BIF7 REVISION
Who were the four Prime Ministers between 1964 and 1979?
Harold Wilson (1964–70), Edward Heath (1970–74), Harold Wilson again (1974–76), James Callaghan (1976–79)
What is the "declinist" historiographical tradition in relation to the 1970s?
A body of contemporary and later historiography that interprets the 1970s as a period of genuine crisis, democratic deficit, and economic emergency — the view that Britain experienced real and sustained decline
What is Tomlinson's critique of "declinism"?
Tomlinson argues that "declinism" was largely an invention of contemporary media and politicians, and that the idea of pervasive, continuous economic decline in Britain is misleading — crises were often exaggerated or constructed
What were the two factions dividing the Labour Party in the 1950s?
The Bevanites (Labour left, led by Aneurin Bevan) and the Gaitskellites (Labour right/revisionists, led by Hugh Gaitskell)
What were the main positions of the Bevanites?
Further nationalisation, opposition to rearmament, anti-Americanism, nuclear unilateralism, and grassroots party democracy; they believed the 1945 government had not gone far enough
What was Crosland's key intellectual contribution for the Gaitskellites?
In The Future of Socialism (1956), Crosland argued that Marxist analysis and further nationalisation were irrelevant to modern conditions — prosperity could be addressed through taxation, spending, and education without public ownership
What did Gaitskell attempt to do to Labour's constitution after the 1959 election defeat?
He attempted to abolish Clause IV (the commitment to common ownership), arguing it was an electoral liability — he failed
How many working days were lost to strikes in 1972 and 1979 respectively?
23.9 million working days in 1972, and 29.5 million in 1979
What did Heath's "Who governs Britain?" election in February 1974 arise from?
The collapse of his government following confrontation with the National Union of Miners and the unworkability of the Industrial Relations Act (1971)
What was the "Social Contract"?
The agreement between the Labour government (elected in 1974) and the trade unions, aiming for voluntary wage restraint and cooperation in exchange for social and economic policy favourable to labour
What does Dorey argue about the Conservative "Stepping Stones Programme"?
Dorey argues it was a strategic communications plan — developed by John Hoskyns, Norman Strauss, and Keith Joseph — deliberately designed to "yoke together" Labour, socialism, and union leaders as the cause of British decline, and to portray Conservatives as workers' liberators
What effect did the Winter of Discontent (1978–79) have on the Stepping Stones Programme?
It delivered precisely the public crisis Stepping Stones needed, "saving the programme from oblivion" and fatally undermining Labour's central electoral claim that only it could manage the unions
What does Tomlinson argue about Labour's Counter-Inflation Publicity Unit campaigns of 1975–76?
He argues that Labour's own rhetoric of "fairness" and "wage restraint" unintentionally directed public blame toward organised labour, embedding the belief that unions were responsible for national hardship and strengthening anti-union sentiment
What is Murden's argument about the motor industry strikes of the 1960s–70s?
He argues that the concept of "parity" — fair comparison between pay levels of different worker grades — was the crucial framework that mobilised workers behind strike action, and that grievances were moral (about fairness) as much as economic
What does Saunders argue about the cultural logic of strikes?
He argues strikes cannot be understood purely as mirrors of wider political change — they were "painstakingly built workshop by workshop," rooted in shared cultural values of group autonomy, direct democracy, and fairness, containing considerable cultural content
What is Mustchin's argument about right-wing pressure groups and trade unions?
He argues that groups like the Aims of Industry (AoI), NAFF, and the IEA played a significant but overlooked role in shaping anti-union ideology, and that historiography underemphasises their material influence and propaganda/lobbying capacity
What does Phillips argue was the driving force behind the 1972 miners' strike?
Phillips argues the strike's success was driven by popular agency and rank-and-file members, not top-down union militancy — support was nearly total despite 40% initially voting against, and picketing was directed locally
What is Phillips's "moral economy" framework for industrial relations?
Drawing on E.P. Thompson, Phillips argues industrial relations are best understood through a "moral economy" — activism occurs when communal norms about employment, security, and fairness are violated, rather than out of purely economic calculation
What does Wrigley argue about British trade unions in an international context?
