The radicalization of the British working class, 1910--1926 and the impact of the Russian Revolution.
Item
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Title
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The radicalization of the British working class, 1910--1926 and the impact of the Russian Revolution.
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Identifier
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AAI3214532
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identifier
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3214532
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Creator
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Lang, Carol.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Timothy Alborn
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Date
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2006
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, European
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Abstract
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There is probably no period in British working class history when there has been a higher degree of class struggle or a greater possibility of revolutionary change than in the period just preceding World War I and its aftermath. British workers' hopes were raised through the events of the war that so markedly changed the British economy; the mere trade union consciousness that existed in the mid-19th century had been transformed into the belief that workers' control of industry was not only a possibility but the only rational way to run the economy. The government had nationalized industry and millions of women had entered the workforce swelling the ranks with workers that had not previously worked in heavy industry. While British workers initially supported the war, its carnage ultimately reduced their support for it and thus by 1916 the government was forced to introduce conscription undermining workers' already shrinking support. The combined affects of profiteering, conscription, "nationalization" of some kind, and the Russian Revolution so radicalized British workers that the government, forced into action, had developed its own plan to maintain this anger by either attempting to buy off the leadership through the offer of cabinet posts or, when necessary, imposed a more draconian course of action including surveillance of workers meetings, censorship of their press, or by attacking demonstrations with military force. Class struggle which had been a constant in the factories before the war was stifled, at least at the beginning of it, once again became a commonplace. Politics became the purview of workers who had not previously entered the political arena and for many who had traditionally been militant and class conscious the war and the subsequent Russian Revolution brought the question of who rules the society into sharp focus. The Russian Revolution had spurted the world's working classes into action, especially into defense of the revolution. Nowhere was this felt as strongly as among British workers since Great Britain led the counterrevolutionary offensive. This process culminated in the events leading up to and including the General Strike of 1926 and as a consequence its defeat led to tremendous repression against the workers and an attempt to punish them for this steady period of class struggle.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
