6.4 - the five giants (idleness)

what was idleness?

a lack of gainful employment

idleness was a prevalent issue due to…

the high levels of unemployment during the 1930s

what was labours solution to this?

nationalisation

nationalisation is…

state ownership of industry

not only could this improve employment, it also meant…

the government would receive profits which could be used to pay for the new welfare state

what was the first thing to be nationalised?

the bank of england in 1946

nationalising the bank of england meant that…

money would now be available whenever the government needed it for investment

from 1947 to 1949, what other industries were nationalised?

coal, public transport, gas and electricity

how did nationalisation provide improved quality of services to the public?

as it targeted declining industries and made them more efficient

when did issues begin to arise?

when labour planned to nationalise steel

why was this problematic?

since steel was a prosperous industry, leading many to believe that it should remain privately owned

how did labour overcome this?

by passing the 1949 parliament act

what did this act do?

it reduced the powers of the house of lords and abolished plural voting

was this successful?

no as it only delayed the de-nationalisation of iron and steel, which the conservatives did as soon as they came to power

what was successful/good about nationalisation?

it maintained full employment, moving the uk towards collectivist principles and set the basis for unprecedented economic prosperity up until the 1970s

what evidence is there to suggest that nationalisation was successful?

the fact that unemployment was at 2.5% by 1946, lower than even beveridge predicted

what was unsuccessful/bad about nationalisation?

it was costly as governments had to pay off private businesses, with most of this money coming from american loans

what evidence is there to suggest that nationalisation was unsuccessful?

the fact that unemployment never ended and was arguably delayed until the 70s due to nationalisation