He argues British unions were no "worse" than their international counterparts — the problems were common to most industrial powers, and the media significantly talked up the salience of strikes and demonised unions
What does Davis argue caused the rise of the "New Left" in inner London?
He argues de-industrialisation of inner London created a political vacuum filled by a radical New Left, as younger working-class people moved to new towns, leaving inner-city Labour parties with ageing, conservative leadership
What is the overall argument of Melling and Booth about trade union sectionalism?
They argue the difficulties of British industrial relations were frequently exaggerated — employer resistance and state failure to build effective corporatist structures were at least equally responsible for breakdown, and unions demonstrated far greater flexibility than the declinist narrative acknowledged
What is Meredith's argument about the split within Labour Party revisionism in the 1970s?
He argues a split emerged between an "egalitarian" strand (Crosland) committed to equality as the organising principle, and an emerging "liberal" strand (Jenkins) that prioritised wealth creation, sound economic management, and individual freedom — the latter prefigured the SDP and New Labour
What was the Alternative Economic Strategy (AES)?
A left-wing Labour economic programme advocated by Tony Benn in the 1970s–80s, proposing widespread nationalisation, import controls, capital controls, and industrial intervention as an alternative to Keynesianism and IMF austerity
What does Jobson argue about the role of nostalgia in Labour politics?
He argues that nostalgia — rooted in attachment to a heroic working-class past — shaped key Labour decisions: it mobilised the party to protect Clause IV in 1959–60 and shaped the AES's backward-looking industrial focus, contributing to the catastrophic 1983 defeat
What does Steadman Jones argue Labour needed in 1983?
He argues Labour failed to reconstruct a social alliance between professional and working classes — it needed to write a new narrative rather than rely on archaic political discourse centred on "white male organized workers"
What does Jackson argue about the neo-liberal framework for understanding trade unions?
He argues neo-liberals deliberately "bracketed off" the non-economic functions of unions (collective voice, democratic protection), relied on a priori models rather than systematic data, and used monetarism to bypass union negotiations entirely
What does Callaghan argue about the CPGB's industrial strategy?
He argues the CPGB appeared most powerful precisely when it was structurally weakest — high-profile industrial influence masked catastrophic membership decline and the collapse of its grassroots factory base
What was the Lib-Lab Pact (1977)?
A parliamentary agreement between Callaghan's Labour government and David Steel's Liberal Party, providing Labour with stability to avoid a vote of no confidence — born of political necessity rather than ideological convergence
What does Kirkup argue about the significance of the Lib-Lab Pact?
He argues it was a success for Callaghan short-term, allowing economic policies to bear fruit, but it had little significance for the broader Labour movement and failed to marginalise the Labour left, merely delaying their influence until after 1979
Who was Reg Prentice and why is he historically significant?
Prentice was the highest-ranking postwar politician to defect from Labour to the Conservatives, serving as a Labour Cabinet minister before crossing the floor — his defection acted as a "weathervane" for the sea change toward Thatcherism and pre-empted the SDP split
What is Jim Alt's argument in The Politics of Economic Decline?
Alt argues that British economic decline shaped, and was shaped by, a distinctive popular political culture — public concern with the economy doubled from 40% to 80% in the 1970s, and because this occurred during active economic management, people blamed government failure for economic problems
What is Tomlinson's argument in "Inventing Decline"?
He argues that "declinism" originated in the late 1950s–early 1960s as a political invention — driven by comparative statistics from international bodies like the OEEC, used politically by Labour as a weapon, and representing relative rather than absolute decline
What does Rogers argue about the sterling crises of 1975–76?
Rogers argues that sterling depreciation was often part of a preconceived strategy — the "core executive" deliberately allowed or engineered the fall to justify unpopular deflationary policies, using "market forces" as a shield against political accountability
What was the "Social Contrick"?
Rogers's characterisation of the Labour government's strategy of using exaggerated or engineered economic crises to justify abandoning the Social Contract's commitments — a strategy of "preference-shaping depoliticisation"
What does O'Hara argue about Wilson's incomes policy (1964–70)?
He argues it failed due to ideological confusion and contradictory objectives — the policy began as a voluntary social bargain but recurring sterling crises forced statutory freezes, destroying trust and shifting the policy from planning to mere demand management
What does Wass argue about the 1976 IMF crisis?
