Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The Blitz and the Rise of the Welfare State


The Second World War had a profound effect on civilian life in Britain.  By May 1940, there had been more civilian deaths in Britain than all three branches of the Armed Services combined.  As Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated, ‘This is a war of the unknown warriors,’ and those unknown warriors were the citizens of Great Britain -the home front had become the battle front.  Trenches were dug in backyards and public parks, cities and villages were fortified, roads were barricaded and factories were protected as if they were military bases.  It quickly became known as the ‘People’s War.’ 

As the threat of invasion became reality in the late summer of 1940, Britain’s government called upon its citizens to ‘stay calm and carry on.’  This included serving in the newly formed civil defenses – a ‘citizen’s army’ that required men and women of all classes to do their part in the impending Battle of Britain.  Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Britons that this would be their ‘finest hour,’ and encouraged anybody who would listen that not to surrender, but show the rest of the world what the people of Britain were made of.  People of all classes began to share common experiences of total war: Experiences that transcended the rigid class structure of traditional Britain.  When the bombs began to fall in late August/early September of 1940, most citizens believed that they would overcome these hardships and a fairer, more equal Britain would be the result.

 ‘The People’s War’ was a slogan that ensured a social revolution within British society: A revolution that was created by Nazi bombs breaking down British social barriers. Throughout the Blitz a massive propaganda campaign was mounted by the British government, aided considerably by American journalists and broadcasters, which encouraged the citizens of Britain to maintain their strength and promised that they would be rewarded for their bravery.  The ‘Spirit of the Blitz’ and ‘Britain Can Take It’ was as manufactured by the Ministry of Information as it was spontaneously conceived in the streets.  So when German bombs stopped falling in earnest in May 1941, Londoners and the rest of Britain began to look forward to the future, holding their politicians to their word.

However, the government was not prepared for Nazi bombers or the amount of people who had been left homeless.  There were not adequate plans for housing for those whose lives were so dramatically altered by the bombings.  As the government scrambled to come up with suitable and acceptable policies, people of London’s East End working class district continued to loose everything.  As early as February 1941, members of the public began openly lobbying the Ministry of Health for better sanitary conditions in shelters and better access to health care professionals.  

The first step towards rebuilding British society was the Beveridge Report.  Named after its Chairman, sociologist and economist William Beveridge, the influential document laid the foundations for what was to become the Welfare State in Great Britain.  The immensely popular document identified the five ‘Giant Evils’ of society: disease, squalor, ignorance, idleness and want.  The committee proposed vast changes and reforms to the current British system, which included the expansion of National Insurance and the creation of the National Health Service.  The ideas that government was responsible for all of its members of society, from the ‘cradle to the grave,’ were moved forward significantly by the events of the Blitz, claiming ‘A revolutionary moment in the world’s history is time for revolutions, not for patching.’

The Report mad three main principles



-Any proposal for the future, while they should use to the full the experience gathered in the past, should not be restricted by consideration of sectional interest established in the obtaining of the experience.

-Organization of social insurance should be treated as one part only of the comprehensive policy of social progress.

-Social security must be achieved by co-operation between the state and the individual.


I personally dont agree with all of the Beveridge Report and neither did most of the Labour party.  First of all, Beveridge was a economist with deep ties to the Conservative party.  His proposal that the  expansion of Natioal Insurance on the grounds that it was a flat rate and not means tested, didnt resenate well with the left.  The idea was that it served more like a State backed 'savings account' that paid out what one had paid in - much like the modern proposal backed by US Republicans for the privitiation of Social Security.  However, the foundation had been laid and the Labour victory in the Summer of 1945 allowed them to implement the report how they saw fit.

The ideas of the Blitz and the Second World War differed from the promise by the government for the soldiers returning from the First World War – ‘A land fit for heroes.’ Instead, Britons wanted a land where everyone had access to a decent education, sufficient health care and accommodation for all.  These ideas were broadcasted and published throughout Great Britain during the months of the Blitz with specific example aimed at those had suffered at the hands of the German raiders.  Patriots such as novelist and playwright J.B. Priestly, the brilliant academic Julian Huxley and even novelist George Orwell all called upon Britons stand up to the German bombs, while reaching out to all members of British society with the end goal of creating a better and stronger society when the bombs finished falling.

Although the Blitz was certainly used by many to promote a united sense of Britishness during a horrific and desperate time, at least it helped to promote the creation of the Welfare State.  The Blitz fostered the idea that all members of British society were responsible for the welfare of all.  The legacy of those ideas, whether manufactured or spontaneously conceived, helped lead to the Family Allowances Act of 1945, National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act of 1946 and 1948, The National Insurance Act of 1946 and 1949, the Pensions Act of 1947 and the National Health Service Act of 1946, all which ensured that those who fought and died in the Armed Services, as well as those in the Civil Defenses, did so for a fairer and more equal Great Britain.