British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945-1964

218 Pages·1.909 MB·English

by  Conservative Party (Great Britain), Dorey, Peter

British Conservatism and Trade
Unionism, 1945–1964
Peter Dorey
British Conservatism and trade Unionism,
1945–1964
modern economic and social history series
General editor: derek h. aldcroft
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British Conservatism and trade
Unionism, 1945–1964
Peter dorey
Cardiff University, UK
© Peter dorey 2009
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Peter dorey has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act,
1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing Limited ashgate Publishing Company
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
dorey, Peter, 1959–
British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964 1. Conservative Party (Great
Britain) – history – 20th century 2. Labor unions – Great Britain – history – 20th century
3. Labor unions – Government policy – Great Britain – history – 20th century 4. Great
Britain – Politics and government – 1945–1964
i. title
331.8’8’0941’09045
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
dorey, Peter, 1959–
British conservatism and trade unionism, 1945–1964 / Peter dorey.
p. cm. – (modern economic and social history)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-0-7546-6659-2 (alk. paper)
1. Conservatism–Great Britain–history–20th century. 2. Conservative Party (Great
Britain)–history–20th century. 3. Labor unions–Great Britain–Political activity–history–
20th century. 4. Labor policy–Great Britain–history–20th century. 5. Great Britain–Politics
and government–1945–1964. i. title.
JC573.2.G7d67 2009
322’.2094109045–dc22
2008043880
isBn 978 0 7546 6659 2
Contents
List of Tables vii
General Editor’s Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
introduction 1
1 Conservatism and trade Unionism prior to 1945 5
2 Preparing a voluntarist approach, 1945–1951 37
3 voluntarism in Practice, 1951–1960 63
4 in defence of Free Collective Bargaining, 1951–1960 93
5 voluntarism under strain, 1960–1964 117
6 towards incomes Policies, 1960–1964 149
Conclusion 167
Bibliography 187
Index 195
This page has been left blank intentionally
List of tables
3.1 strike activity in Britain 1946–56 78
3.2 days lost (per 1,000 employees) due to strike action in
main industries 79
4.1 Prices and earnings 1951–59 (% increase per annum) 98
5.1 strikes commencing in each year, 1959–64 118
5.2 number of trade unions and total trade union membership 1959–63 119
5.3 membership of 10 largest trade unions, 1945 and 1963 120
This page has been left blank intentionally
modern economic and social
history series
General editor’s Preface
Economic and social history has been a flourishing subject of scholarly study during
recent decades. not only has the volume of literature increased enormously but the
range of interest in time, space and subject matter has broadened considerably
so that today there are many sub-branches of the subject which have developed
considerable status in their own right.
one of the aims of this series is to encourage the publication of scholarly
monographs on any aspect of modern economic and social history. the
geographical coverage is world-wide and contributions on the non-British themes
will be especially welcome. While emphasis will be placed on works embodying
original research, it is also intended that the series should provide the opportunity
to publish studies of a more general thematic nature which offer a reappraisal or
critical analysis of major issues of debate.
derek h. aldcroft
University of Leicester