1.3 Society in Transition, 1918-79 PDF

Britain transformed, 1918-97 1.3 Society in transition, 1918-79 Key Questions To what extent did British class structure and social values change 1918-79? In what ways, for what reasons and to what extent did life change for British women, 1918-79? How far di...

Britain transformed, 1918-97 1.3 Society in transition, 1918-79 Key Questions To what extent did British class structure and social values change 1918-79? In what ways, for what reasons and to what extent did life change for British women, 1918-79? How far did relations between Britons and immigrants to Britain change 1918-79? This section considers how far Britain changed in relation to class, social values, gender and race between 1918 and 1979. Society moved from a rigid class structure in the interwar years to greater flexibility in the years following the Second World War, but particularly during the 1960s. Commentators speak of a decline in deference, which not manifested itself in more assertiveness among the middle and lower classes but also a greater readiness to criticise the Establishment, particularly after the 1963 Profumo affair. The 1960s saw legislation to reform previous restrictions in personal lives such as the legalisation of homosexuality and abortion and greater freedom in the media. This provoked a reaction from critics such as Mary Whitehouse and her supporters. Women fought for more equality, although they discovered that winning the vote on equal terms with men in 1928 did not necessarily lead to greater opportunities. Their role in political life remained comparatively small, and whereas they faced enhanced employment opportunities during the wars, these were rescinded by the return of peace. Although the government passed equal pay legislation and made sexual discrimination illegal in the 1970s, women still often faced discrimination. Second wave feminism emerged as a reaction to continuing inequalities and morphed into a greater awareness of unfair treatment within the family. Women’s groups, meanwhile, took the initiative in the fight against issues such as domestic violence and rape. The period saw Britain become a more multi-racial society, although black and Asian people often faced discrimination in all walks of life, especially in the interwar period and into the 1950s when an unofficial colour bar operated. However, the need for cheap labour in the post-war period saw a massive rise in the 1960s and 1970s to outlaw discrimination. Many black and Asian people took the initiative to fight against unfair treatment and assert their right to be treated as equals in practice as well as in law. Introduction  Self-classification was straightforward in pre-industrial Britain, most people aware of their ‘rank’ within their locality base on comparisons of wealth, power, lifestyle and occupation.  The aristocracy = greater geographical mobility and experience of wielding power = strong class identity.  Industrialization = growth of mass communication, newspapers, education, trade unions and political parties = enabled those lower down the social scale to think about and identify with a wider community of people of their rank.  Popular ‘class consciousness’ emerged = cultural phenomenon that built on earlier notions of rank: two people can have the same amount of income but their aspirations, education, dress, leisure pursuits, church attendances and choice of newspaper mark out the middle-class to the working-class = socio-cultural self-definition  1918 = number of factors have affected class structure and the self-identification of British people within that structure  1979 = more people identified themselves as middle class because of the growth in average wealth and income and rise of ‘white-collar’ jobs.  Technological change, cheaper consumer goods and the growth of disposable income = enabled a lot of people to enjoy similar fashions or leisure pursuits = things identified as only middle-class in 1918 1  Rise of mass education and welfare = social mobility and blurred class boundaries before 1979  Mass media democratized British society through its promotion of ‘ordinary’ celebrities and satire aimed at traditional elite figures - politicians.  Some people feared this rapid change and saw the breakdown of old ideas as a moral decline.  Some commentators in the 1950s and 1960s deplored the way in which British youth in particular seemed to copy the ‘consumer society’ values in the USA.  They feared for a society that abandoned supposed pre-war values of decorum, respect and solid tradition for novelty, liberality and instant gratification  Many blamed media for forcing change  In reality, changes in British values and attitudes were not as rapid as these commentators suggested, neither were they primarily driven by mass media.  Large sections of British society had become more ‘permissive’ by 1979, but this was more due to increased wealth, new technology and legislation than to rock’n’roll. To what extent did British class structure and social values change between 1918 and 1979? This chapter examines these changes in attitudes and values through the following sections:  Class, social change and the impact of wars, 1918-51  The emergence of a ‘liberal society’ and its opponents, 1951-79  Opponents of the liberal society, 1951-79 Class, social change and the impact of wars, 1918-51 The upper class  Briton’s read about upper-class society in the Express and Daily Mail  Distinguished from the rest by their huge wealth, large landownership, their dress, education and exciting social calendar, called ‘the Season’. The Season was divided between country pursuits such as hunting and shooting from autumn through to spring and a series of sporting and cultural events largely based in London during the summer.  London Season began at the ‘debutantes ball’ = presentation of aristocratic daughters of marriageable age to the monarch; this ceremony continued until Elizabeth II ended it in 1958.  Badminton horse trials, horse-racing at Royal Ascot, rowing at Henley, sailing at Cowes and polo matches were a must for the upper classes because they were also attended by members of the royal family.  Such events gave a clear identity and social glue to the upper classes, which enabled them to survive some major challenges to their power and their wealth. The events also made it easier for rich members of the middle class to affect an upper-class identity; particularly true after 1918, as more events were held in public venues rather than private London mansions, which many aristocrats were forced to sell off after WW1. It was this dilution of the older, aristocratic element of the upper classes that led Queen Elizabeth to cancel the debutantes’ ball in 1958: as her sister, Princess Margaret, said: ‘We has to put a stop to it. Every tart in London was getting in’.  WW1 contributed to the decline of the landed elite in two key ways:  It took a disproportionately heavy toll on their lives: while 12.9% of men in the army died, 19% of all peers and their sons, and 20.7% of Old Estonians (former student of Eton College) died. Largely because they served as officers who, as they were expected to lead from the front, had a higher mortality rate.  The cost of the war prompted a huge increase in income tax and death duties (a tax paid by the inheritors of property over a certain value. The tax is a percentage of the value of the property): estates worth over £2 million were subject to a 40% duty and tax on incomes over £2,500 rose from 2% in 1914 to 57% in 1925. Death duties were increased in 1929, 1946 and 1949, and were not reduced at any time up to 1979. Wartime restrictions on raising rents, and the reduction in available Labour due to conscription, made running country estates far harder to pay for.  All of these changes contributed to the gentry (wealthy and often powerful individuals, often landowners but not peers. Titles like Duke, Earl) selling off almost a quarter of all land in England 2  between 1918 and 1920; a survey of land ownership in 1883 found that the wealthiest 0.6% of the population owned 98.5% of agricultural land.  An increasing number of them sold all their land: in 1937, 1/3 of the 4000 gentry listed in Burke’s Landed Gentry were landless; this had increased to 1/2 by 1951.  Only the largest landowners were able to maintain their vast estates: of the 124 aristocratic families who owned over 10,000 acres in 1910, 65% still had over 1000 acres in 1979. The 1979 Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth found that a quarter of all farmland in England (six million acres) was owned by just 1,200 landowners.  This increased willingness of the gentry to work for a living, rather than receive rent, and the ability of wealthy businessmen and professionals to purchase the trappings (and titles) of aristocratic life, led to the emergence of a new upper class that was only partly based on ancestry but mainly based on wealth.  While the older upper classes retained their land, they lost their exclusive grip on political power. Due to the middle-class nature of its MPs, the rise of the Labour party sped up the decline of landed-elite power in the House of Commons, which had begun in the mid-Victorian era. While wealthy landowners made up 40% of MP’s in 1910, this had fallen to 5% by 1945.  The House of Lords no longer functioned as a projection of aristocratic power; the Parliament Act of 1911 meant the Lords could only delay rather than block legislation; from 1958 onwards, hereditary peers were increasingly replaced by politically nominated ‘life-peers’.  In 1910, 39 out of the 43 Lord Lieutenants (Crown representatives in each country) had been aristocrats, a figure that had fallen to 15 out of 46 by 1970.  Yet the rise of the new upper classes meant there was no real decline to elite dominance of politics before 1951.  Harold MacMillan’s Conservative government (1957-63) contained no fewer than 40 Old Etonian cabinet members.  