was iron and steel. This was the very industry that no attempt was made to nationalise in the first period of Labour rule.
Furthermore, extremely generous compensation was paid to the ailing firms that were nationalised. The "expropriated" capitalists were compensated to the tune of at least E3,000m, which they then reinvested in profitable growth indus. tries. This bonus of liquid funds played a major role in nursing a sick British bourgeoisie back to health. But this radical period of Labour Govern: British Iron and Steel Federation agreed to ment was soon to come to an end. In June 1946, Herbert Morrison told the Labour Party Conference that, "The Government is as far Left but in April 1947 the Government decided to as is consistent with sound reason and the natio nal inturest."
Somebody had to pick up the bill for the cost of the welfare benefits, the housing pro gramme and the rescue operation on British capitalism. The working class had to pay, Indirect taxes were raised all round, Stafford Cripps was given the job of dealing with the unions and imposing a wage freeze. In February 1948, Cripps issued the White Paper, "Personal Incomes, Costs and Prices", This argued that *It is essential that there should be no further general increase in the level of personal incomes without at least a corresponding increase in the volume of production. Until more goods and services are available for the home market, there is no justification for any general increase of individual money incomes Such an increase will merely raise costs of production without making more goods available and so can only have an Inflationary effect." The message is clear and drearily familiar. The TUC, to oblige "thair" government, called a speciel conference of union executives who agreed on a policy of restraint (on and by their membersl. By the end of 1948 real wages were lower than in 1947, The Labour Government, to a far greater extent than the subsequent Tory administration, vigorously intervened against strikes. Troops were used in the 1945 Dock strike and again in 1949 during the solidarity actions by the dockers with the Canadian Seamen's Union, The self avowed left winger Nye Bevan dragged docker militants to court in 1951 and Hartley we are-the-masters now" Shawcross prosecuted. One of the major feats that Labour carried out for British capitalism was to keep the real rise in wages from 1945.51 down to 6% -1% per year of Labour rule!
Steel nationalisation The nationalisation of iron and steel was a key issue for the Government. This industry was decisively different from those previously natio nalisad. It had had large sums recently invested in it and was confidently expected to become profitable again in the near future. It was also a manufacturing industry that controlled the heartland of British incustrial capital, shipbuilding, motors and engineering in general. It was, therefore, quite apparent that the bourgeoisie would oppose this measure vigorously and consequently, if the Labour Party seriously (BBQ)
Government would have to force this nationa lisation through in the early years of its office while it was strong. As mentioned above, Morrison ensured thet this die not happen. Instead, Dr. H. J. van der Bijl was brought over to explain how the South African nationalised steel industry worked, His job was to convince the British industry that nationalisation was not such a bad thing, that it might bring advantages and that participation on the Iron and Steel Board to help plan for nationalisation would be wise move. At the end of 1948, the help on the Board and took over a series of leading positions. The Board itself did nothing, nationalise during the '47/4B Parliamentary session. As a result of this decision, the chaleman extension of the war into China, It was impos of the Iron and Steel Federation, Sir Andrew Duncan, contacted Attlee with a "compromise" foreign policy from a mildly refoming policy formula. The Iron and Steel Board should have increased power over the industry. It should take over the information services of Steel House thome of the BISFI. The Board should be in a position to recommend that the Governmant should nationalise any particularly inefficient or recalcitrant firm. The Government would have no powers to nationalise without the Board making such a recommendation! Attlee was enthusiastic about the scheme and told Morrison, "... this scheme is good... I like these ideas very much, and 'il certainly support something along these lines." The sell-out was too much for the Labour left and a subsequent revolt stopped the deal. The result was a waste of time that meant that plans for nationalisation had to be shelved for a further year.
