Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T13:46:01.159Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Anti-Socialism and Working-Class Conservatism in the Industrial North

from Part II - Popular Conservatism and the National Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2020

Geraint Thomas
Affiliation:
Peterhouse, University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Drawing upon Stockton-on-Tees and Leeds West as case studies, this chapter explores the relationship between the National Government and popular Conservatism in urban, industrial, predominantly working-class constituencies. It demonstrates how Conservatives in the depressed regions, despite budgetary impediments to social reform legislation, succeeded in constructing a distinctive working-class appeal in the 1930s. They did so first by seeking to assert a reworked version of anti-socialism among working-class voters at the 1931 general election; then, in relation to relief campaigns among the unemployed, by seeking to rehabilitate a conspicuous Conservative presence in working-class communities; and ultimately, in 1935, by embracing the National Government’s cross-party example to advocate a programme of economic reconstruction that was both in keeping with reformist Conservatism and capable of retaining erstwhile Liberal and Labour voters.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×