The rise of satire and greater social mobility after WW2 undermined deference (unquestioned respect for the authority of ‘Establishment’ (a group of privileged people who are perceived to exercise a firm grip on power through official and unofficial channels, to the exclusion of all outsiders) figures) in the 1960s and 1970s.  This social mobility was made possible because there was a rise in the number of middle-class jobs and educational opportunities improved with the implementation of the 1944 Education Act.  Real wages for all workers improved in the 1950s, when the growth of affordable consumer goods and cars blurred class boundaries.  Yet, while Establishment figures bore the brunt of the satire boom of the 1960s, the landed elites retained widespread affection by losing political power and opening their homes to the people.  A significant number of country houses, whose maintenance became unaffordable after 1918, were bought by or donated to the National Trust (an organization established in 1895 to preserve and protect historic houses and landscapes for the benefit of the nation).  The 1937 Country Houses Scheme = allowed families to live in their stately homes rent-free for two generations if they transferred ownership to the National Trust and opened the house to the public for at least 60 days a year. The scheme enabled the owners of stately homes to avoid paying hefty death duties when passing property on within the family.  Popular administration of country estate style and refinement, reinforced by television series such as Brideshead Revisited (1981) and Upstairs Downstairs (1971), led millions to pay entry fees and helped preserve the landed elite. The country house lifestyle remains the ultimate goal for most rich Britons and, in this way, the old upper class continued to exercise cultural and political influence. The middle class  They are not the ‘ruling class’ and are not manual workers.  Great deal of variety in the wealth, attitudes and leisure pursuits of the upper and lower middle class throughout the 20th century  The traditional divide between the middle and upper class = based on land ownership as a means of income and aristocratic title. This barrier became increasingly narrow, participation in ‘the Season’ events continued to mark some distinction between the upper class and the rich.  The lower middle classes worked hard to differentiate themselves from the working class, in their jobs, cultural and leisure pursuits. They saw themselves as upright, moral people who set the standards of the community and therefore tended to look down on the working classes. 3  Periods, such as after WW1, when the middle class feared a wearing away of the material privileges that distinguished them from the working class wages.  False perception that working class wages were increasing while middle class incomes from salaries, rent or investment stagnated.  In the years after WW1, a £250 annual salary was considered one of middle class status, so rising working-class wages were troubling.  Wartime inflation = fear due to its impact on middle class savings and incomes: something that cost £100 in 1914 would cost £276 in 1920.  Middle class contemporaries unfairly blamed the increased strength of trade unions for pushing up wages and prices, but the inflation had more to do with the strains of a wartime economy = helps to explain the enthusiasm of the ‘strike-breakers’ during the 1926 General Strike: the middle classes saw themselves as defenders of order and ‘the constitution’.  the same year, middle class residents of Kent went as far as erecting a 2m high wall topped with broken glass across a private road to prevent working class residents of the Downham council estate passing through the wealthier area on their way into central Bromley (the wall was finally removed by the county in 1950 to allow fire engines to use the route). Such concerns also explain why the majority of the middle class solidly backed Conservative policies.  Far from suffering from working-class encroachment, the middle class recruited more members from below whilst cementing their distinct advantages over the working class.  The war gave a spur to middle-class employment, with a 34% growth in commercial and financial jobs in London between 1911 and 1921.  The growth of respectable jobs in science, technology and engineering, the rise of salaried jobs in management and administration (from 700,000 in 1931 to 1.25 million in 1951), and the expansion of clerking jobs for women (from 170,000 in 1911 to 1.4 million in 1951) drove middle-class expansion. Works in such jobs saw themselves as modern, progressive and financially responsible compared to the ‘feckless’ working classes, who earned irregular wages.  Home ownership became a defining characteristic of middle-class status.  Interwar contemporaries spoke of a ‘new middle class’ who had bought homes since 1920. By 1939, 60% of the middle class were home-owners compared to 20% of the working class.  New homes had been constructed on ‘spec built’ estates, largely in the south of England and especially the commuter belt around Greater London.  The geographical operation of men from their place of work, and the difference between suburban life and the more sociable way of live in populated urban housing areas, also differentiated middle-class from working-class culture.  The middle classes led the way in the domestication of leisure time. When the greater prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s enabled the working class to assume elements of a middle-class lifestyle, privilege was partly kept through exclusive membership of certain clubs and societies such as the Rotary Club. The working class  Historians disputed the impact of the two world wars on the working classes more than any other classes  Arthur Marwick = argued the war, especially WW2 led to a lasting change. The disruption of pre-war relationships, the greater inclusion of previously excluded social groups for the benefit of the war effort, and the psychological impact of increased sympathy for the underprivileged (through press attention or evacuation) as factors that contributed to a social and economic revolution.  Paul Addison = rejects this view and concludes the war led ‘only to a very modest change in society itself’. He argues that the key changes were an upsurge in patriotism common to all classes rather than a genuine shift in the way the working classes were perceived by ‘superiors’ or how they saw themselves.  General consensus = WW2 brought about greater change than WW1 and was largely a product of effective government intervention after 1945, compared to the ‘broken promises’ of a ‘land fit for heroes’ after 1918.  Upsurge in patriotism.  Working class was varied, skilled workers in construction or engineering = working-class aristocracy  Unskilled laborers = the middle  Destitute or criminal underclass = bottom 4  Full employment during both wars helped to absorb the ‘residuum’ into the respectable working class; trade union membership increased by 90% between 1914 and 1918, and unions were necessarily more inclusive after 1918.  Trade union movement, suffering from the effects of the slump after WW1.  Economic slump and Great Depression = difficult to generalize about the experience of the working class as a whole: major division was between those with and without work, rather than between various grades of manual Labour.  Those in work enjoyed rising wages and lower working hours, and began to take advantage of mass leisure activities.  George Orwell = blamed the passivity of the working class on the growth of consumerism between the wars.  Lack of serious working class protest = trade union membership fell 40% during the 1920-22 recession and failed in the aftermath of the General Strike.  Areas of industrial growth, such as car production, tended to be non-unionized and in parts of the country that had historically seen fewer strikes.  Around half of the working class voted for the Conservative Party between the wars, helped to preserve the remarkable stability of the British political system.  The welfare reforms introduced by the pre-1914 Liberal government, and built upon by interwar governments helped reduce the social stigma of state assistance for those at the bottom.  Those nearer the top prided themselves on responsible use of their weekly wage and aspired to middle-class standard in the community.  A small percentage of the working class fought in WW1 = due to the number of ‘reserved occupations’, such as coal miners, whose Labour was deemed essential to the war effort and also due to the number of conscripts who were turned away on grounds of ill health or poor physique: in 1918, 10.3% of urban working-class men were rejected as unfit for any kind of service and 31.3% were classed as too sickly for combat.  Rationing helped promote working-class health: life expectancy rose from 49 to 56 years for men and 53 to 60 years for women between 1911 and 1921.  In many ways, the gains expected by the working class failed to materialize.  The state now provided a basic safety net, but many people continued to live in squalid houses with poor diets. Slum clearances did not start properly until the 1950s and exploitative landlords took advantage of tenants while providing inadequate accommodation.  The housing Programme of many British cities from the late 1940s centered on the construction of blocks of flats. Although some working-class families were happy with the ‘mod-cons’ of new flats, such as more rooms and hot running water, others felt isolated due to the lack of local amenities or the day-to-day interaction with neighbors in a residential street or over a garden fence.  Housing schemes such as Pollok in Glasgow were felt to be dreary places to live  Despite this, there was no mass protests about the inequality of wealth in Britain (the top 0.1% of the population owned 33% of the wealth, while the bottom 75% had less than £100 each). The emergence of a ‘liberal society’ and its opponents, 1951-79 Sexuality and the Sixties  Legal, medical and social changes led to a profound growth in liberal values.  Arthur Marwick = 1960s marked the end of Victorianism and the rise of a more permissive society.  