He argues it was primarily a crisis of confidence rather than fundamental economic failure — the Treasury believed public borrowing was already under control, and the expenditure cuts demanded by the IMF were symbolic rather than economically necessary
What does Morgan argue about the Callaghan government's economic record?
Morgan identifies the Callaghan government as particularly effective — it simultaneously reduced inflationary pressures and unemployment while the pound rose, challenging the narrative of the IMF loan as a decisive humiliation
What do Artis, Cobham and Wickham-Jones argue about the IMF crisis?
They argue the key policy shifts had already been adopted before the 1976 crisis peaked, less than half the loan was ever drawn upon, and the crisis had an element of "overkill" — it confirmed the end of postwar growth expectations more than representing a genuine emergency
What do Phillips, Tomlinson and Wright argue about the Linwood Car Plant and Scottish politics?
They argue Scotland's decline in Conservative voting and rise in demands for constitutional change developed prior to and independently of Thatcher — driven by the popular moral economy of Scottish workers demanding that industrial restructuring maintain communal security
What does King argue about British "ungovernability" in 1976?
Writing in 1976, King argues that the economic crisis of the 1960s had become a crisis of the polity by the 1970s — but he caveats that talk of the end of liberal democracy is premature, and blames "the system" rather than any single party or institution
What does James argue in "Bound in History"?
He argues that Thatcherism and even New Labour were underpinned by a right-wing meta-narrative about the 1970s centred on the Winter of Discontent — reality was often distorted (only one-sixth of lorry drivers actually refused to work) to amplify the sense of crisis
What does Middleton argue about Samuel Brittan?
He argues Brittan is routinely misrepresented as a New Right ideologue when he was actually an independent liberal public intellectual — his journalism about "democratic overload" reached elite audiences more effectively than think-tanks, helping undermine Keynesian consensus
What was Brittan's "overload thesis"?
He argued that liberal representative democracy contains inherent contradictions — electoral pressures compel governments to satisfy ever-expanding public expectations which inevitably collide with economic constraints, placing an unsustainable burden on the state's "sharing out" function
What does Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Thomlinson argue about the Decline of Deference?
They argue that class remained a defining theme in English culture but society became less deferential and more individualistic — importantly, this individualism predated Thatcher rather than being caused by her
What is Pemberton's argument about 1960s tax policy?
He argues taxation shifted from revenue-raising to an active instrument of "Keynesian-plus" interventionism aimed at reversing economic decline — but the project lacked coherence due to adversarial politics, budget secrecy, and fragmented institutions
What did the Tomlinson argue about the relationship between Labour and the City of London?
Tomlinson argues there was almost uninterrupted and bitter clashes between Labour governments and the City between 1964–70, rather than subservience — Labour's defence of sterling parity was an internally generated strategy based on Commonwealth ties, not capitulation to financial interests
What does Tomlinson argue about the relationship between Labour's modernisation agenda and public opinion in 1964?
He argues there was a fundamental disparity — Labour (and the Conservatives) treated economic growth as a "valence" issue everyone agreed on, but the public was not inherently committed to growth and many prioritised economic stability, full employment, and housing over disruptive modernisation
What was the Industrial Relations Act (1971) and what happened to it?
Heath's legislation that sought to curb union power by making collective agreements legally binding — it backfired, fostering confrontation within the labour movement, and its unworkability contributed directly to Heath calling the "Who governs Britain?" election in 1974
What does Saunders argue about the bureaucratisation of shop steward movements by the late 1970s?
He argues there was a growing gap between senior convenors (who gained facility time for management consultations) and ordinary members, undermining the capacity for sustained resistance as economic conditions worsened — this led to shorter, more localised strikes
What does Jackson argue Peter Jay claimed about trade unions and democracy?
Jay argued that free collective bargaining was incompatible with democracy, full employment, and stable prices — suggesting that the political power of unions threatened the survival of British democracy itself
What was the NAFF and what did it do?
The National Association for Freedom, founded 1975 — a pro-free-market pressure group that engaged in propaganda, funded legal challenges against strikers, provided strikebreaking postal services during the Grunwick dispute (1976–78), and represented the broader New Right assault on union power
What did the 1976 amendment to the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act represent for the Labour government?
