New Concerns: Attlee and the Depression, 1931–5

Abstract

When examining Attlee and the Labour Party’s response to the Depression, it is necessary to consider the two planes on which this response was debated. There was the party policy debate, conducted within Labour’s ranks, dealing with the questions raised by nationalization, constitutional reform and planning. There were also the practical political debates of parliamentary Opposition, between the PLP and the government, which addressed the Household Means Test, the taxation of co-operatives, trade policy, the treatment of the unemployed and exchange control. It is here argued that the party made considerable progress in its policy debate, even if that debate was not fully resolved; also that despite its small numbers, the PLP offered a determined opposition to government policy, and was occasionally rewarded with minor victories.