Labour's Problems 1951-1964

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  • Labour's Problems 1951-1964
    • Gaitskellites & Bevanites
      • 1951-1964 period dubbed the '13 wasted years' by Harold Wilson
      • Cons enjoyed a long period of office while economy recovered from deprivations of wartime & post-war reconstruction
      • Labour was split between Bevanites on the left of the party & Gaitskellites on the right of the party
      • Bevanites
        • led by Aneurin Bevan (died 1960)
        • dedicated socialists
        • keen to nationalise all significant industry
        • aimed to protect & expand welfare state
        • anti-nuclear & anti-NATO
      • Gaitskellites
        • led by Hugh Gaitskill (died 1963)
        • social democrats
        • wanted to remove Clause IV
        • not prepared to raise taxes to pay for the welfare state
        • pro-nuclear & pro-NATO
    • Internal Splits & Divisions
      • these cracks were evident throughout the 1950s & helped keep labour out of power
      • the key divisions were over membership of the EEC, nuclear disarmament & nationalisation
      • Wilson's focus on technology & modernisation was an attempt to 'paper over' cracks in the Labour Party
    • approach to NATO
    • approach to nuclear weapons eg CND
    • internal divide in ideology - Bevan v. Gaitskell
    • didn't exploit Suez Crisis
    • approach welfare state
    • approach to nationalisation & Clause IV
  • Clause IV: called for the nationalisation of industry

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