Many right-wing politicians have agreed with this interpretation and blame the 1960s for lots of current social problems.  Joanna Burke = the liberal values was actually held by a small minority of the population, and that actually many were still reserved and cautious order to assess the extent to which the 1960s did witness a substantial change in British values, the nature and extent of liberal views in the 1950s and 1970s must be analyzed.  Liberal values with regards to sex and sexuality did not suddenly emerge. Marie Strope’s Married Love, published in 1918, and was a bestseller that challenged the general reluctance to discuss sex in public. Stopes argued that women, as well as men, should enjoy sex within marriage.  Widespread concerns that WW2 had undermined traditional values by separating husbands and wives, promoting sex outside marriage and encouraging divorce.  While divorce rates increased to a peak in 1947, they rapidly fell after this. 5  Mass Observation (an academic research organization found in 1937, which studied the everyday lives of British people. Volunteers were asked to keep diaries or complete questionnaires and researchers were paid to record everyday conversations and behavior) reports suggest that women who had wartime affairs saw them as the product of difficult circumstances and were happy to go back to stable relationships with their husbands once the war ended.  American sexologist, Alfred Kinsey, 1953 book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, did much to undermine moral condemnation of sex before marriage.  1959 Obscene Publications Act = recognized greater public openness to sexual images discussion, but only at an elite level: while ‘serious works of art’ could use ‘obscene’ words and images. 1977, extended to include films  1968 Theatres Act, led the British board of Film Directors to allow the screening of films with some sexual content before 1977: the porn film Emmanuelle was the fourth most popular film in 1974.  Public discussion of sex = no longer a taboo by the end of the 1950s, but there was a change in what was deemed acceptable to read, see and discuss by the mid-1970s Dr Alex Comfort’s book, The Joy of Sex, became a bestseller. Was sexually explicit and illustrated  A series of liberalizing laws were passed by British governments between 1959 and 1969. These laws decriminalized certain acts and relaxed the laws on other crimes relating to sex.  Demand for liberal laws came but from MPs.  Pressure for reform of the laws on homosexuality went back to the 1890s, for divorce laws to the 1910s, for birth control to the 1920s and abortion to the 1930s.  David Steel’s Abortion Act, or Leo Abse’s Sexual Offences Act, were not the result of pressure from their constituents, but were issues that they had felt strongly about for a long time before the 1960s  Previous governments had been too conservative in outlook to support liberalization, many MP’s came to agree with Steel, Abse and others that laws should be based on the practical consequence of the legislation, rather than on ethical considerations. Due to increasing evidence about the negative impact of existing legislation on many people’s lives.  E.g. rather than debating if abortion is morally right or wrong, Steel asked the House of Commons to consider back street abortions: 40 deaths and 100,000 injuries in 1966.  The Labour party did not want to be seen as driving forward liberal legislation for fear of alienating traditional voters  Roy Jenkins, Home Secretary in 1965-67, saw these changes as the measure of a ‘civilized society’ and unofficially encouraged Labour support for liberal laws. In his 1975 book, Permissive Britain: Social Change in the Sixties and Seventies, Christie Davies argues that the MPs failed to consider the long-term consequences of more liberal laws; they assumed that moral values in society would be unaffected by these Acts of Parliament.  Davies believes that it is the removal of strict, clearly defined boundaries of decent behavior that have contributed most significantly to the decline of traditional morality and a commonly held sense of respectability since the 1970s.  Brian Harrison rejects this position by arguing that the legislative reform merely caught up with changes in behavior, which had begun after the end of the Victorian era.  Two major surveys: Michael Schofields, The Sexual Behavior of Young People (1965) and Geoffrey Gorer’s Sex and Marriage in England Today (1971) = suggest that notions of a ‘sexual revolution’ in the 1960s are exaggerated and misleading.  Schofield found only 18% of girls and 10% of boys in his sample of 2000 teenagers had had sex with more than 3 people and that 17% of girls and 33% of boys had had sex by the age of 19.  Schofield concluded: promiscuity existed among teenagers = far from normal behavior.  Gorer’s study: 96% of women and 95% of men were married by the age of 45, and that the average age of marriage for women fell below 23 in 1970, down from 25 in 1946.  One change found in the study was that young people were more tolerant of sex before marriage than their parents’ generation.  By 1990 = less than 1% of first sexual intercourse took place after marriage. Decline in the importance attached to marriage, a fact further confirmed by the rise of divorce and of single-parent families from the late 1960s onwards. Homosexuality  Tabooed topic before the 1970s  1950s = fear and hatred towards homosexual men, who were thought to be predatory 6  Guy Burgees (homosexual) and Donald Maclean (bisexual), Russia 1950. A poll in 1963 revealed that 93% of people thought that homosexuals were ill and needed medical treatment = illiberal.  Before 1967, homosexual men ran the risk of arrest and imprisonment if they wished to have sexual relations; lesbian relationships had never been illegal in Britain. Over a thousand men were in prison in the mid-1950s because of their sexuality; there were several cases of blackmail of high-profile homosexuals and some were even driven to suicide.  High profile trial of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu and Daily Mail journalist Peter Wildeblood in 1954 = led to a growing public perception that the state should not be able to regulate what consenting adults do in their own homes. Montagu was sentenced to a year and Wildeblood to 18 months in prison, terms that were thought, even by conservative newspapers, to be excessively harsh.  Arguments raised by the trial = key reason for the formation of the government appointed Wolfenden Committee (1957). The Committee’s Report recommended that private, consenting homosexual acts should be decriminalized for men above aged 21 or more.  A lot of resistance in parliament to such change, it was not until 1967 Sexual Offences Act that this advice was acted upon.  It remained illegal to ‘solicit’ homosexual relations. Number of men arrested for ‘public indecency’ trebled between 1967 and 1972 (due to increased police attention), a clear sign of the limited impact of the law.  Gay rights activism = 1970s in response to The Gay Liberation Front, founded in the USA, a British branch set up in October 1970. The group encouraged gay people to be open about their sexuality to help people see homosexuality was becoming more acceptable in the 1970s.  Television stars such as Larry Grayson, presenter of popular shows, Shut That Door (ITV 1972-77) and The Generation Game (BBC 1978-82) and John Inman, Mr. Humphries in Are You Being Served? (BBC 1972-85) were camp but publicly denied being gay.  Grayson = ‘what a gay day’ and ‘seems like a nice boy’, he told the Daily Mail he pretended to be gay.  1970s = leading pop stars, David Bowie and Elton john, admitted being bisexual.  First ever gay pride march = London 1971  1976 = Tom Robinson released ‘Glad to be Gay’ which reached 18 in the singles chart. New Moralism and Mary Whitehouse  Challenges from religious leaders, public figures with a Christian faith, and from some Conservative politicians.  Margaret Thatcher became increasingly outspoken about her fears for public standards of decency.  January 1970 = she told the Finchley Press that she would like to see a ‘reversal of the permissive society’ in the decade ahead.  Thatcher’s attacks on permissiveness increased as the 1970s progressed, she complained in 1977 that ‘basic Christian values…are under attack’. Some people reacted more strongly to liberal changes that unfolded in the media.  Mary Whitehouse = became concerned about modern morality after talking to pupils in her first job as an art teacher. Joined a group called Moral Rearmament, originally an American evangelical movement whose aim was to ‘remake the world’.  1963 = decided to focus specifically on the damage done to British morals by mass media, in particular Hugh Carleton-Greene, Director General of the BBC from 1960-69 , whom she blamed for the growth of liberal, permissive values on television. She managed to secure 500, 0000 signatures for her Clean-Up TV petition in 1964, which she sent to the queen.  1965 = this campaign was merged into the National Viewers and Listeners Association.  1977 = launched a legal case against the magazine Gay News for publishing a ‘blasphemous’ poem about a Roman soldier having sex with Jesus. She won the case and magazine owner Denis Lemon was fined and given a suspended prison sentence.  In her 1977 book, Whatever Happened to Sex? , Whitehouse said that ‘being gay was like having acne’. She campaigned against pornography and her letters to government officials may have played some part in the passage of a law in 1981 to force sex shops to have blacked-out windows.  Nationwide Festival of Light = Hyde Park in September 1971 to promote Christian morality and prevent ‘moral pollution’. Supported by Malcolm Muggeridge and pop star Cliff Richard. Inspired over 70 regional rallies. The event attracted over 1000 people, but had little impact on permissive trends in the media or society, largely because of the declining influence of Christianity. 7  The Death of Christian Britain, by Callum Brown sees the 1960s as the key decade when Britain became ‘secularized’. He notes the impact of girls and women magazines on female church attendance.  