were council houses.