Thread by @docrussjackson

#GE1945 THREAD

Clement Atlee was imperfect. Every leader is. But 75 years later, despite the Tories' best efforts, we all still benefit from the changes introduced after WWII by a @UKLabour Government. And in this time of national crisis, we've needed our #NHS like never before.

In 1935, Herbert Morrison was defeated by Clement Attlee in the @UKLabour leadership election, but later acted as Home Secretary.

In 1945 he was given responsibility for drafting the Labour Party manifesto that included the blueprints for the nationalisation & the welfare state.

"Labour Party is a socialist party & proud of it. Its ultimate purpose at home is the establishment of the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain - free, democratic, efficient, progressive, public-spirited, its material resources organised in the service of the British people."

"We had not been afraid to be frank about our plans. There would be public ownership of fuel & power, transport, the Bank of England, civil aviation, & iron & steel. We proposed a housing programme dealt with in relation to good town planning."

"We promised to put the 1944 Education Act into practical operation. We said that wealth would no longer be the passport to the best health treatment. We promised a Labour Govt would extend social insurance over the widest field." In 1945, politicians didn't lie like they do now.

Thatcher: "The 1945 Labour manifesto was in fact a very left-wing document... a root & branch assault on business, capitalism & the market... Most radical of all, perhaps, was the Labour Party's attitude to land... compulsory purchase by local authorities was only the beginning."

In June 1945, Winston Churchill made a national radio broadcast, where he attacked the @UKLabour Party:

"I must tell you that a socialist policy is abhorrent to British ideas on freedom. There is to be one State, to which all are to be obedient in every act of their lives."

"This State, once in power, will prescribe for everyone: where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go & what they may say, what views they are to hold, where their wives are to queue up for the State ration, & what education their children are to receive."

His "crazy" broadcast continued: "A socialist state could not afford to suffer opposition - no socialist system can be established without a political police. They (the @UKLabour government) would have to fall back on some form of #Gestapo."

The Express dutifully reported it:

Attlee's response damaged Churchill:

"The Prime Minister made much play last night with the rights of the individual & the dangers of people being ordered about by officials. I entirely agree that people should have the greatest freedom compatible with the freedom of others."

"There was a time when employers were 'free' to work little children for sixteen hours a day. I remember when employers were 'free' to employ sweated women workers on finishing trousers at a penny halfpenny a pair."

"There was a time when people were free to neglect sanitation so thousands died of preventable diseases.
For years, every attempt to remedy these crying evils was blocked by the same plea of FREEDOM FOR THE INDIVIDUAL. It was in fact freedom for the rich & slavery for the poor."

"Make no mistake, it has only been through the power of the State, given to it by Parliament, that the general public has been protected against the greed of ruthless profit-makers & property owners. The Conservative Party remains as always a class Party."

Nothing changes.

"In twenty-three years in the House of Commons, I cannot recall more than half a dozen from the ranks of the wage earners. It represents today, as in the past, the forces of property and privilege."

In the 1945 General Election Attlee led the @UKLabour Party to a landside.

The @UKLabour Govt carried through a vast programme of reforms: the Bank of England, the coal mines, civil aviation, cable & wireless services, gas, electricity, railways, road transport & steel were nationalised, the #NHS was born, & independence was granted to India in 1947.