From 1945:
Just saying, for the benefit of those who have forgotten.
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Compulsory viewing for the Labour leadership, I think.
Clive
compulsory —yes
compulsive — I suspect not
Short and sweet and accurate. They delivered on their promises too.
The sad thing is that Clement Attlee’s wordswould be double Dutch to to the current Labour leadership.
I left Labour in the late 1980s when it became clear that they were no longer a socialist party. Ditching Clause IV underscored their lurch to neoliberalism.
Most of that post war cabinet would be expelled from Starmer’s party. So sad.
Atlee had flags behind him too. The national flag and the flags of the nations of the UK.
This was 1945
Yes, but he also wasn’t talking crap and telling lies which seems to be all we can expect from video interviews with ministers at present.
Why is it so hard for contemporary Labour politicians to set out their stall in such a clear and concise manner? Could it be that that don’t actually believe in that progressive stuff any more?
Where did it all go wrong ?
Exactly what most of us and the Corbynites have been saying for ever.
My local pub still has a photo of the Man, walking into No10 with a soldier saluting him in. Carbon copy taches!
Even if some of the yarboo older clientele have long forgotten their roots in their worship of loddsamoney Thatcherite Queen worshiping dumbingDowntoning propaganda which is Wetherspoonfed by themselves as the self basting turkeys who vote for Xmas.
I suggest that as the Fascist State that has fully resurged to that prewar rent seeking/profit first, devil take hindmost avoidable genocide da, Tory government, led by their poundshop Winnie , continues the modus of these fascists from 80 years ago, as they come after the only independent journalism left in this country now – expert blogger journalists like you – we must really meet them on our streets as they go around gathering and taking away and disappearing the truth daily. Graffiti made illegal! Eff them I’m loading up with spraycans.
It was the soldier’s parliaments and the like minded Pathe and BBC types who were in control of much of the wartime propaganda machinery, who were able to resist the Director Generals and Rothermeer type robber barons and their Rhodes type PsychoPathocracy and DUMP that giant poo then.
Maybe a daily Atlee is what is needed – words that are heard, emotion which is unhidden, that should be dropped into everyone’s ‘feeds’ on all their social media. It was what I had urged Labour to do at the last GE and would have worked – except for the fake watering down of that singular message by Starmer and co’s focus on the divisive BrexShit, that allowed the excuse for the fixed polls.
Prepare the modern ‘soldiers Parliaments’ and don’t let the current generals anywhere near it. Prepare the ‘underground’ and secure ‘cells’, get these secret printing presses and web servers sites across the planet set up, so they can’t so easily be shut down. And prepare to be collected at night by truckloads to be sent to re-education camps for accessing and redistributing such information as the Nazis did to these listening to the BBC in these times.
You beat me to it Clive.
Interesting to see the flags behind him given recent culture war skirmishes 🙂
The flags were part of a standard Pathé provided (I assume) platform, used by all except Mr Churchill.
Interesting to watch the set…
A man who lived up to his promises and achieved what many thought would never happen, quiet a turning point in UK history, one for the greater good for sure.
Can we have a £50 note with his head on it : ) We have had Wellington and Churchill on our fivers and he was far more deserving than either of those in my view and is easily worth 10 of either of them : )
The choice, clearly, for Labour politicians, is do they want to work in the interests of the many, not the few, or do they want to be rich beyond the dreams of avarice when they leave parliament? Ie, do they want to be like Blair and others who have trod the path to riches with bank and other city directorships and a big property portfolio. Or like Corbyn with his bike and allotment.
It is the post-office corruption that stinks, that B Clinton leaving office bemoaning he was broke and now worth hundreds of millions, ditto the Obamas with mega book deals, TV deals and an ocean front estate. Do not rock the boat and you’ll be rewarded later.
Well, that is fascinating. There is a transcript here: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/pathe-election-forum-aka-general-election/query/Attlee
“Labour puts first things first. Security from war, food, clothing, houses, employment, leisure and social security for all must come before the claims of the few for more rent, interest and profit. We have shown that we can organise the resources of the country to win the war. We can do the same in peace.”
For those pointing to the flags, the location was not chosen by Attlee, it was the same Pathé set used by all of the other parties, with one exception. I think we have four flags – St Patrick’s saltire, the Scottish royal standard (lion rampant with double tressure), the Union Jack (because of course England stands for the whole of the UK and vice versa), and Y Ddraig Goch.
Attlee was number 4. The first three were, also with transcripts, were:
* No. 1. – Mr. Harry Pollitt – Secretary – Communist Party – https://www.britishpathe.com/video/general-election-1/
* No. 2. – Mr. J. A. Evans – Common Wealth Party – https://www.britishpathe.com/video/pathe-election-forum-aka-general-election-1/
* No. 3. – The Rt. Hon. Sir Archibald Sinclair – Liberal Party – https://www.britishpathe.com/video/general-election-aka-pathe-election-forum/
Then Churchill spoke last, from Downing Street:
* No. 5. – The Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill – Conservative Party – https://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-parties-speak-no-5-the-rt-hon-winston-churchil/
“Once again, now, today, I must tell you that in spite of all our victories a rough road lies ahead. What a shame it would be, and what a folly, to add to our load the bitter quarrels with which the extreme socialists are eager to convulse and exploit these critical years. ” (Perhaps worth noting that Churchill was Prime Minister for nearly 10 years, but under his inspirational leadership his party lost two general elections, in 1945 and 1950, and won just one, in 1951, although Eden won in 1955 and Macmillan in 1959.)
Common Wealth was an unashamedly socialist party: “If you wish to return to unemployment queues, want and misery, and the country increasingly run by ever-growing big business, vote Tory, that way lies Fascism and war.”
And the Communists: “The Tories now rush a General Election on a register which deprives almost a million people, including servicemen, of their right to vote. … Every single promise the Tories make now they made at the end of the last war. Not one was fulfilled.”
@Andrew,
Despite leading the UK to victory in WWII(with the help of the Allies of course) Churchill was not popular with the workimg man.
In fact its is possible that Churchill narrowly avoided a communist revolt in London during the blitz. A decision was made to lock all Underground stations nightly ,many of which were used by Eastenders as bomb shelters during the ferocius bombing. The Communist party actually led the agitation for these stations to be unlocked so they could provide shelter, there was also an “occupation” of the Savoy hotel.
Churchill and his cabinet feared that this would stop Londoners getting to work. The situation became tense and the Army and police were mobilised daily in some areas to stop large gangs of Eastenders breaking into Underground stations. After a few weeks Churchill finally relented, but there were mobs of 1000s on the streets at that time and the Police were in fear of open rebellion. History could well have been very different has that happened.
https://pasttenseblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/14/1545/
Andrew
Thanks, interesting links
The Commonwealth Party actually had five MPs. Two survived the 1945 election, one because he was uncontested but he stood down in 1946. The fifth was Vernon Bartlett, the Independent for Bridgwate, where I live. He was elected in 1938 on a platform of opposition to Munich and remained as the town’s MP until 1951. He had been backed by both the local Liberal and Labour parties. (is there a message here?) The Conservatives recaptured the seat and have had it ever since.
The Commonwealth part was socialist but didn’t agree with top down state run organisations. They favoured a more local guild or syndicalist model. (though probably not the anarcho-syndicalist commune of the Monty Python film).