Abstract
In this chapter I will use two local case studies to examine the reasons why the Labour Party became a mass political party between 1914 and 1939.1 The speed of Labour’s growth was in many respects remarkable. Having only won a small proportion of the vote before the First World War, it was in a position to form a government (albeit briefly) in 1924, and by 1929 it won 35 per cent of the vote, 287 seats and formed a government as the largest single party. Even after a major setback in 1931, when the split between the Prime Minister MacDonald and the rest of the Party saw Labour win only 50 seats, by 1935 it had once again secured 35 per cent of the popular vote.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allen, C. R. (1951) ‘The Growth of Industry on Trading Estates 1920–1939 with Particular Reference to the Slough Trading Estate’, Oxford Economic Papers, 3.
Braybon, G. (1980) Women Workers in the First World War (London: Croom Helm).
Burgess, K. (1980) The Challenge of Labour (London: Croom Helm).
Chegwidden, T. and Myrddin-Evans, G. (1934) The Employment Exchange Service of Great Britain (London: Macmillan).
Clarke, P. F. (1971) Lancashire and the New Liberalism (Cambridge University Press).
Cole, G. D. H. (1948) A Short History of the Labour Party from 1914 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
Cook, C. (1975) ‘Liberals, Labour and Local Elections’, in C. Cook and G. Peele (eds), The Politics of Reappraisal (London: Macmillan).
Cronin, J. (1984) Labour and Society in Britain 1918–1979 (London: Batsford).
Eagger, A. (1965) Venture in Industry: The Slough Industrial Health Service (London: Lloyd Duke).
Franklin, M. (1985) The Decline of Class Voting in Britain (Oxford: Clarendon).
Hinton, J. (1983) Labour and Socialism (Brighton: Wheatsheaf).
Hobsbawm, E.J. (1964) Labouring Men (London: Allen & Unwin).
Joyce, P. (1980) Work, Society and Politics (Brighton: Harvester).
Kirk, N. (1983) The Growth of Working Class Reformism in Mid-Victorian England (London: Croom Helm).
Mark-Lawson, J. (1987) unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Social Policy, University of Lancaster.
Mark-Lawson, J., Savage, M. and Warde, A. (1985) ‘Gender and Local Politics: Struggles over Welfare 1918–1939’, in L. Murgatroyd et al., Localities, Class and Gender (London: Pion).
Melling, J. (1983) Rent Strike: People’s Struggles for Housing in Industrial Scotland (Edinburgh: Polygon).
Miller, W. (1977) Electoral Dynamics in Britain since 1918 (London: Macmillan).
Pelling, H. (1968) A Short History of the Labour Party (London: Penguin).
Price, R. (1986) Labour and Society (London: Croom Helm).
Reid, A. (1985) ‘Politics and the Division of Labour 1880–1920’, in H. Momsen and H. Huring (eds), The Development of Trade Unionism in Great Britain and Germany (London: Allen & Unwin).
Saunders, P. (1984) ‘Beyond Housing Classes’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Reasearch, Vol. 8, No. 2.
Saunders, P. (1986) Social Theory and the Urban Question (2nd edn) (London: Hutchinson).
Savage; M. (1987) The Dynamics of Working Class Politics: The Labour Movement in Preston 1880–1940 (Cambridge University Press).
Savage, M. (1988a) ‘Women’s Work in the Lancashire Cotton Industry’, in J. Jowitt and A. Mclvor (eds), Employers and Labour in the English Textile Industries 1850–1939 (London: Routledge).
Savage, M. (1988b) ‘Trade Unionism, Sex Segregation and the State: Women’s Employment in ‘New Industries’ in Inter-War Britain’, Social History, Vol. 13, No. 2.
Savage, M. (1988c) ‘The Social Bases of Labour Politics in Britain 1919–1939’, Occasional Paper, No. 14, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey.
Shepherd, J. and Halstead, J. (1979), ‘Labour’s Municipal Election Performance in England and Wales 1900–1913’, Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, No. 39.
Slough Observer various.
TUC (various), correspondence to the TUC organisational committee on unionisation in Slough.
Thane, P. (1985) ‘The Labour Party and State Welfare’, in K. D. Brown (ed), The First Labour Party 1906–1910 (London: Croom Helm).
Urry, J. (1981) The Anatomy of Capitalist Societies (Basingstoke: Macmillan).
Walby, S. (1986) Patriarchy at Work (Cambridge: Polity).
Whiting, R. (1985) The View from Cowley (Oxford: Clarendon).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1990 British Sociological Association
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Savage, M. (1990). Urban Politics and the Rise of the Labour Party, 1919–39. In: Jamieson, L., Corr, H. (eds) State, Private Life and Political Change. Explorations in Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20707-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20707-7_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-49369-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20707-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)