Gaitskellism

Last updated
Hugh Gaitskell Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell.jpg
Hugh Gaitskell

Gaitskellism was the ideology of a faction in the British Labour Party in the 1950s and early 1960s which opposed many of the economic policies of the trade unions, especially nationalisation and control of the economy. [1]

Contents

Theoretically, it repudiated the long-standing orthodox position that identified socialism with public ownership of the means of production, and that such ownership was essential to achieve socialist objectives, and emphasized the goals of personal liberty, social welfare, and above all social equality. It downplayed loyalty to the labour movement as a central ethical goal, and argued that the new goals could be achieved if the government used appropriate fiscal and social policy measures within the context of a market-oriented mixed economy. Public ownership was not specifically rejected, but was seen as merely one of numerous useful devices. [2]

The movement was led by Hugh Gaitskell and included Anthony Crosland, Roy Jenkins, Douglas Jay, Patrick Gordon Walker and James Callaghan. [3] [4] Gaitskellites represented the political right of the Labour Party and were opposed by the Bevanites, the left-wing faction of the party led by Aneurin Bevan and Michael Foot. In the 1950s, there were many parallels between Gaitskellism and the economic policies of Rab Butler, the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer. This convergence of the two main parties was dubbed "Butskellism". [5]

History

In the 1945 general election, the Labour Party won its first majority in Parliament, with Clement Attlee becoming prime minister. Both Gaitskell and Bevan took positions in the Cabinet, Gaitskell as Minister of Fuel and Power and Bevan as Minister of Health. [6]

In October 1950, Stafford Cripps was forced to resign as Chancellor of the Exchequer due to failing health, and Gaitskell was appointed to succeed him. His time as Chancellor was dominated by the struggle to finance Britain's part in the Korean War which put enormous strain on public finances. The cost of the war meant that savings had to be found from other budgets. Gaitskell's budget of 1951 introduced charges for certain prescriptions on the National Health Service.

He had a falling out with Bevan, who had defended the NHS and had left over the matter, and the budget split the government. Harold Wilson and John Freeman joined Bevan in resigning in protest of Gaitskell's policies. Later that year, Labour lost power to the Conservatives in the 1951 election. Gaitskell was replaced as Chancellor by Rab Butler, who largely continued Gaitskell's economic policies. This was termed Butskellism and laid the foundation for the post-war consensus.

During the period of opposition, the feud between the Gaitskellites and Bevanites continued. In 1954, Gaitskell and Bevan ran against each other for the position of Treasurer of the Labour Party, which was seen as a stepping-stone to the position of Party Leader. Gaitskell defeated Bevan. Following Labour's defeat in the 1955 election, Attlee announced his retirement as Party Leader (and subsequently, Leader of the Opposition). In the leadership election, the Labour left rallied around Bevan, while the Labour right was split between Gaitskell and Herbert Morrison. Gaitskell defeated both, gaining almost sixty per cent of the vote, and on 14 December 1955 became both Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. [7]

During the early period of Gaitskell's tenure as Party Leader, the opposition between the Gaitskellites and Bevanites simmered, centring mainly on the issues of nuclear disarmament (which the Bevanites supported and the Gaitskellites opposed) and Britain's participation in NATO, specifically the foreign policy of opposing the Soviet Union and supporting the United States (which the Bevanites opposed and Gaitskellites supported). However, during this initial period the factional infighting dimmed somewhat; Gaitskell appointed Bevan to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Colonial Secretary and then Shadow Foreign Minister, the position he held during the Suez Crisis which enabled him to formulate Labour's response to the actions of Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Also in 1956, Bevan was elected Party Treasurer, defeating the Gaitskellite candidate, George Brown. Ironically, in 1957 Bevan split from the Bevanites due to a speech he gave opposing nuclear disarmament at the annual Labour Party conference.

The hostilities between factions exploded again after the 1959 election. Labour was widely expected to win the election, with the Conservatives unpopular after the Suez Crisis. However, the Conservatives managed to increase their majority, largely due to the Conservatives' exploiting Labour's internal divisions over economics. The Labour election manifesto, drafted by the left, stated that it would raise taxes to pay for an increase in spending, especially pensions, while Gaitskell publicly promised that he would not raise taxes. After the election Gaitskell blamed the Bevanite economic position for the electoral defeat and, in an effort to modernize the party in the face of the Conservatives' electoral and economic successes, attempted to reverse the Labour charter's Clause IV calling for nationalisation. The Bevanites managed to defeat this attempt. The Clause IV struggle had the effect of creating the pro-Gaitskellite Campaign for Democratic Socialism as a pressure group within the party. In 1960 the Bevanites managed to commit to Labour backing nuclear disarmament, only for the Gaitskellites to reverse it in 1961.