There was no scandal when Desmond Morris said in his book, The Naked Ape (1967), that ‘Religion had given rise to a great deal of unnecessary suffering and misery’, sales boosted.  Many historians critic this view as it ignores the pre-1960s decline: numbers attending church once a week had already fallen from 35 to 13% of the population before 1945.  ‘Puzzled People’, a Mass Observation report in 1947, concluded that ‘most people nowadays don't think much about religion, don't set much conscious store by it and have decidedly confused ideas about it’. This shift helps to explain the overall lack of success of those who wished to restore British public morality back to a perceived golden age.  Carnaby Street = heart of Swinging London in the mid-1960s, large majority experienced the so- called ‘social revolution’ second-hand through mass media.  A poll published by the Sunday Times in 1966 = suggested that most people were bored of hearing about new fashions and pop music.  There was a regional divide in addition to the generational divide in the diffusion of liberal ideas. Chapter Summary  At the beginning of the twentieth century, class  Factors such as TV, satire, British New Wave largely determined one’s status and place in writing and sex scandals led to a decline in society. deference.  One effect of the First World War was the decline  The widespread growth of sexual freedoms was in deference, through the decline of the aristocracy largely a myth, as most people’s attitudes and the growth of more assertive middle classes. remained conservative.  The Second World War led to claims for greater  More liberal laws were introduced in the 1960s social equality, although class distinctions with homosexuality and abortion being remained into the post-war period. legalised.  The 1960s saw more liberal values as exemplified  Opposition grew to perceived promiscuity and by the ‘swinging sixties’. immorality in society, as exemplified by Mary Whitehouse. 8 In what ways, for what reasons and to what extent did life change for British women, 1918-79? This chapter examines how, why and to what extent women’s role and status changed, through the following sections:  The right to vote and political advancement, 1918-79  Changes in family life and the quest for personal freedoms, 1918-79  Women excluded from opportunities open to men in 1918  The hope of female suffrage campaigners was that the vote would enable further reforms  Women in 1979 enjoyed far more choice and independence than their mothers and grandmothers, progress towards a parity of opportunity with men was limited  Girls and boys had equal access to primary and secondary education, but women continued to face ‘glass ceilings’ in employment The right to vote and political advancement, 1918-79 Franchise reform, 1918-28  Women have campaigned for the right to vote since the 19th century  The right to vote seen by campaigners as a fundamental right and a stepping stone to greater equality for women and the quality of their lives.  1928 Representation of the People Act = mirrored the hard-won extension of the franchise to some women in 1918. Campaign groups were faced with pathetic or even hostile MPs who were worried that women under the age of 30 (referred to as ‘the flapper vote’ in unsympathetic newspapers) were too emotional and irresponsible to use the right to vote with due caution.  The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies changes its name to the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship (NUSEC) to reflect the new focus of their campaign. Together with a range of other societies, they put pressure on MPs to support a fair franchise settlement; in 1926, they launched a sustained canvassing campaign and organized regular meetings in Hyde Park.  3 July 1926 = 3,500 women gathered there for an equal rights procession and demonstration. Although these groups were ultimately dependent upon the goodwill of male MPs (who undoubtedly looked to gain some electoral advantage through franchise reform), such sustained and peaceful pressure secured an equal franchise far more quickly than if things had been left entirely in the hands of men.  From 2 July 1928, women over the age of 21 could vote on the same basis as men Political advancement between the wars?  No clear correlation between the right to vote and political advancement more generally  8.5 million women over the age of 30 gained the right to vote in 1918 but only 17 women stood as parliamentary candidates and only 1, Countess Constance Markievicz was elected  The number of female MPs remained low throughout the interwar years.  Female MPs in:  1922: 5 1931: 15 1935: 9  There were a number of reasons for this failure to translate female majority in voting after 1928 into political advancement.  There tend to be slightly more women than men in the UK population, so women held 52.7% of total votes  Most important was the structure and attitudes of the main parties.  While organizations like the NUSEC was large and well-run, they lacked the sort of expertise and local party machinery to help launch an effective ‘Women’s Party’.  The NUSEC split in 1928 largely over the issue of whether women should push for gender equality with men on men’s terms, or for the equal valuation of different gender roles.  Eleanor Rathbone argues for the latter and dismissed calls for equal roles and responsibilities with men as ‘me too’ feminism; she left the formation of the National Council for Equal Citizenship, while her opponents formed the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds. Membership of both 9  organization fell throughout the 1930s. Although the main parties recognized the need to try to cultivate female participation, they were unwilling to risk losing a safe seat by selecting a female candidate. This reflected the ingrained male bias against female politicians, which they had to face at every stage of their careers.  One pioneering female MP, Edith Summerskill = House of Commons was ‘like a boys’ school which had decided to take a few girls’. With the exception of the 1928 franchise reform, both the Conservative and Labour parties failed to promote specifically female issues.  Female groups were incorporated into national organizations, they were outnumbered by men: 2 Conservative women’s group joined the National Union of Conservative Associations, Labour allowed 4 female representatives of the Women’s Sections to sit on the main policy-making committee, the National Executive.  Socialist women faced a difficult choice between mainstream class campaigns, often favoring working men over women, and fighting for female issues; in practice, many sacrificed the latter in favour of the former. Women made important contributions to social and welfare reforms, such as the 1922 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act (which raised the age of legally acceptable consent from 13 to 16) and the 1923 Bastardy Act (which allowed children born before marriage to be recognized as legitimate after their parents’ marriage), but seemed to accept the male-dominated agenda of national politics.  Female politicians tended to focus on local, rather than national, politics. There was a longer tradition of women serving on various local boards, where they helped with social issues, such as health and education, which were seen as an extension of their domestic sphere of expertise.  It was difficult for women to balance family life with the pressure for national politicians to be in Westminster. Despite this tradition and expertise, women only made up around 5 or 6% of local councilors between 1918 and 1939.  This average personage fell slightly after 1929, when elections for Poor Law Guardians were replaced by the (usually male) invitation to join Public Assistance Committees. The impact of the Second World War on female political life  By 1939 = there were more women, such as Nancy Astor and Eleanor Rathbone, with a good deal of parliamentary experience who were able to address specifically female issues  In recognition of the impact that the war had on women, female politicians abandoned strict party loyalty in favour of cross-party co-operation.  1940 = Astor set up the Women Power Committee to investigate and promote female-specific issues. In March 1941, Minister for Labour Ernest Bevin set up the Women’s Consultative Committee to manage female participation in the war economy more effectively. This body contributed to the registration and then conscription of women for work in March and December 1941.  The intervention of female MPs such as Maud Tate in debates about compensation for wartime injuries led to the introduction of equal compensation for men and women in April 1943 (women had previously received 35p a week less than men).  However, despite similar interventions in debates over work, female MPs were unable to secure legislation for equal pay.  By 1945 = male MPs were finally growing used to considering female issues more seriously; this undoubtedly influenced the range of social legislation passed by post-war governments. Pioneering women in politics - Nancy Astor (1879-1964) was the first woman to take her seat in parliament and represented the Conservatives until 1945. Seen by some as a controversial heroine because she gained her seat thanks to her wealthy husband, who held the seat until he was elevated to the House of Lords. - Eleanor Rathbone (1872-1946) had been a suffragist. Like the suffragettes, suffragists wanted women to have the vote; the key difference was that suffragists did not believe in the use of disruptive or violent protests to force the issue. Rathbone’s arguments in the House of Commons were crucial in ensuring that Family Allowance payments went to voters rather than fathers in 1945. - Ellen Wilkinson (1891-1947) was an inspirational MP for Jarrow. She organized the 1936 Jarrow March, which delivered a petition to parliament to highlight the suffering caused by unemployment in thus shipbuilding community. She also introduced the 1938 Hire Purchase Act, which gave protection 10  to people who bought goods on credit. Wilkinson served as Minister for Education in Attlee’s first post-war government, raising the school leaving age from 14 to 15. - Edith Summerskill (1901-80) was one of the first women to be trained as a doctor, before becoming a Labour MP. She was a founder of the Socialist Health Association, which put forward argument for a National Health Service. - Barbara Castle (1910-2002) was a leading figure in Harold Wilson’s Labour governments in the 1960s and 1970s. A Secretary of State for Transport (1965-68, Britain’s first female Secretary of State), she made seat belts compulsory in new cars and introduced breathalyzers to combat drink- driving. Women in post-war politics  Women were unable to press home possible gains in terms of female representation in parliament.  