Details

What about the workers?


What about the workers?

The Conservative Party and the organised working class in British politics
New Perspectives on the Right, Band 15

von: Andrew Taylor, Richard Hayton

35,99 €

Verlag: Manchester University Press
Format: EPUB
Veröffentl.: 27.04.2021
ISBN/EAN: 9781526103635
Sprache: englisch
Anzahl Seiten: 280

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Beschreibungen

The relationship between the Conservative Party and the organised working class is fundamental to the making of modern British politics. The organised working class, though always a minority, was perceived by Conservatives as a challenge and many union members dismissed the Conservatives as the bosses’ party. Why, throughout its history, was the Conservative Party seemingly accommodating towards the organised working class that it ideology would seem to permit? And why, in the space of a relatively few years in the 1970s and 1980s, did it abandon this heritage? For much of its history party leaders calculated they had more to gain from inclusion but during the 1980s Conservative governments marginalised the organised working class to a degree that not so very long ago would have been thought inconceivable.
This book explores the long-term relationship between the Conservative Party, trade unions, and the organised working class. It focuses on the question of why the Conservative Party for much of its history sought to accommodate the unions and why in the 1970s and 1980s it adopted a policy of excluding the unions.
Introduction 1 A strong taste for the despotism of numbers? 2 Peace and good will? 3 We shall get their help 4 War, conservatism and union power 5 Milk and water socialism? 6 The smack of firm government? 7 Confronting the British disease? 8 The enemy within Conclusions Bibliography Index
Andrew Taylor is Emeritus Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield
The relationship between the Conservative Party and the organised working class is fundamental to the making of modern British politics. Industrialisation and urbanisation saw the emergence of democracy and class politics, symbolised, by the development of trade unions, which assumed growing political significance. The organised working class, though always a minority, was perceived by Conservatives as a challenge; condemned as threatening property, and as harbingers of socialism. Many trade union members dismissed the Conservatives as the bosses’ party, ever-ready to restrict the unions’ freedom in the interests of profit. However, at the book’s core is a puzzle: why, throughout its history, was the Conservative Party seemingly accommodating towards the organised working class that it ideology, social composition, and the preferences of most Conservatives would seem to permit? And why, in the space of a relatively few years in the 1970s and 1980s, did it abandon this heritage? In addressing this puzzle the book argues that throughout its history the Conservative Party has faced a broad strategic choice with respect to the organised working class of either exclusion or inclusion. For much of its history party leaders calculated, despite scepticism and even downright hostility from the party, they had more to gain from inclusion but, notwithstanding, the organised working class was always regarded with suspicion. Currently, the concept of the organised working class plays no role in Conservative politics. The organised working class have been marginalised to a degree that not so very long ago would have been thought inconceivable.

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