It led to allegations of weakness — combined with the Winter of Discontent, it contributed to the image that Labour could not control the unions even on its own terms, undermining its central electoral claim
What does Hobsbawm argue in "The Forward March of Labour Halted?" about trade unions in the late 1970s?
Hobsbawm argued that union militancy had become purely "economistic" rather than genuinely political — a critique echoed by others who saw shorter, localised strikes as reflecting the fragmentation of a coherent labour movement
What happened at the Grunwick dispute (1976–78)?
South Asian women workers campaigned for union recognition at a photo-processing plant in London — Phillips reads it as workers framing their struggle as a pursuit of justice and "workplace voice"; right-wing groups like NAFF funded legal challenges against them
How did the CPGB's membership change between 1968 and 1979 despite its industrial visibility?
Despite peak industrial visibility between 1968–74, Party membership fell from 33,734 to 20,599 by 1979, factory branches declined by 31% between 1963–68, and Communists were electorally marginal — 98 of 100 candidates lost their deposits in 1951
What does the Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Thomlinson analysis of Tyneside Shipbuilders (1968–71) reveal?
Most workers self-identified as working class but associated "class" with negative moral distinctions like snobbery which they rejected — commitment to Labour was beginning to erode, and industrial militancy could be seen as stemming from collapse of deference rather than class consciousness
What does Tomlinson argue about how Labour's incomes policy affected public attitudes to unions?
By treating union cooperation as the key to economic stability, Labour unintentionally made union defiance synonymous with governmental failure — the Counter-Inflation Publicity Unit embedded the belief that unions were responsible for national hardship
What does Alt argue about how Britain's genuine economic problems manifested in popular culture?
He argues the 1970s saw historically unprecedented peacetime inflation averaging 16.4% between 1973–75, peaking at 27%, coinciding with a £3.3 billion balance of payments deficit in 1974 and rising unemployment — making popular fear rooted in real conditions, not just media construction
What is the historiographical debate about the early Women's Liberation Movement?
Early historians like Bouchier and Campbell focused on national trajectories and the rise and fall of the WLM, potentially downplaying concerns with selfhood. Bruley, Delap and others emphasise the local and diverse nature of the movement instead.
What is the older (Marwick/Mitchell) view on WW1 and women's emancipation?
That WW1 brought meaningful female emancipation — war work and sacrifice justified enfranchisement
What is the 1980s–90s consensus (Braybon/Pugh) on WW1 and gender?
That WW1 was not a turning point — a post-war backlash reasserted traditional gender roles, reinforced by the Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act (1919), the marriage bar, and restrictive benefit policies
What is Bingham's argument about the "backlash model" of post-WW1 gender history?
He argues the backlash model is too blunt — it obscures real changes in leisure, fashion, sexuality and youth culture; a "new modern femininity" was also being articulated, especially by the press
What does Pugh argue about WW1 and female employment?
He argues WW1 accelerated female employment out of necessity rather than feminist intent, with a true net increase of 1,259,000 but with 5/6 women still doing "women's work" by the war's end; the 1918 Act was partly driven by the need to reform the franchise for demobilised men
What does the "long sexual revolution" thesis argue against the idea of a "permissive 1960s"?
It argues that sexual change was a long, uneven process stretching back to the 1880s or earlier — the 1960s built on foundations already laid in the 1940s–50s and were not a decisive break
What does Bingham argue about the press and the sexual revolution?
He argues the 1940s–50s were the pivotal decades — the 1942 Daily Mirror VD campaign was a turning point, and the 1950s saw pin-ups, celebrity revelations, the Wolfenden Committee, and the launch of ITV, all of which the 1960s built upon
What does Brooke argue was the real mainspring of sexual political change?
He argues that the campaign for reproductive control was fundamentally animated by the conditions of working-class life and pursued through socialist and labour politics from the 1880s onwards — the "roads" of the 1940s–50s mattered more than the 1960s moment itself
What does Hera Cook argue about the effects of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s?
She argues the effects were "equivocal, partial and localised" — the pill disproportionately benefited married, middle-class, southern women; many women felt pressured into unwanted sex; for many "the 1960s remained a decade of unfulfilled hopes"
What does Pugh argue about the women's movement's failure to be cross-class?