In 1959, Bevan was elected Deputy Party Leader, only to die shortly before the 1960 party leadership election. The Bevanites instead backed Harold Wilson, who lost to Gaitskell by almost two-thirds of the vote. However, the factional infighting, largely over the nuclear issue, was so much that there was another party leadership election the next year. In that election, the Bevanites backed Anthony Greenwood, who lost to Gaitskell by almost three-fourths of the vote.

Near the end of his life, Gaitskell himself began to move away from the Gaitskellites on several issues. The Gaitskellites generally supported Britain entering the European Economic Community, which Gaitskell opposed, claiming it would cause the end of Britain as an independent nation. In early 1963, Gaitskell died. In the ensuing party leadership election Wilson again was the candidate of the former Bevanites, while the Gaitskellite vote was split between George Brown and James Callaghan. In the first round of voting, the two Gaitskellites split the right-wing vote, with Wilson getting 47% of the vote. In the second round between Wilson and Brown, Wilson won with 58% of the vote, the same margin that Gaitskell had on his election in 1955.

Legacy

Wilson went on to become prime minister in the 1964 election, holding the position from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976. Despite being a former Bevanite, Wilson largely followed Gaitskellite economic policies, and the former Gaitskellite Callaghan followed Wilson as prime minister from 1976 to 1979 and Party Leader from 1976 to 1980.

As late as 1977, Austin Mitchell still described himself as a Gaitskellite during his initial run for Parliament.

In 1981, largely in response to the election of the former Bevanite Michael Foot as party leader, the formerly-Gaitskellite Campaign for Democratic Socialism members eventually left the Labour Party to establish the more moderate Social Democratic Party. [8]

In 1983, Foot was replaced as party leader by Neil Kinnock, who moved the party towards the centre and away from its traditional base, accordingly with the breakdown of the post-war consensus. He was replaced as leader in 1992 by former Gaitskellite John Smith. When Tony Blair became Party Leader in 1994 and then prime minister in 1997, he continued to move the party towards the right, and he largely followed the Gaitskellite positions on economics and defence, ending the party's Clause IV commitment to nationalization in 1995, supporting the UK Trident programme, and retaining close relations with the United States.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Wilson</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1964–1970, 1974–1976)

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, was a British statesman and Labour Party politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976. He was Leader of the Labour Party from 1963 to 1976, Leader of the Opposition twice from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1970 to 1974, and a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1945 to 1983. Wilson is the only Labour leader to have formed administrations following four general elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneurin Bevan</span> Welsh politician (1897–1960)

Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC was a Welsh Labour Party politician, noted for tenure as Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government in which he spearheaded the creation of the British National Health Service. He is also known for his wider contribution to the founding of the British welfare state. He was first elected as MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929, and used his Parliamentary platform to make a number of influential criticisms of Winston Churchill and his government during the Second World War. Before entering Parliament, Bevan was involved in miners' union politics and was a leading figure in the 1926 general strike. Bevan is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Gaitskell</span> British politician and leader of the opposition

Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until his death in 1963. An economics lecturer and wartime civil servant, he was elected to Parliament in 1945 and held office in Clement Attlee's governments, notably as Minister of Fuel and Power following the bitter winter of 1946–47, and eventually joining the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Facing the need to increase military spending in 1951, he imposed National Health Service charges on dentures and spectacles, prompting the leading left-winger Aneurin Bevan to resign from the Cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bevanism</span> Political ideology of Aneurin Bevan

Bevanism was a movement on the left wing of the Labour Party in the late 1950s led by Aneurin Bevan which also included Richard Crossman, Michael Foot and Barbara Castle. Bevanism was opposed by the Gaitskellites, moderate social democrats within the party. The Gaitskellites typically won most of the battles inside Parliament, but Bevanism was stronger among local Labour activists. The Bevanites split over the issue of nuclear weapons, and the movement faded away after Bevan died in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manny Shinwell</span> British politician

Emanuel Shinwell, Baron Shinwell, was a British politician who served as a government minister under Ramsay MacDonald and Clement Attlee. A member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 40 years, representing Linlithgowshire, Seaham and Easington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Brown, Baron George-Brown</span> British politician (1914–1985)

George Alfred George-Brown, Baron George-Brown,, was a British Labour Party politician who was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1960 to 1970 and held several Cabinet roles under Prime Minister Harold Wilson, including Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Crosland</span> British politician

