Motives For Liberal Reforms Flashcards
Booth and Rowntree KU
19th century social surveys, changed popular opinion
Booth carried out his survey on the East end of London and found that 35% of Londons population was living in extreme poverty and argued if nothing was done there would be a socialist revolution
Rowntree carried out his survey in York and found 30% of Yorks population was below the poverty line, identified that there was a poverty line and those living below it did not have the bare minimum needed to survive, he also identified who was most likely to fall into poverty and that there are certain times in people’s lives they’re more likely to fall into poverty (e.g old age)
Booth and Rowntree Analysis
A+ couldn’t argue with statistics, showed people couldn’t lift themselves out of poverty, broke down old ideas that poor people were lazy and squandered money
A- Many people still argued that poverty wasn’t widespread and that poor people wasted their money, the reports also only focused on inner city areas no rural
Municipal socialism KU
Later 1800s- publication enjoyed intervention when local authorities taxed people and used the money to improve local areas
Showed socialist practice of redistributing wealth worked
Paved the way for Liberals to introduce reforms that would cost more money (e.g pensions)
Birmingham- Joseph Chamberlin bought water company to supply water regularly and cleanly while previously it had been supplied only 3 days a week and was polluted, he did the same with gas and cleaning slums- 1873
Municipal socialism Analysis
A+ improvements on a local level showed that municipal socialism worked and that the positive results outweighed the cost of the tax
A- Huge opposition remained for taxing the rich, upper classes didn’t want to provide for the poor
New Liberalism KU
Old liberalism believed in Lassiaz faire
New liberalism introduced in 1906 provided inspiration for reform
Lloyd George, Churchill and Asquith argued that there were circumstances where it was right for the government to intervene in peoples lives
Represented poorer areas (Churchill in Dundee and Lloyd George in Wales)
New Liberalism Analysis
A+ New Liberalism becoming more influential due to more modern ideas
A+ Party reforming from within and started to believe reform was needed to help those in need
A- Historians pointed out that New liberals are still vastly outnumbered by old liberals
A- only when old liberal leader Campbell Bannerman died in 1908 when New liberals could introduce interventionist ideas
Fear of Labour KU
Labour Party (1900) was winning support for its campaigns for social welfare policies (e.g pensions and unemployment benefits)
Labour Party was a threat to liberals working class support
Liberals needed to offer something to gain back support of the working class voters
Labour already had the support of the working class due to its affiliation with trade unions
Fear of Labour Analysis
A+ Liberals realise they need to make smaller reforms to avoid bigger ones (e.g pensions were offered but age limit raised to 70)
A- Historians argue that they can’t have been truely worried or they would’ve matched or bettered labours offers.
A- Labour party was still small in 1906 so they didn’t pose a threat in terms of election majority
National Security/Efficiency KU
Boer war (1899-1902)
25% of volunteers rejected due to poor health
Figure higher in industrial cities like Manchester
Alarming because the British army should’ve defeated them in weeks not years
Germany and USA pulling ahead of Britain, Churchill and Lloyd George visit Germany and are impressed by effects of welfare benefits (e.g. pensions and free school meals)
Germany had introduced reforms since the 1880s
Lloyd George thought young men in Britain didn’t know where to find work and introduced the Labour exchange
National Security/Efficiency Analysis
A+ Need for healthy workforces made clear, Britain couldn’t compete as a great power anymore. Earliest reforms thought to come as a direct result of the fear of national security (free school meals and medical inspections)
A- Many Historians challenged the view that politicians were genuinely concerned for the poor, thought Churchill wanted to make a name for himself or that the liberals wanted to win working class votes over labour