In 1945 and 1955 = there were just 24 females out of 630 MPs in the House of Commons; in 1974 the figure remained a 23 out of 635 MPs.  The same issues that had served as barriers before 1939 continued to apply, with the candidate selection committees the most formidable. Women were rarely risked in safe seats and had to overcome large opposition majorities to gain their seat. This meant that those women who did win a seat tended to have exceptional qualities; once in parliament, they stood a far higher chance of promotion to ministerial office (Harold Wilson’s 1964 government contained 7 of the 18 female Labour MPs).  The post-war generation of female MPs were more determined to be seen as well-rounded politicians rather than simply as advocates for women’s issues.  While a few women, such as Barbara Castle as Minister for Transport, gained national prominence, the loss of cross-party cohesion weakened the advocacy of female rights in parliament after 1945.  It took the growth of a women’s movement in the 1970s to put female-specific issues back on the agenda. As Secretary of State for Employment, and later Secretary of State for Social Services, Castle herself was responsible for a range of significant legislation that affected women, including the 1970 Equal Pay Act, pension reform and the introduction of child benefits. The Women’s Liberation Movement  A number of developments outside parliament contributed to the broader political advancement of women.  Feminist authors drew attention to the inequalities of a patriarchal society.  Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) and Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch (1970) = examples of feminist literature that became bestsellers in Britain. They argued that women would remain unfulfilled, second-class citizens unless they actively stood up to the male-dominated state of affairs.  The success of the 1968 strike by the female employees at the Ford car factory in Dagenham attracted national attention and helped increase female activism.  The National Women’s Liberation Conference first met in Oxford in February 1970. Socialist and historian Sheila Rowbotham organized the meeting to help set an agenda for ‘women’s lib’: equal education and opportunities, equal pay, free contraception and abortions on demand, and the universal prison of childcare for working women became key goals.  Although disagreements over aims and tactics led to a fragmentation of the women’s movement by the 1980s, a range of significant legislation had been achieved by then; this success owned a great deal of the sustained pressure of feminist activists in the 1970s. Other forms of political advancement: trade unions and local politics  The demand for female industrial Labour during WW1 = many women joined trade unions for the first time between 1914 and 1918.  Although many unions rejected female membership, or only accepted women on a temporary basis, the need for females help enable some political progress at a national level: Margaret Bondfield, who had been a suffrage and trade union activist before the war, served as part of the wartime Central Committee for Women’s Employment. She was elected to the General Council of the TUC in November 1918 = national profile paved the way for her to becoming a Labour MP in 1923. 11  Most unions remained highly masculine environments until the 1980s, when several leading unions, such as UNISON, took steps to increase female representation at high decision-making levels.  Large increase in female trade union membership: between 1970 and 1979, this increased from 2.6 to 3.8 million (24 to 30% of total membership).  It was not until the early 2000s that women began to lead trade unions (the first female leader of the TUC was appointed in 2012).  Women participated more in local than national politics, with widows and spinsters allowed to vote in local elections from 1869 (and married women who met the property qualification after 1894). Women had served on local education boards and as Poor Law Guardians in the late 19th century and as councilors after the 1907 Qualification of Women Act.  However, women still remained under-represented in local politics. The Women’s Local Government Society published leaflets in 1921 such as ‘Why are Women Wanted on Town Councils?’ and ‘Rural Districts: Need for Women Councilors’; in 1949, the Ninth Conference of the Women Members of Local Government Authorities in England and Wales discussed how to achieve ‘fair representation’ of women on local councils.  In 2007, the Women’s Local Government Association still aimed to ‘secure a greater representation of elected women in local government’. The reasons for this are disputed, but historians such as Wendy Stokes cite a focus on women’s issues within councils, rather than pressing for more women in office, as more significant than the barriers to entry that have hindered female political advancement at the national level. Changes in family life and the quest for personal freedoms, 1918-79 Family life and work  Women were more likely to work in 1979 than in 1918 and this was true for married women.  This was partly due to the impact of war, especially WW2. The number of working women in industry increased from 3.3 million in 1914 to 4.8 million in 1918, yet trade unions were quick to assert the reappointment of men at the expense of women after the war.  1919 Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act = women who had been employed in munitions factories were forced to return to pre-war employment or stop working if this was not possible. The ‘marriage bar’ (an exception that women would stop work once married) was also re-established.  The loss of manpower during WW2 = women were conscripted in huge numbers to do traditionally male work after 1941: the percentage of women who worked as engineers rose from 14% in 1939 to 33% in 1945. This was in addition to the thousands of women who served as farm workers in the Women’s Land Army, or in non-combat roles in the armed forces.  As a result, and despite government propaganda campaigns to maintain distinct gender roles, there was wider male acceptance of women as workers between the wars  Perhaps more significantly, wartime experiences of the extra money, independence and sociability that came with work = permanent shift in female aspirations beyond the home. The ‘flappers’ of the 1920s flaunted their independence by smoking in public and dressing in far less restrictive clothing.  By the late 1950s, a Manchester Guardian survey revealed that while 40% of housewives were content in this role, 50% were bored a lot of the time. In 1951, 1/4 of married women worked; by 1961, this had risen to 1/3; in 1971, a 1/2 and by 1990, 2/3. In 1950s, the majority of women who had a child did not return to work for ten years; by the 1970s, this had fallen to 4 years.  Labour-saving devices such as vacuum cleaners and washing machines enabled women to devote less time (in theory if not always in practice, due to heightened expectations of cleanliness put forward in women’s magazines) to domestic chores. Shifts in the Labour market = meant there were more part- time and semi-skilled or unskilled jobs, which made up the majority of female employment.  In her extensive 1965 survey sociologist Viola Klein found that 60% of working women did unskilled jobs. Government legislation also promoted female employment, but in a sluggish fashion.  The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970, despite criticisms dating back to the 1940s that women took home just over half the wage of a man for similar work. A key reason for the timing of the Act was the success of the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike: a three-week strike by 300 female seeing machinists led Ford to accept equal pay for women doing similar jobs to men (although they were still only awarded 95% of men’s pay in the final settlement).  The action inspired the creation of the National Joint Action Committee for Women’s Rights (NJACWR) = put pressure on leading unions to adopt equal rights targets. 12  Union pressure led to Labour support; in 1975, the Labour government passed 2 important pieces of legislation: The 1975 Employment Protection Act = women could not be sacked for getting pregnant and gave six weeks’ paid maternity leave to those who qualified through two years’ service. The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act = illegal to discriminate against women in employment, training, housing and education; it also set up the Equal Opportunities Commission to help enforce the legislation.  However, women continued to experience a ‘glass ceiling’ in certain professions and unequal pay more generally = due to the impact of motherhood on career progression. Women also continued to take up unskilled and part-time work = due to the pressures of family life. Family life: children and marriage  Marriage was seen as the main life goal for women before feminists began to challenge this notion in the 1960s and 1970s.  