Charles Anthony Raven Crosland was a British Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influential book The Future of Socialism (1956) argued against many Marxist notions and the traditional Labour Party doctrine that expanding public ownership was essential to make socialism work, arguing instead for prioritising the end of poverty and improving public services. He offered positive alternatives to both the right wing and left wing of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1950 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first to be held after a full term of a majority Labour government. The general election was held on Thursday 23 February 1950, and was also the first to be held following the abolition of plural voting and university constituencies. The government's lead over the Conservative Party shrank dramatically, and Labour was returned to power but with an overall majority significantly reduced from 146 to just 5. There was a 2.8% national swing towards the Conservatives, who gained 90 seats. Labour called another general election the following year, which the Conservative Party won, returning Churchill to government after six years in opposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1955 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election in 1951. It was a snap election: after Winston Churchill retired in April 1955, Anthony Eden took over and immediately called the election in order to gain a mandate for his government. It resulted in a majority of 60 seats for the government; the result remains the largest party share of the vote at a post-war general election. This was the first general election to be held during the reign of Elizabeth II. She had succeeded her father George VI the year after the previous election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1959 United Kingdom general election</span> 8 October 1959

The 1959 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 8 October 1959. It marked a third consecutive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, now led by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. For the second time in a row, the Conservatives increased their overall majority in Parliament, this time to a landslide majority of 100 seats, having gained 20 seats for a return of 365. The Labour Party, led by Hugh Gaitskell, lost 19 seats and returned 258. The Liberal Party, led by Jo Grimond, again returned only six MPs to the House of Commons, but managed to increase its overall share of the vote to 5.9%, compared to just 2.7% four years earlier.

The 1955 Labour Party leadership election was held following the resignation of Clement Attlee. Attlee was Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951 and stayed on as party leader until he lost the 1955 general election.

<i>The Future of Socialism</i> 1956 book by British politician Anthony Crosland

The Future of Socialism is a 1956 book by Anthony Crosland. It was one of the most influential books in post-war British Labour Party thinking. It was the seminal work of the 'revisionist' school of Labour politics.

The 1960 Labour Party leadership election was held when, for the first time since 1955, the incumbent leader Hugh Gaitskell was challenged for re-election. Normally the annual re-election of the leader had been a formality. Gaitskell had lost the 1959 general election and had seen the Labour Party conference adopt a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament which he considered disastrous and refused to support. A vacancy in the deputy leadership was first made by the death of incumbent Aneurin Bevan.

The 1963 Labour Party leadership election was held following the death of Hugh Gaitskell, party leader since 1955. He died on 18 January 1963 and was succeeded by deputy leader George Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Labour Party (UK)</span> Aspect of British political history

The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it stressed national planning, using nationalisation of industry as a tool, in line with Clause IV of the original constitution of the Labour Party which called for the "common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service".

The Labour Party is a social democratic political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is the governing party of the United Kingdom, having won the 2024 general election, and is currently the largest political party by number of votes cast and number of seats in the House of Commons. There have been seven Labour prime ministers and fourteen Labour ministries. The party traditionally holds the annual Labour Party Conference during party conference season, at which senior Labour figures promote party policy.

The Campaign for Democratic Socialism or CDS was a social democratic and democratic socialist organisation in the British Labour Party, serving as a pressure group representing the right wing of the party. Established in 1960, the CDS was composed of Gaitskellites, Labour members who supported the then-party leader, Hugh Gaitskell.

The 1956 Labour Party deputy leadership election took place on 2 February 1956, after the resignation of sitting deputy leader Herbert Morrison. Morrison resigned after his heavy defeat in the leadership election in December 1955, but the party decided not to hold a deputy leadership election until the new year.

Philip Maynard Williams, FBA was a British political analyst.

Elections to the Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet occurred in November 1951. In addition to the 12 members elected, the Leader, Deputy Leader, Labour Chief Whip, and Labour Leader in the House of Lords were automatically members.

References

  1. ↑ Tudor Jones, "Labour revisionism and public ownership, 1951–63" Contemporary British History 5#3 (1991): 432-449
  2. ↑ Brian Brivati and Richard Heffernan, eds. The Labour Party: a centenary history (Macmillan, 2000) p 301.
  3. ↑ Brian Harrison, Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970 (2011) ch 8.
  4. ↑ "Hugh Gaitskell – 50 Years On | Labour History Group". Labourhistory.org.uk. 2013-06-24. Archived from the original on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  5. ↑ Stephen Haseler, The Gaitskellites: Revisionism in the British Labour Party, 1951-64 (Macmillan, 1969).
  6. ↑ Andrew Davies, To Build A New Jerusalem: Labour Movement from the 1890s to the 1990s (1992) pp. 151-170
  7. ↑ Davies, To Build A New Jerusalem: Labour Movement from the 1890s to the 1990s (1992) pp 190-208
  8. ↑ Martin Pugh, Speak for Britain!: A New History of the Labour Party (2010). pp 363-64

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.