afleitch
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Posts: 29,861
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« on: September 27, 2004, 05:49:36 AM » |
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Hey, now this is an interesting thought. Attlee of course won the 1945 General Election in a landslide during WW2 (War in Asia had not yet finished) forming the first real Socialist/Labour administration in the UK (discounting Ramsay McaDonalds failed coalitions) Attlee of course set in motion the welfare state, free health care and disbandment of the Empire. In 1945, during the election he actively out smarted the Communist Party, who thought it could capitalise (pardon the pun!) on the general dissaray. The Communists did very poorly, and so Britain did not become like France and Italy, which in the post-war eras had very strong Communist parties. After Labours defeat in 1951, the Conservatives remained supportive of the welfare state which continued straight through until the rise of Thatcher.
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