The roles of a wife, mother and homemaker was glamorized in a range of women’s magazines. Reality = dull and isolating. The shift from ‘slum’ neighborhoods to new suburban estates reduced the regular social contact for women than men continued to enjoy in pubs. Higher expectations for women to be ideal mothers, not just taking care of children’s material well-being but nurturing them with ‘mother love’. A lack of nurseries = mothers could only go in to part-time work and, outside of work, were further isolated by time-consuming childcare.  Marriage brought dependency on the husband: the 1946 National Insurance Act, which stated married women had to prove they were actively seeking work to claim benefits, and the 1931 Anomalies Regulation, which added the further restriction that they had to prove they were able to do insurable work. This situation was not changed until 1978, when married women began to pay full National Insurance contributions and could claim full benefits when unemployed. However, women’s work in the home wasn’t recognized in divorce proceedings; husbands kept such a high share of the couple’s wealth that some women were effectively trapped in loveless or even abusive marriages.  A number of factors began to change this status of women in the home, especially after the 1960s: The 1969 Divorce Reform Act = couples could end their marriage due to ‘irreconcilable differences’ after two years (or five years if only one party wanted the divorce). Before this, one party had to prove some fault or blame existed in the other to win a divorce through the courts. This was very difficult and expensive to achieve before the 1969 Act. The 1970 Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act = awarded a higher share of the couple’s wealth to the woman in divorce settlements.  Rates of divorce increased from less than 3 in 1000 marriages in 1965 to almost 10 in 1000 by 1976: 1945: 15,634 divorces 1945: - 1955: 26,816 divorces 1955: 14,782 divorces granted by women 1965: 37,785 divorces 1965: 21,633 divorces granted by women 1975: 120,522 divorces 1975: 81,693 divorces granted by women 1985: 160,300 divorces 1985: 115,144 divorces granted by women 1995: 155,499 divorces 1995: 109,023 divorces granted by women  Women also gained greater sexual equality with men = wider availability of birth control, especially the Pill.  Before this, while men could enjoy sexual pleasure in a fairly risk-free fashion, women were conscious of the consequences of pregnancy, especially before the 1967 Abortion Act. Until then, women who wished to terminate a pregnancy had to seek an illegal backstreet abortion. These were carried out by untrained people, usually in their own homes; the lack of hygiene and training led to 40 maternal deaths and over 100,000 injuries in 1966.  MP Dr David Steel used statistics like this when he persuaded parliament to legalize abortion during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy, a measure approved by 70% of the British public.  Feminist were keen to promote female empowerment and enjoyment of sex and helped advocate a more equal partnership within relationships as opposed to male dominance. Birth control and the Pill  The Pill had been developed in America in the 1950s  Experts feared its introduction in Britain could promote promiscuity among unmarried women = this explains its slow rise to importance.  The Family Planning Association had been set up in 1930 = only offered contraception and advice to married couples. The number of such clinics increased from 65 in 1948 to 400 by 1963. 13  Brook clinics offered the same service to unmarried girls as young as 16; the first was set up in 1964, but there was often opposition to the opening of new clinics.  The contraceptive pill was made ‘available to all’ in December 1961 at a price of 2 shillings a month; in reality, it was only given to older married women until 1967 and only became free to all women by the NHS in 1974.  Historians Akhtar and Humphries have argues that ‘the years between 1965 and 1969 were when the sexual revolution began in Britain. The pace of change was astonishing - and the Pill made it all possible.  Numbers of women using the Pill increased from 50,000 in 1961 to 1 million in 1970.  However, it was not until the late 1970s that the Pill rivalled the condom as the contraceptive choice for most. Role models for greater personal freedom  Radio and television were the preserve of men until the 1950s.  The growth of women in popular culture as anything other than fragile damsels or objects of masculine was slow before the 1980s = helped reinforce a stereotyped, second-class status.  Barbara Mandell (ITV, 1955) and Nan Winton (BBC, 1960) were early television newsreaders.  The first permanent news anchor was Angela Rippon, in 1975.  Joyce Grenfell and Jill Day were early comedy writers and performers on radio and television, with shows in the 1950s. A few female-dominated sitcoms were broadcast from the 1960s, including The Rag Trade (BBC 1961-63), The Liver Birds (BBC 1969-79) and Butterflies (BBC, 1978-83), the last two written by a women, Carla Lane.  The growth of soap operas, Coronation Street (1960 onwards), offered more assertive female role models = contributed to women’s desire for greater personal freedom. 14 Chapter Summary  In 1918 women over 30 gained the vote in the  Although women undertook jobs previously Representation of the People Act and a second Act reserved for men during the Second World War in 1928 gave them equality with men in voting at they were not encouraged to keep them at the 21. end the war.  Women’s gains in the workplace in the First  During the 1950s the role of women as wives World War were largely overturned by the return and mothers was emphasised by the media. to peacetime.  The 1960s saw women gaining more control  Women’s roles in the professions were limited due over their bodies through birth control and to prejudice and being expected to stop work once abortion. they married.  Second-wave feminism emphasised equality for  There were few women MPs in the period 1918 to women in personal relations as well as in the 1979. public sphere.  Women became more assertive in campaigning against issues such as domestic violence and rape. How far did relations between Britons and immigrants to Britain change between 1918 and 1979? This chapter examines race and immigration through the following sections:  Immigration policies and attitudes towards ethnic minorities, 1918-39  The impact of the Second World War and new Commonwealth immigration  Government policies and racial controversy: immigration and race relations 1958-79  Britain’s has been multi-ethnic and multicultural for hundreds of years  Waves of migrants who want to escape persecution and make a better life for themselves. The major difference in 20th century Britain has been the growth of a multiracial society.  Whites made up 99.8% of the population until 1945; by 1979, this figure was 96% and is likely to fall to 90% in the next few years.  The majority of non-white immigration took place between the late 1950s and 1960s, with further growth of racial minority populations driven by native UK births. A key reason for this development was the existence, and decline of, the British Empire. Colonial residents were legally British citizens until the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act redefined their status.  Very few people from the ‘New Commonwealth’ (Newly independent Commonwealth countries, mostly in non-white areas in Africa and Asia, as opposed to the Old Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Canada, which had mostly white populations) came to Britain until a range of UK organizations advertised for Labour in those colonies during the postwar economic recovery. Although the British government did not welcome this development, it was reluctant to take any action to prevent it for fear that it might antagonize increasingly strained relations with colonial leaders.  The failure of local efforts to integrate racial minorities and the eruption of violence in a few areas in 1958 = force government legislation to reduce unrestricted immigration. Before restrictions were imposed people from a wide range of cultural, religious, social and educational backgrounds arrived and settled in Britain. These groups have had to overcome a range of problems to establish themselves in Britain. Earlier waves of white immigrants, such as Irish or Jewish settlers, faced prejudice, but racism added a further barrier to harmonious relations. In post-war Britain, the government and white people in general have had to adapt to this change; it has not been a straightforward process for many, especially in areas with comparatively high levels of non-white settlement.  By 1979, while it was clear that newly arrived racial minorities had a lot to offer British society, there was still a good deal of casual, if not politically organized, prejudice against them. 15 Immigration policies and attitudes towards ethnic minorities, 1918-39 Anti-Semitism  The 1914 British Nationality and Status Aliens Act = introduced the first modern passports. They had not been required for international travel before this and were only made compulsory to prevent wartime espionage. A further Aliens Act 1919 = meant immigrants had to gain a work permit before arrival, had to register with the police upon arrival and maintain lawful behavior to avoid immediate deportation.  Many Jews seeking to escape Nazi persecution in Germany, emigrated and settled in Britain between 1933 and 1939; there were 300,000 Jews in the country. Although these settlers had been selected for their wealth and skills, there was still a lot of anti-Semitic hospitality based on notions that they forced up rent and unemployment for native residents. While Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists was never very popular, it did provide a vehicle for racist, and anti-Semitic, hatred. In October 1936, the BUF organized a march through the East End of London, home to significant Jewish and Irish communities; violence erupted at Cable Street, where local residents had erected barricades to divert the march. While anti-Semitism was widespread in interwar Britain, there was never any threat of the kind of persecution faced by continental European Jewish communities. The ‘colour problem’ and different solutions  There were very few non-whites in Britain before the 1950s; the only contact that the majority of white Britons had with racial minorities was through photographs, illustrations and stories about the British Empire in the popular press = so most white Britons felt superior to blacks and Asians = it also meant there was no ‘colour problem’ in Britain outside of the few areas (London and port cities such as Cardiff, Newcastle, Hull and Liverpool) where around 74,000 black and Asian people, mostly born in the UK to earlier migrants, lived.  