POLI20532 Course Outline 1112 - School of Social Sciences

H.L. Smith
Andrew Thorpe
Jim Tomlinson
POLI20532: Course Guide 2011-12
'Women in the Second World War' in H.L. Smith
(ed.), War and Social Change (1986), pp. 66-89.
Parties at War: political organisation in Second
World War Britain (2009). (Esp ‘Introduction’ for an
overview of key debates.)
‘Planning: debate and policy in the 1940s’,
Twentieth Century British History vol 3 no 2 (1992).
(ii)
The 1945 election
Contemporary Record
Vol, 9 no. 1 (1995), ‘Symposium: the 1945 election’,
has four articles on the different parties incl Stephen
Brooke, ‘The Labour party and the 1945 general
election’, Contemporary Record, 9, 1, pp. 1-21
Steven Fielding
'What did "the People" Want? The meaning of the
1945 General Election', Historical Journal 35 (1992).
(Strongest version of the case against wartime
radicalisation.)
Norman Howard A New Dawn - The General Election of 1945 (2005)
R McCallum & A Readman The British General Election of 1945 (1947).
Kevin. Morgan
‘Away from party and into “the party”:
communism in Britain and the election of 1945’,
Socialist History, 37 (2010), pp. 73-5 (on Blackboard).
(Takes issue with Fielding’s interpretation of the
Liberal and Labour vote and argues that Labour voters
were at least as likely to defect to the communists as
the Liberals).
2.5 Essay preparation
‘Consensus is a mirage, an illusion which rapidly fades the closer one gets to it’ (B. Pimlott).
Does the idea of a wartime consensus culminating in Labour’s election victory fade the closer
you get to it?
This question focuses on the emergence of a new politicak consensus and the so-called ‘road
to 1945’. It is commonly recognised that a Labour victory could not have been anticipated
before the outbreak of war; consideration of Labour’s electoral breakthrough therefore offers
a way of exploring wider changes in the politics and society in wartime Britain. Key issues
and interpretations are introduced in the lecture and an effective answer will show an
awareness of competing interpretations and the ability to harness appropriate empirical
evidence in evaluating ths character and significance of wartime radicalisation. Addison has
been the most influential exponent of the idea of a wartime consensus, but it has been much
contested in a particularly extensive literature. Rather than try to skim over too much may be
better to identify key issues or debates offering insight and support for your arguments – but
be sure these are clearly located within a broader context and related to the question. Detailed
narrative for its own sake should be avoided.
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