From the Devil’s Decade to the Golden Age: The Postwar Politics of the Thirties

Abstract

In contrast to the excessive individualism, the ‘devil take the hindmost’ philosophy of the nineteenth century, there has developed a sense of collective responsibility, of caring for the human family, in some ways more akin to medieval ideals …. The years between the wars saw the decay of the old Liberal doctrine of laissez faire. There began to form in the most impartial minds the idea that some form of effective partnership must be found between the State and those involved in production, distribution, and even exchange.