WW1 led to a larger influx of ‘colored’ sailors and workers in such citadels these people faced popular and official racial prejudice. There were race riots in several ports in 1919, fueled by resentful unemployed demobilized men. The 1920 and 1925 Special Restriction (Colored Alien Seamen) Orders = forced ‘colored’ seamen to register as aliens in Britain if they could not produce documentary proof of their British citizenship; the police were to arrest those who failed to produce such documents upon disembarkation. As ‘aliens’, they had to check in regularly with the police and ran the risk of deportation if they failed to do so. There were cases where even non-sailors were subjected to the same orders: 63 Indian laborers were registered in Glasgow.  The Indian Seamen’s Union was founded by N. J. Upadhyaya in 1926 to protest at the treatment of Indians and a public rally was held in support in Liverpool. As a result of such action, and official criticism from the India Office, Indian residents were allowed to apply to the Home Office for a Special Certificate of Identity and Nationality to revoke their alien status.  Not all white Britons were ignorant of or hostile towards racial minorities. The Joint Council to Promote Understanding between White and Colored People in Britain, and the League of Colored Peoples were both founded in 1931 to tackle what they saw as the growing ‘colour problem’. They were middle-class liberals who wanted to help individuals fight racial discrimination and to raise financial aid for struggling black and Asian families in Britain. Their efforts were not always appreciated: a growing radical pan-African movement judged that only black people could resolve black ‘problems’.  The American-born singer and actor, Paul Robeson (who lived on and off in London between 1925 and 1939), was the most iconic supporter of anti-colonial black empowerment in interwar Britain. He was a member of the West African Students’ Union (WASU) set up in London in 1925 and led for almost 30 years by Nigerian Ladipo Solanke. WASU was one of several black organizations that united in 1934 to protest against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia; the International African Service Bureau emerged from this unity and became a key influence on many post-colonial African leaders. 16 The impact of the Second World War and new Commonwealth immigration The impact of war and post-war recovery  The fight against racist Nazi Germany had a limited impact on immigration and on British racial attitudes.  Perhaps the most important shift was in the view of the colonies, which changed from racial inferiors to valued wartime allies.  Small number of black workers were invited to work in crucial industries during the war, e.g. the 1000 West Indians invited to work at munition factories in Lancashire and Merseyside, and the further 10,000 employed as ground crew by the Royal Air Force. These men did experience some racial prejudice but this was driven by white American servicemen rather than British natives. These wartime experiences encouraged the first waves of West Indian male workers to seek employment in Britain. The wartime contribution of the colonies also led to the revocation of the Alien Orders in 1942; many black people, mostly sailors but also some stowaways took advantage of this and were able to enter Britain.  The post-war economic recovery had a more profound impact on immigration and British race relations than the war itself. Full employment and the demand for cheap Labour led the British government to try to recruit workers in Europe.  As many as 100,000 Poles, mostly ex-servicemen and their dependents, were recruited as part of the Polish Resettlement Corps. They had been based in Britain during the war and felt unable to return home now Poland was ruled by a Communist government. They were joined on a temporary basis by 85,000 European Voluntary Workers, mainly displaced citizens from Eastern Europe, but many Italians. Even this was not enough to meet British demand for workers.  The National Health Service, textile firms in Northern England and London transport all advertised vacant positions throughout the New Commonwealth. London Transport, who provided hostels for newly recruited workers, sent representatives to the Caribbean to search for staff: 140 men were recruited in Barbados in 1956 alone. Black men from the Caribbean became a familiar sight on London buses as drivers and conductors in the 1950s. These young, male immigrants were allowed to settle in the UK thanks to the 1948 British Nationality Act = which made all people living in the Commonwealth British citizens.  The first to take advantage of this law were the 492 West Indian passengers who disembarked at Tilbury Docks, London from the SS Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948. They were followed by 108 Jamaican immigrants, who arrived on the SS Orbita in September that year. In the following 5 years, around 3000 black immigrants were settling each year in Britain. Unofficial chains of migration were set up so that people from a particular Caribbean island settled in the same part of the UK, e.g. the community of Nevisians in Leicester.  1951: 80,000 ethnic minorities  0.2% of UK Population 1961: 500,000 ethnic minorities  0.8% of UK Population 1971: 1,500,000 ethnic minorities  3.3% of UK Population 1981: 2,200,000 ethnic minorities  4.1% of UK Population 1991: 3,000,000 ethnic minorities  6.4% of UK Population 1997: 4,000,000 ethnic minorities  7.3% of UK Population The government response  While MPs who represented constituencies with growing ‘colored’ populations wanted to secure limits to Commonwealth immigration, many leading Conservative ministers, such as Colonial Secretary Alan Lennox-Boyd, wanted to uphold the international prestige of British liberalism, especially during a period of increased nationalist agitation in the colonies.  The numbers of immigrants involved were to be too small to necessitate immediate action; instead, the Inter-Departmental Committee on Colonial People in the UK was set up to investigate ways to promote racial integration on a local, informal basis. The committee aimed to ‘disperse’ black immigrants around the country and to offer industrial training courses for their employment. While most immigrants found work, they were drawn in large numbers to a few cheap areas of cities with a booming industrial recovery, such as London and Birmingham. Councils and social services did not have to expertise to effectively promote integration, especially when popular views of black people 17  were heavily influenced by stories of violence in Africa (e.g. during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya between 1952 and 1960) and gangsters from the Harlem district of New York. So-called ‘friendship councils’ were set up in some affected areas, but these were more of a discussion forum for black and white residents rather than bodies that took effective action.  A few British universities directed some of their sociological research to the ‘colour problem’ in the 1950s: a team led by Dr Kenneth Little at Edinburgh University made clear for the first time the range of religious, class and cultural divides within racial minority groups. Little concluded that it would be unlikely for a coordinated black party to emerge in Britain, along the lines of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in America. In 1953, he pressed Labour to adopt a policy against racial discrimination in employment, His recommendations were not noticed until the disturbing events of 1958. Government policies and racial controversy: immigration and race relations 1958-79 Race riots  In areas of higher black settlement, such as St Ann’s in Nottingham, Toxteth in Liverpool, Handsworth in Birmingham and Brixton in London, the original white population began to move out to other parts of the city.  By 1957, the government became concerned about what was described as ‘white flight’ and ‘segregation’. There were specific fears that British cities would come to resemble American ones, with poor black ghettos where there was violence and crime.  The failure of local efforts to promote integration became apparent in a range of respects: trade unions complained about immigrants (both white and black) taking jobs from whites by accepting work for lower wages; some young men, especially those in working-class ‘Teddy Boy’ gangs, sought to intimidate black men who were ‘taking their women’ and ‘No blacks’ signs in some areas and overcrowded, poor quality housing for blacks in others, something that helped to reinforce negative racial stereotypes.  As the black immigrants were young men, they did like to drink, dance and flirt. However, sensationalized reports in newspapers about the supposed lack of cleanliness, criminal activities and sexual practices of recent immigrants = heightened racial tension.  Such tensions, couples with government unwillingness to take action, led to the outbreak of race riots in 1958. In the St Ann’s area of Nottingham almost 1000 white and black youths fought each other on the night of 23 August 1958; a number of stabbings occurred.  