Post-war consensus

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The post-war consensus (English for "post-war consensus") in Great Britain was a policy based on the recognition of a balance of power between conservatives and entrepreneurs on the one hand and the Labor Party and trade unions on the other, in which from 1945 to 1979 the impossibility of unilateral implementation was social or economic policy objectives were taken into account.

A basic collectivist mood had already set in during the Second World War , favored by activities such as that of the Left Book Club , which brought the British crisis zones into public awareness. A kind of “war consensus” was reflected in the 1942 Beveridge Report , which provided a new framework for common civil rights. The war economy provided experiences that were useful for establishing four cornerstones of a new order that was strongly aligned with Keynesian ideas :

  1. Social and economic development should not be left to chance, but should be politically responsible.
  2. Full employment should serve as the basis for building a welfare state .
  3. Private and state-owned companies should coexist in a mixed economy , with government influence on the key sectors.
  4. The trade unions should be fully recognized - from this arose the " free collective bargaining ", the system of "free collective bargaining ".

The Attlee administration swiftly put the ideas into practice, most notably with Aneurin Bevan's National Health Service . Although there was no avoiding the reliberalization of economic policy, the conservatives also supported the welfare state. The balance of votes between the two major parties, which was balanced in the elections from 1950 to 1979, was only abolished by the " Winter of Discontent ".

See also

swell

  • Hans Kastendiek: Industrial relations and trade union interest representation , in: ders. Ua (Hrsg.): Great Britain. History · Politics · Economy · Society , Campus Verlag, 2nd edition Frankfurt / New York 1999, ISBN 3-593-36193-0 , p. 333 f.
  • Roland Sturm: Development in Great Britain since 1945 , bpb - Information on political education (Issue 262)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Kenneth O. Morgan: Britain Since 1945. The People's Peace , Oxford University Press, 3rd ed. Oxford et al. 2001, ISBN 0-19-280225-9 , p. 4 u. 6th