Liberals Why Flashcards
Intro background facts
Laissez faire meaning ‘let then do was the government’s view on helping the poor throughout the 19th century and meant they offered no help for the poor. The poor law was the onky help the government offered for the poor and if you applied for the poor law you would be sent to workhouses which had purposefully appalling conditions to put people off claiming they were desperate. At the beginning of the twentieth century, laissez faire became discredited, and the same problems of poverty remained. The Liberal reforms of 1906 to 1914 were very important because they showed a change in government policy to a more ‘collective approach’.
Intro factors and LOA
The Liberals were motivated to pass their reforms due to genuine concern for the poor, national efficiency, and the Labour Party. This essay will argue that the most important factor in the Liberal governments decision to introduce social reforms between 1906-1914 was national efficiency.
Genuine concern for the poor knowledge 1
Charles Booth did not believe that poverty in london was as big of a problem as people said, so he started his own investigation, labour, and life of the people, which was published in 1889. Booths research showed 35% rather than 25% of london were living in poverty and so he created the idea of a poverty line which he set at 10 to 20 shillings. This was seen as the minimum amount for a family of 4 or 5 to survive on.
Genuine concern for the poor analysis 1
This encouraged the liberals to push their reforms as it increased the amount of people who felt bad for fom the poor and gave shocking, but realistic statistics which made people want to help.
Genuine concern for the poor knowledge 2
In 1908, the liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith appointed the ‘new ‘liberals David Lloyd George and Winston churchill to leading positions in the government. These ‘new liberals’ in favour of state action to secure a minimum standard of living for all British people, which would be financed by increased taxation.
Genuine concern for the poor analysis 2
This encouraged the liberals to pass their reforms as this meant that people in high power were very committed to reform and meant they had support and pressure to change things.
Genuine concern for the poor counter argument
Many people, including MPs, still believed that poverty was not a problem and that all poor people wasted their money on alcohol and gambling. Many wealthy politicians also still agreed with the idea of ‘self-help’, which was that the poor could work themselves out of poverty.
Genuine concern for the poor counter argument analysis
This limited the influence of genuine concern for the poor in getting the liberals to pass their reforms as it convinced them that people in poverty were choosing to be that way and did not deserve to be helped.
National efficiency knowledge 1
The conflict with the Boers in South Africa grew, and so Britain required more recruitment of soldiers, but 25% of volunteers to fight in the war were rejected because they were physically unfit to serve in the armed forces. This led to concern of whether Britain could protect its empire, especially against the rising army of Germany, with over 75,000 men.
National efficiency analysis 1
This encouraged the Liberals to pass their reforms because Britain could not protect itself with their army being much smaller and of lesser quality than other countries so the liberals had to do what they could to support their country.
National efficiency knowledge 2
In the 1800’s Bismarck introduced limited social reforms in Germany and introduced a policy of state socialism to counter the threat of socialism. These examples influenced Lloyd George and Churchill to propose the Liberal welfare scheme in Britain.
National efficiency analysis 2
This encouraged the liberals to pass their reforms as they felt pressure from other countries to do the same and support their people more.
National efficiency counter argument
Many historians challenged the view that politicians had any concern for the poor and instead wanted to pass reforms for political advantage or to counter any foreign threats. Along with this, the UK still had a massive lead in industries like shipbuilding, and it could be argued that building dreadnoughts was seen as more important than the army to national security.
National efficiency counter argument analysis
This limits the influence of national efficiency in getting the liberals to pass their reforms as it meant they had less pressing reasons to pass reforms, and their selfish reasoning lessened their arguments for reforms.
Labour Party knowledge 1
Since 1884, 60%of working class men could vote, and the liberals got mist of these votes. The liberals realised they needed to do something in order to keep these votes and gain more, such as social reforms that would benefit the working class. In 1895, the general election saw the independent Labour Party contest 28 seats in the elections. By 1906, the labour party had a large number of candidates and won 29 seats in the elections while trying to meet the needs of the working class.
Labour Party analysis 1
This encouraged the liberals to pass their reforms as it meant that the liberals had some competition as the labour party had support from the same people who had previously supported the liberals so they were losing votes.
Labour Party knowledge 2
In 1910-1912 politicians feared that workers might turn to communism or rebellion because of the growth of trade unions and strikes. Trade unions began to fight for better wages and working conditions by going on strike, especially in industries such as railway workers and coal miners.
Labour Party analysis 2
This encouraged the liberals to pass their reforms as it created pressure to make changes so the country could function as it used to without disruption from strikes, which affected everyone in the area.
Labour Party counter argument
However, many historians pointed out that the liberals were not truly worried about the labour party, or they would have matched labour’s promises by offering pensions earlier.
Labour Party counter argument analysis
This limits the influence for the labour party in getting the liberals to pass their reforms as it meant that the labour party did not lead to the liberals reforms as it had been suggested.
Conclusion