These were followed by riots in Notting Hill, London. The riot was sparked by an attack by a Teddy Boy gang on a white women with a black partner. Over a period of almost two weeks in August and September, the riot in London escalated, with hundreds of young, white men armed with chains, knives, iron bars and petrol bombs attacking groups of black immigrants and their homes with chants ‘Niggers out’. More than 100 white men were arrested, as well as some black men who had armed themselves in self-defense. The riots received widespread news coverage both within Britain and internationally. The Notting Hill Carnival was founded the following year to promote racial harmony. The consequence of the riots  Overall, British public opinion was shocked by the events at Notting Hill.  Much of the British public had seen television news coverage of the police trying to keep black and white groups apart, and firefighters putting out petrol bomb fires.  The riots exposed the failings of local councils and led to a re-evaluation of race relations on both sides of the divide.  More than 4000 immigrants were so angry and disillusioned with life in Britain that they returned to the Caribbean.  The Caribbean governments made a joint complaint to the British government about prejudiced policing and the impact of poor housing on their countrymen.  Immigrant groups in Britain became more organized: The Organization for the Protection of Colored People 1958; it helped to organize rent strikes in Notting Hill until repairs were made. Eggier were demands for greater expertise in race relations: The Institute of Race Relations 1958, 18  under the leadership of Philip Mason. The riots also led to renewed calls for immigration legislation: it was argued by many Conservative MPs that integration could only be achieved if numbers of immigrants were limited to their current numbers.  Finally, in the autumn of 1961, the Conservative government introduced a bill to restrict immigration. Immigration legislation  Ironically, the most significant cause of mass immigration from the New commonwealth was the initial legislation that was meant to curtail it.  In 1956, 47,000 people entered Britain from the New Commonwealth; by 1961, this had increased to 136,000, with a further 94,900 in the first six months of 1962. The cause of this huge increase was the fear among potential black and Asian migrants that Britain would close its doors to further immigration in the future.  The 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act = allowed immigrants to settle provided they had been awarded a voucher proving that they had a job lined up. The Act also allowed the dependents (usually wives and children) of pre-1962 immigrants to join them in Britain. Rather than slowing New Commonwealth immigration, the Act enabled existing Asian and black UK residents to organize vouchers and establish unofficial chains of migration from their original homes. The vast majority of Indians came from Punjab and Gujarat, whilst most Pakistanis came from a handful of places in Sylhet (later became part of Bangladesh). Fear of not being able to return to the UK if they went home encouraged more immigrants to settle and bring their families to Britain. Between 1962 and 1968, while 77,966 vouchers were issued, 257,220 dependents settled in the UK. Between 1968 and 1971, 318,521 were male workers. Despite the surge in numbers caused by the 1962 Act, opinion polls claimed that nearly 3/4 of the British public supported these new controls on immigration.  The 1968 Commonwealth Immigrants Act sought to close these unintended chains of migration from India, Pakistan and the West Indies through a ‘grandfather clause’: would-be immigrants needed, a British-born, adopted or naturalized parent or grandparent in order to allow them to enter the country. This was criticized as a racist measure as it would allow more immigration from Canada, Australia and New Zealand than from the New Commonwealth.  The 1971 Immigration Act = meant that 12-month work permits replaced employment vouchers by the end of 1972; from 1973 onwards, immigrants could only remain in Britain for a limited period of time. Politicians in the main political parties had passed these laws due to their fear that while British alienation and anger would lead to votes for fascist parties such as the National Front.  By the early 1970s, Britain had some of the toughest immigration laws in the world, and virtually all black and Asian primary immigration had stopped: in 1972, just 2,290 immigrants were admitted under the voucher scheme. One exception to this restriction was the admission of 27,000 Ugandan Asians who were expelled from their homeland by Dictator Idi Amin. A further 10,000 Greek Cypriots and 15,000 Vietnamese were allowed to settle in Britain to escape violence in their home countries.  Harold Wilson’s Labour government sought to tackle discrimination as well as restrict non-white immigration. The 1965 and 1968 Race Relations Act = banned racial hatred and racial discrimination in public places. This made illegal the use of restrictions such as ‘no colored’s’ and ‘Europeans only’ used by some landlords and employers. The 1968 Act extended the ban on racial discrimination to housing and employment. The Race Relations Board 1966 = deal with complaints about racial discrimination. However, many saw it as a waste of time to use it: complaints could not be made about the police and only about 10% of complaints to the Board were ever upheld.  The 1976 Race Relations Act = toughened laws against racial discrimination and victimization. It also set up the Commission for Racial Equality in September 1976 to help fight injustice and create a fairer society. Enoch Powell and the far right  Contemporary media suggests that many British people still held racist views by the end of the 1970s.  Racial minorities were often shown in patronizing or confrontational ways and there were far fewer media personalities showing racial minorities in a positive, empowered fashion than in later decades.  Despite this ease with the portrayal of racism in popular culture however, there were only a few cases of public support for openly racist groups or politicians.  In the 1959 general election, the founder of the British Union of Fascists, Oswald Mosley, campaigned against immigration: he gained only 8% of the constituency vote. In the 1964 general 19  election, the Conservative candidate for Smethwick in Birmingham, Peter Griffiths, used the slogan ‘If you want a nigger for a neighbor, vote Labour’ as part of a successful campaign. Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson said he should be seen as a ‘parliamentary leper’.  The National Front Party was formed in 1967. It opposed immigration as well as any measures to improve race relations and multiculturalism, with demonstrations and marches. It had 20,000 members by the mid-1970s, but this support had collapsed by the end of the decade. It failed to gain a single parliamentary seat, but caused widespread media reaction by gaining.  In 1968, Conservative MP Enoch Powell made what became known as the ‘rivers of blood’ speech. He warned of a violent future of British multiracial society if the numbers of immigrants continued unchecked. Conservative leader Edward Heath sacked Powell from the Shadow Cabinet the next day; he never held a senior government position again. A petition to stop Powell being sacked gathered over 30,000 signatures. Opinion polls suggested that 75% of the British public agreed with his speech. Conclusion  By 1979, it was unclear how far the recently arrived racial minorities would integrate into British society. However, there were already indications as to the ways in which a new multiracial society might develop.  On the other hand, there was a clear lack of integration in housing. Certain areas of a few towns became magnets for migration and replaced the majority of whites in those areas.  There were also fairly low levels of interracial marriage, although this was far more likely for black Caribbean men and Chinese women than other minority groups.  The range of new religions introduced by immigrants won hardly any white British converts; Hindu temples and Islamic mosques served immigrant communities, just as synagogues had served the Jewish migrants of the 1880s and 1890s.  However, British cuisine became increasingly influenced by the culinary tastes of immigrants: foods from South Asia, Italy and China became more familiar to British consumers in restaurants and on supermarket shelves by the end of the 1970s.  Racial minorities had also begun to make an impact on British sport and popular culture. 20 Chapter Summary  Between 1918 and 1979 immigration created  Pressure from immigrants, and a commitment to opportunities and controversies. end racism from Wilson’s Labour governments,  For most of the period white Britons believed that led to the creation of laws that were designed to only white people could be truly British and in the end racial discrimination. early part of the century the British government  These laws led to a backlash from people who passed laws to restrict the rights of immigrants wanted to keep Britain white, which found a from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. voice in Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’  By the Second World War the government speech in April 1968. explicitly rejected racial prejudice.  Immigrant groups were determined to make  Post-war Conservative governments hoped that Britain their home and claim the full rights of new immigrants would assimilate. citizenship.  The majority of British citizens were happy to tolerate black and Asian people as long as they accepted low pay and low-status jobs. Key Question Topics To what extent Class, social change and the impact of wars, 1918-51 did British class structure and social values The emergence of a ‘liberal society’ and its opponents, 1951-79 change 1918-79? In what ways, for The right to vote and political advancement, 1918-79 what reasons and to what extent did life change for British women, Changes in family life and the quest for personal freedoms, 1918-79? 1918-79 Immigration policies and attitudes towards ethnic minorities, How far did 1918-39 relations between Britons and The impact of the Second World War and new Commonwealth immigrants to immigration Britain change 1918-79? Government policies and racial controversy: immigration and race relations 1958-79 21