Why did Labour win the 1945 election?
Answer this question in a paragraph.
Note down how confident you feel with this topic (1
being very uncertain, 10 being very confident)
•Can you add anything from this Andrew Marr clip?
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lurGssKn7PA
•Ext. Is there anything you would criticise as not
being historically accurate in this clip?
How successful were Labour’s
domestic policies from 1945 to 1951?
Starter – what do you think? What
did they introduce and were they
successful?
Standard (C or below) – to
learn evidence for and against
and reach an overall
judgement.
Super (B+) – to assess whether
labour overcame challenges
effectively to make its domestic
policies successful
How successful was Labour’s
domestic policy from 1945-1951?
Domestic Policy
Challenges
Strengths
How successful was
it scale of 1 to 5?
NHS
Use your card sort to fill
in this table.
How successful was Labour’s
domestic policy from 1945-1951?
Did it cure Beveridge’s 5 giants from 1942?
Label your source with what the giant is, what Labour did to
tackle it, any other information, and whether it was cured.
How successful was Labour’s domestic policy from
1945-1951?
Keynesianism
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) was a British economist. He
believed that there had to be an economic middle way between free
capitalism, where people could make as much money as they liked
at the expense of others, and state socialism, where the state
controlled all industry and looked after the people.
His new idea was KENYNESIANISM. It was a middle way. He
believed that depressions could be avoided if demand remained,
when demand for goods fell this is when depression sets in. He
argued it was the government’s role to keep demand high. To do
this he believed that the government should raise money from its
taxes and state industries, which is should then invest into the
economy. If they had to go into debt to do this for the short term
this was fine as in the long run as greater growth would happen and
it could tax workers and companies to pay back any money they had
borrowed. This would allow companies to have full order books and
to maintain full employment. This in turn would allow workers to
stimulate the demand for goods and services. The government
followed Keynesianism until the 1970s.
1. Why did Labour follow
Keynesianism from 19451951?
2. Write a short definition or
draw a diagram to show
what Keynesianism is.
Ext. What consequences did
following Keynesianism
have for the 1945-51
Labour government and for
the following Conservative
government?
How successful was Labour’s
domestic policy from 1945-1951?
• What is this cartoon suggesting about the
NHS?
Things I should have
mentioned about why
Labour won the 1945
election...
Soldiers
Archbishop of
Canterbury
(From a cartoon in Punch
magazine, 21 January
1948. The letters ‘A. B.’
[Aneurin Bevan] appear
on the hat and ‘M. D.’
[Medical Doctor] on the
briefcases. The bowl has
‘National Health Service’
written round its rim.)
How successful was Labour’s
domestic policy from 1945-1951?
Make a brief list of successes of Labour’s domestic
policy and the flaws of Labour’s domestic policy.
Successes
Failures
Standard (C or below) – to
learn evidence for and against
and reach an overall
judgement.
Super (B+) – to assess whether
labour overcame challenges
effectively to make its
domestic policies successful
How successful was Labour’s
domestic policy from 1945-1951?
Quick quiz... Read who is who on your handout.
•Hide it! Who’s who?
Churchill:
Attlee:
Beveridge:
Bevan:
Bevin:
Morrison:
Wilkinson:
Butler:
Terminology:
Keynesianism
Socialism
How successful were Labour’s
domestic policies from 1945 to 1951?
Standard (C or below) – to
learn evidence for and against
and reach an overall
judgement.
Super (B+) – to assess whether
labour overcame challenges
effectively to make its domestic
policies successful
What did Attlee mean by ‘building a green and
pleasant land’? Was he successful?
How successful was Labour’s
domestic policy from 1945-1951?
Homework
Answer in writing online. Feel free to comment and challenge
each other – respectfully and politely please 
http://historywcsch.wordpress.com/
Year 12 Discussion
Read pp. 32-34 (Creating the new Britain: Paying for it main
text) and pp. 39-42 (Cripps and Austerity main text) and makes
notes on...
1. What was the Age of Austerity?
2. Evidence that there was an Age of Austerity
3. Evidence that the Age of Austerity is a myth
This is in preparation for next lesson. We have a lot of content to cover and not long to do it
in, therefore you need to do this reading to cover material we are analysing next week.