He argues the movement repeatedly failed to bridge the gap between organised feminism and ordinary women — the non-party strategy became anachronistic, and only 14 women candidates were promoted in both 1924 and 1929
What does Graves argue about women in the Labour Party after 1918?
She argues 100,000 women joined Labour women's sections by 1922, but they were consigned to "separate but equal" subordinate status; feminism became effectively unspeakable within Labour circles, weakening gender-based campaigns
What does Hannam argue about regional variation in the suffrage movement?
She argues local branches were genuinely independent sites of tactical innovation — the NUWSS/WSPU divide was far less sharp in practice regionally, and social composition varied dramatically, with Liverpool's WSPU drawing large numbers of working-class women
What does Stevenson argue about class in the WLM?
She argues the WLM was predominantly middle-class in composition, and that "classism" within it — through informal hierarchies of education, accent, and linguistic confidence — silenced working-class voices and drove them to form splinter groups
What does Bruley argue about the Clapham consciousness-raising group?
She argues the group directly counters the assumption that CR was a middle-class pursuit — comprising working-class women, single mothers, students, and wealthy women, it was demonstrably heterogeneous and transformative across class lines
What do Robinson et al. argue about individualism and the 1970s?
They argue that popular individualism predated and was not caused by Thatcher — it was rooted in social democratic achievements and left-wing politics; the 1970s was a decade of possibility not simply a crisis precursor to Thatcherism
What does Segal argue in "Jam Today"?
She argues that capitalism co-opted feminist demands — what appeared as society's readiness to listen was the reworking of feminist complaints into mainstream incorporation, gutting the movement of its collective character; welfare-based demands grew more remote while professional advancement benefited only a minority
What is Delap's argument about the Edwardian "superwoman"?
She argues the Edwardian feminist concept of the "superwoman" framed emancipation as internal psychological transformation rather than political rights — the Freewoman periodical argued genuine emancipation required changing oneself, not just gaining the vote
What does Hughes argue about 1960s activism in "Young Lives on the Left"?
He argues that 1960s activism was fundamentally shaped by a turn inward — political and personal became inseparable, and activists used radical politics not only to challenge external structures but to construct their own identities
What does Lawrence argue in "Me Me Me" about individualism and community?
He argues individualism and community are "mutually constitutive" rather than opposed — affluence enabled home improvements that turned private spaces into sites of new sociability, and the "new sociability" transformed rather than destroyed social bonds
What is Thane's argument about women and the welfare state?
She argues that the role of women in establishing the British welfare state has been significantly underestimated — Labour women shaped the 1945–51 legislation by prioritising housing, maternity services, and family allowances paid directly to mothers
What does Lewis argue about the campaign for family allowances?
She argues it was a fundamentally feminist project eventually co-opted by the state — the final 1945 legislation failed to value women's unpaid work or challenge the gendered division of labour; the government was converted by wartime inflation concerns, not humanitarianism
What does Bruley argue about the regional/local nature of the WLM?
She argues that a focus on local activism in towns like Bristol, Brighton, Norwich, and Leeds/Bradford reveals a "bottom-up" history showing how local contexts reshaped national feminist characteristics — the history has been too London-centric
What does Zweiniger-Bargielowska argue about women and Conservative electoral success in the 1950s?
She argues the gender gap in voting was decisive — had women voted the same as men, Labour would have remained in power uninterrupted from 1945 to 1964; Conservatives successfully mobilised women through "consumptionist" rhetoric and opposition to austerity
What does Graves argue were women's most concrete political successes in the interwar period?
She argues women's most concrete successes came locally, not nationally — the first Labour women mayors were elected in the interwar period, and local canvassing kept Labour alive at the grassroots
What does Thomlinson argue about race and the Women's Liberation Movement?
She argues the WLM was predominantly "white" not just in membership but also in theory and practice — white feminists often failed to reflect on their own racial privilege and understood Black women through outdated lenses of liberal internationalism
What does Houlbrook argue in "Queer London"?
He argues that the Wolfenden reforms embodied the victory of middle-class, privatised "respectable homosexuality" at the explicit expense of visible, public and working-class queer identities — decriminalisation was simultaneously a story of gain and profound loss
What does Weeks argue about sexual change in "The World We Have Won"?
