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#OTD 1945. Blackpool Conference. Labour reject Churchill's proposal to continue the coalition government
Over 1,100 delegates, many of them in service uniform, meet to debate election
Ellen Wilkinson opened the conference ‘at a most important moment for our future history’....
Over 1,100 delegates, many of them in service uniform, meet to debate election
Ellen Wilkinson opened the conference ‘at a most important moment for our future history’....
After VE day, Churchill wrote to Clement Attlee and offered to continue a coalition government until the defeat of Japan.
Attlee, Bevin and Dalton were keen to continue
Attlee, Bevin and Dalton were keen to continue
Churchill gave the party an ultimatum: July or the end of the War in Japan.
Churchill also proposed a referendum rather than election to mandate a continuation.
Churchill also proposed a referendum rather than election to mandate a continuation.
Attlee dismissed any idea of a Referendum:
‘I could not consent to the introduction into our national life of a device so alien to all our traditions as the referendum, which has only too often been the instrument of Nazi-ism and Fascism’
‘I could not consent to the introduction into our national life of a device so alien to all our traditions as the referendum, which has only too often been the instrument of Nazi-ism and Fascism’
Attlee evoked Hitler to reject such a move:
‘Hitler’s practices in the field of referenda and plebiscites can hardly have endeared these expedients to the British heart’
‘Hitler’s practices in the field of referenda and plebiscites can hardly have endeared these expedients to the British heart’
The Daily Mirror attacked the ‘shameful and dishonest’ approach from Churchill, who was seen to be manoeuvring for an early election for his own benefit.
Attlee offered an Autumn compromise:
‘It is precisely on the problems of the reconstruction of economic life of the country that party differences are most acute. What is required is decisive action’
‘It is precisely on the problems of the reconstruction of economic life of the country that party differences are most acute. What is required is decisive action’
Labour’s 44th annual conference in Blackpool was chaired by Ellen Wilkinson.
It was said to be the biggest ever with 1,100 delegates expected to attend to discuss the future manifesto and an election date.
It was said to be the biggest ever with 1,100 delegates expected to attend to discuss the future manifesto and an election date.
The Guardian predicted that the manifesto ‘is likely to be criticised on the ground that it does not go far enough in the direction of full blooded socialism’
Ellen Wilkinson opened the conference:
‘This gathering is taking place at a most important moment for our future history’
‘This gathering is taking place at a most important moment for our future history’
She rejected any thoughts of continuing in coalition:
‘The Labour policy is straightforward. We want not only millions of houses, jobs for all and social security but also educational opportunity for all’
‘The Labour policy is straightforward. We want not only millions of houses, jobs for all and social security but also educational opportunity for all’
Wilkinson concluded her speech:
‘We are not interested in talk of coalitions. We fight for power: power for those who fought and worked and bled’
The executive voted in favour of a July election.
‘We are not interested in talk of coalitions. We fight for power: power for those who fought and worked and bled’
The executive voted in favour of a July election.
Speaking from the platform was the 27 year old Major Denis Healey, who had been beach-master at the Anzio Landings
He told delegates that the social revolution was already underway in Europe.
He told delegates that the social revolution was already underway in Europe.
Healey famously took aim at ‘the upper classes in every country' who 'are selfish, depraved, dissolute and decadent’
Conference debated Lets us Face the Future – opened by Herbert Morrison and closed by Hugh Dalton.
Morrison told conference that it was a five year plan and that socialisation would be done industry by industry ‘to the character of each and the interests of the community’
Morrison told conference that it was a five year plan and that socialisation would be done industry by industry ‘to the character of each and the interests of the community’
Morrison’s speech was said to emphasise ‘the profound difference between promise and performance’. He declared that the Labour Party does not intend to make promises which it cannot keep’
Dalton clashed with Lancashire delegates from the cotton industry and warned that they needed to modernise in both methods and machinery.
Attlee and Bevin both outlined their vision for a post-war world.
Attlee and Bevin both outlined their vision for a post-war world.
Attlee urged nations to work for peace:
‘If the nations merely come together to discuss war and the way to prevent war they are thinking of war: If they come together to discuss peace, then they are getting into the mind of peace’
‘If the nations merely come together to discuss war and the way to prevent war they are thinking of war: If they come together to discuss peace, then they are getting into the mind of peace’
The Express reported that Bevin was the star performer:
‘Attlee’s was a mouse-like affair compared with Mr Bevin’s wide ranging decisive utterance which lifted the delegates out of their seats and put him Number one amongst the recipients of ovations’
‘Attlee’s was a mouse-like affair compared with Mr Bevin’s wide ranging decisive utterance which lifted the delegates out of their seats and put him Number one amongst the recipients of ovations’
At Conference, Nye Bevan also spoke on the employment debate:
‘Only a society on the verge of bankruptcy could produce the situation that we have in this nation at the moment and had before the war’
‘Only a society on the verge of bankruptcy could produce the situation that we have in this nation at the moment and had before the war’
Bevan argued:
‘This island is almost made of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of both at the same time.
‘This island is almost made of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of both at the same time.
Bevan finished with a call to arms:
‘We are the builders. We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers’
‘We enter this campaign not merely to get rid of the Tory majority – that will not be enough for our task...
‘We are the builders. We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers’
‘We enter this campaign not merely to get rid of the Tory majority – that will not be enough for our task...
....It will not be merely sufficient to get a parliamentary majority.
We want the complete political extinction of the Tory Party and 25 years of a Labour Government’.
We want the complete political extinction of the Tory Party and 25 years of a Labour Government’.
