Posted: 7/15/2017
Introduction
This is not an exhaustive or complete attempt to describe how socialism came to dominate in the UK in the 20th century. This is more a work in progress.
Motivation
Why did the United Kingdom, of all countries, had such a severe and lasting tryst with socialism, sadly enduring to this day, in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
The UK was the birthplace of classical liberalism and Scottish enlightenment in the 18th century. By the 20th century or so the UK increasingly turned towards socialism.
Evidence Of Socialism
The much acclaimed, but infamous socialist Beveridge Report of 1942. This report is said to have laid the groundwork for introducing a massive welfare state in the UK.
The UK established the government run, socialist National Health Services in 1948. Why this abominable NHS has never been repealed since then is even more disturbing. Not even the Third Churchill government (first purely conservative too) from 1951 - 55 was not able or willing to dismantle this socialism when it was perhaps doable without the usual, but not yet entrenched, interests to defend it. The NHS is proud to employ more than 1.5 million people “putting it in the top five of the world’s largest workforces” (Source).
A timeline of significant nationalizations in the UK:
1927: British Broadcasting Corporation (aka BBC)
1933: London transport
1939: British Airways
1946: Coal industry
1946: Bank of England
1948: National rail, inland (not marine) water transport, some road haulage, some road passenger transport and Thomas Cook & Son under the British Transport Commission. Separate elements operated as British Railways, British Road Services, and British Waterways
And more
Reasons For This Socialism
I am still baffled!
A brief list of some reasons:
- Influence of Karl Marx, who emigrated to London. His comrade in arms Friedrich Engels was a British industrialist
- Influence of the socialist Fabian Society
- Influence of John Maynard Keynes
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