The second reading of the Bill took place in late 1948. The Bill had turned out to be a modest affair in that the names, administrative structures and boards of directors of the firms were to be preserved, But the capitalist class was feeling more confident. The Labour Party was outliving its usefulness in office. A general offensive was launched. The Tories tabled 480 amendments to the Bill. The House of Lords, which had been very quiet in the early years of Labour rule, began to impose conditions and delayed the operation of the Act until October 1950 which was after the date of the next general election. Labour managed to win the election of April 1950 by a small margin, The Minister of Supply, Strauss, approsched the Iron and Steel Federation for a list of suitable names from whom he could pick members of the nationalised Corporation. The BISF refused. The Government, they replied, had not obtained a clear majority at the polist Strauss denounced the staelmasters: "This is not a question of a number of people individuaily and independently corning to a decision that they do not want to serve on the Corporation. This is concerted action by a number of people for the specific purpose of sabotaging on Act of Parliament, * This of course was perfectly true. The British bourgeoisie fetishize Parliament for just as long as is profitabla. Anyway they were going to get away with it, since the Labour Government do thet to the steel-masters. Eventually, a Corporation Board was assembled from the usual collection of businessmen (Hardier, the head of British Oxygen, was chairman], retired soldiers and career diplomats In February 1951 the steel industry was "transferred to the people The Tories raturned to power on 25th October 1951 and had effectively annulled the nationatisation of steal by 13th November three weeks of resolute action was enough to destroy five years of Labour caution.
Welfare or warfare?
In Home affairs the Labour Government could point to their welfare reforms and house build ing programme to cover up for their total lack of socialist direction. But on foreign affairs thei rucord was totally appalling. The "liberation" of India was a more bending to necessity with partition and massacre as an integral part of Labour's generosity.
The reality was spelt out by an American Secretary of State who, in discussing the Potsdam Conference, said: "Britain's stand on the issues before the Conferancs was not altered in the slightest, so far as we could discern, by the replacement of Mr. Churchill and Mr. Eden by Mr. Attlee and Mr. Bevin." And that is how the Labour Government went on. Bevin showed himself to be one of the most feracious cold war warriors either side of the Atlantic. The pro-Nato policy firmly entrenched Labour as on of American imperialism's most reliable allies, From Berlin to Korea, Labour stood firm for peace. freedom and profits. Over the Korean war, Morrison lined up with the most extreme of American hawks and agreed to support an sible to separate out an aggressively right-wing at home. A massive rearmament policy at the time of Korea logically led to Gaitskell's budget of Spring 1951 and a balance of payments deficit of over [400m. The budget raised an extra E700m in taxation to pay for rearmament. Once again the working class were soaked, The National Health Service was savaged as charges were imposed. Labourism was not, from that moment, even welfarism. The high tide of -retormism was over What Is the balance sheet of the 45-51 Labour Government? Its most lasting contribution was to put a shaken British capitalism back on its feet. An export trade of E920m in 194G had been expanded to E2254m in 1950. The initial work of the Labour Government in economic planning and even nationalisation was welcomed by such influential bourgeois spokesmen as Lord Chandos and Lord Kilmuir. It was not until the proposed steel nationalisation that the FBI decided that further taxation, welfare and nationalisation might in any way disturb the balance of capitalist power.
The whole experience of this period verifies that the role of reformism is not to weaken but to strengthen capitalism. It woul be totally faise, however, to imagine that large sectors of the working class saw through the Labour Party. In fact voting figures, admittedly not a very satisfactory measure of conscious. ness, show that the Labour Party won 12 millio votes in 1945 and 14 million in 1951. Those Marxists who, fatally underestimating the ideo logical hold of Labourism, saw Labour as a "Kerensky goverment" that would be tossed aside by the workers, paid a heavy price in Terms of their ineffectiveness and the defections to the Right that they suffered, Equally, the proposition that the logic of events and long resolutions from the wards would expose Social-Democracy was discredited. Marxists, while rationally and soberly understanding the strength of Labourism, have themselves to combat Social-Democracy by explaining the role of the Labour Party in specific and non abstract way and by leading struggles that concretely pose an alternative in practice to reformism.
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dustry that was potentially profit-making and that was on the nationalisation "shopping list"