He argues the sexual revolutions of the 1960s–70s represented a genuine democratisation of personal life — messy, contradictory, and haphazard, but historically significant — connecting women's liberation and gay liberation as parallel processes of self-invention
What does Rowbotham argue about the women's movement's central political battleground?
She argues the movement was fundamentally driven by the demand for bodily autonomy — encapsulated in Jill Rakusen's 1976 slogan "Power over our bodies, power over our lives" — with reproductive control as the central political issue
What is Sutcliffe-Braithwaite and Thomlinson's core argument about working-class women's gender equality discourse?
They argue that working-class women developed their own distinct "vernacular discourse" of gender equality from the late 1950s onwards — predating the post-1968 WLM, centred on autonomy, individuality, voice and respect rather than second-wave feminist concerns
What does Stoller argue about the WLM and the politics of care?
She argues the WLM politicised housework, transforming invisible domestic tasks into a central site of theoretical and political struggle — feminists sought to expose the labour relations permeating intimate life and challenged the "male breadwinner" model of the welfare state
What does Zweiniger-Bargielowska argue about housewifery?
She argues full-time housewifery represented a genuine power base and source of identity for many women, and that housewives' political significance as consumers was a major electoral force — Labour's failure to translate full employment gains into housekeeping money cost them female support
What does McCarthy argue about married women's employment in the 1950s?
She argues the 1950s was not a period of domestic stability but of instability and flux — the growth of married women's work displaced pre-existing gender identities, and work offered financial autonomy and elevated status even if it did not fully end economic dependency
What does Bingham argue about the popular press and the "long sexual revolution"?
He argues the 1940s–50s — not the 1960s — were the pivotal decades; the 1950s emerge as pivotal across multiple fronts — the pin-up became a staple, celebrity revelations proliferated, and public concern stimulated by press coverage directly led to the Wolfenden Committee in 1954
What does Thane argue about what difference the vote made?
She argues that increased gender equality has been achieved only by campaigns, legislation, and positive discrimination — not gradual persuasion — and that the vote's most important effect was enabling women to feel their presence in public life was legitimate
What does Law argue about the women's movement after 1918?
She challenges the assumption that the suffrage movement ended in 1918 — she argues for continuity, with women transitioning from outsiders to political participants and the proliferation of diverse organisations creating an essential network; the interwar period represented the most democratic moment in the women's movement to date
What did the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 do?
It enabled women to enter professions and take up public roles from which they had previously been excluded — though progress was slow; by 1947 women still provided only 25% of magistrates
What does Pugh argue was the nadir of British feminism?
He argues 1945–59 was the quietest era for British feminism — the welfare state satisfied many feminist grievances, married women in employment rose from 10% (1931) to 22% (1951) driven by economic necessity, and feminist leaders like Vera Brittain believed feminist aims had been achieved
What does Bunkle argue about the 1944 Education Act and second-wave feminism?
She argues the educational environment created by the 1944 Act was the primary crucible for the women who articulated second-wave feminism in Britain — "grammar girls" who used literary culture and written word to transform personal experiences into collective political analysis
What does Fisher argue about contraception in the interwar period?
She argues contraception was primarily used for family planning within marriage rather than feminist liberation — the pill's popularity owed as much to conservative women disliking negotiation as to feminist liberation; it only became associated with women's liberation once attitudes radicalised later
What does Hall argue about the long sexual revolution?
She argues sexuality in Britain from 1880 underwent a long, contested and uneven transformation driven by feminist campaigning, scientific discourse, and social purity movements — but change was shaped by class, gender inequality, and the state's interest in national health rather than women's liberation
What does Langhammer argue in "The English in Love"?
She argues an emotional revolution reshaped English understandings of love — shifting from duty and pragmatism toward romantic passion and personal fulfilment — but this revolution was deeply contradictory, generating instability beneath the surface of the "golden age of marriage"
What does Roberts argue about working-class women's relationship to feminism?
She argues poverty, not male oppression, was the primary constraint on working-class women's lives — where women recognised exploitation, they framed it in terms of class conflict rather than gender, and class not sex was the framework for discontent