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LABOUR HISTORY
Series One: British Labour Party Research Department Memoranda and Information Papers, 1941-1979

Part 1: Research Department Memoranda, July 1941 - December 1961

Publisher's Note

Never before published in microform, the Memoranda and Information Papers of the Research Department of the British Labour Party are an invaluable source for understanding the factual analysis that lay behind the party’s policies from 1941-1979.

Founded in 1900, the British Labour Party came of age with its massive victory in the 1945 General Election. Surprising many, the Labour Party swept Britain’s great war-time leader Winston Churchill from office by taking 393 seats and 47.8% of the vote.

The secret of the party’s success lay in its policies which were more in tune with the mood of the electorate, embracing popular concepts of public ownership, a welfare state and a national health service. These policies were forged through a process of argument, debate and discussion. The Research Department Memoranda and Information Papers document this synthesis of ideas and attitudes and their process through to agreed statements of party policy.

Part 1 of this microfiche project covers the Research Department Memoranda for the period July 1941 through to December 1961. The Memoranda are internal discussion papers. The Information Papers which were first produced by the Information Unit and its precursors from 1960 onwards, provide summaries on particular issues for public, party and media information purposes. Parts Two through to Five of this microfiche project will cover both the Research Department Memoranda from 1961 and the Information Papers from 1960 through to the General Election of 1979.

Part 1 is devoted to the years 1941-1961. This was a period in which Clement Attlee, Aneurin Bevan and Ernest Bevin pursued a policy of peace-time reconstruction, rather than continuing Britain’s role in international power politics as proposed by Churchill. They passed an immense raft of legislation including the nationalisation of the Bank of England in 1946, the nationalisation of the railways, coal and steel in 1947, and the thorough reorganisation of the Health Services. The latter led to confrontation with the British Medical Association over the formation of the National Health Service. Such controversial issues, combined with continuing rationing, heavy taxation, wage restraints and the forced devaluation of the pound in 1949 caused some unpopularity for the Labour government. Labour’s far-sighted decolonisation policy also aroused much debate. Notwithstanding this, the Labour Party was re-elected, albeit with a reduced majority, in 1950.

The following year, Wilson, Bevan and Freeman all resigned from the government in protest against the introduction of prescription charges. A further General Election was forced in 1951 and Labour was defeated. Labour still achieved the highest ever percentage of the vote (48.8%) but the Conservatives (with 48%) gained more seats and began 13 years of uninterrupted rule.

Throughout much of the 1950’s the Labour Party was characterised by public dissension amongst its leaders resulting in a steady decline of its popularity with the electorate. The party suffered three successive election defeats. Clement Atlee retired and Hugh Gaitskell took over the leadership after the lost of the 1955 General Election. The Labour cause was hampered by inter-union rivalries and the effect of a month long newspaper strike followed, during the election period, by a dock strike and the threat of a rail strike.

The National Executive immediately appointed a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Harold Wilson to enquire into the state of the party organisation. This internal enquiry submitted its report to the next party conference in October 1955. The report recommended the creation of a special sub-committee of the National Executive to supervise the work of party organisation; special help in future for marginal constituencies; and the decentralisation of many activities to regional offices. A series of Research Department Memoranda, in particular, R522, R532 and R541, addressed the requirements of the Research Programme on Future Policy sketching out a timetable for the next three years. As a line of approach it was suggested "that we set out a number of key themes which need detailed thinking about and examination, and on which reports could be prepared. If our investigations prove worthwhile these could provide the basis of study papers to be submitted to future Annual Conferences so as to prepare the background towards a new policy statement." The following topics were suggested for study: Equality, the State and Industry, Security and Old Age, Education, Housing, Agriculture, Bureaucracy and Liberty, and finally, the Atomic and Automated Age. The Research Department Memorandum, R522 of July 1955 notes on page 4 "It must be emphasised that the Research Department staff available for this work is small, and that if we are to get the best value from the staff it should be used economically. The complex sub-committee system which the Policy Committee had at its disposal in the preceeding years of opposition, though no doubt desirable, was too elaborate for the small secretariat which we have available. Meetings were too frequent for sold research to be done and considerable time is spent by the Office in preparing a very large number of background documents to support the basis of a single conclusion on particular items of government machinery. As a result not enough time is devoted either to thinking out general objectives or for drafting final statements for publication."

The note on procedure continues "Given our existing resources the best way forward would be to allocate a field of study to an individual member of the Research staff so that he could make an exhaustible report on the problem. This study should be able to be taken under the guidance of a small study group made up of a few members of the Policy Committee and one or two outside experts who would guide the Office on the syllabus to be studied, keep in touch with progress and digest the final report before it was submitted to the Policy Committee."

It continues: "In particular this procedure does not mean that we should dispense with sub-committees but rather that their role should be changed. Instead of frequent sub-committee meetings the idea is that the study group should meet at the start of the project to consider the syllabus and then that the responsible research worker should go ahead and work up a serious memorandum after doing the necessary reading and analysis and making contacts with outside experts, eg in the universities. When the task was completed the finished work would be considered by the study group before it was referred to Policy Committee. If the reports were of sufficiently high standing, it is suggested that these could then be submitted to Annual Conference for discussion and debate. These papers would be available for Annual Conference in 1956, 1957 and 1958 and would prepare the ground for a new statement of policy."

The Memorandum, R532 of September 1955 emphasised that "the research worker concerned would have to maintain close contact with reliable and sympathetic experts in his field". The Memorandum, R541 of November 1955 notes "The carrying through of this Research Programme and the successful preparation of worthwhile policy documents must now be considered the priority task of both the Home Policy Committee and the Research Department. The Home Policy Committee will no doubt wish to keep its sub-committee structure down to a minimum and avoid unnecessary commitments, and it is equally desirable that the relatively small number of places in the Research Department available to carry through this work should be free, as far as is possible, to concentrate on it."

The Suez Affair solidified the Labour Party behind its leadership and revived at least momentarily the early prospect of a return to power. The Government’s policy was hotly debated both in Parliament and outside. Hugh Gaitskell and Bevan working well together and making effective fighting speeches. However, the collapse of Sir Anthony Eden placed a really formidable opponent, Harold Macmillan, in the office of Prime Minister. Macmillan managed to rescue the Conservative Party from the consequences of Suez. In 1959 the Labour Party put together a powerful and effective election campaign. Gaitskell himself made a successful tour of the country, impressing many electors with his vigour and sincerity. The Labour Party’s television broadcasts had a greater impact than those of the Conservatives, in an election in which television counted for more than ever before. Also, the Press Conferences called by the Labour Party Secretary Morgan Phillips, were unexpectedly successful and own much publicity in the newspapers.

Despite a good campaign by Labour the results gave the Conservative Party a considerably increased majority. The Conservatives now held 365 seats (49.4% of the vote) against Labour’s 258 seats (43.8% of the vote).

The Labour Party had now lost three consecutive elections, by an increasing margin on each occasion. It was therefore natural that the failure of 1959 should be followed by a much more searching phase of self-examination than the party had ever undertaken before. However, disagreements over the revision of the Labour Party Constitution and also a furore over the party’s Defence Policy and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament took attention away from a concentration on working towards a new statement of principles.

An outline of a programme was eventually laid down in the statement Signposts for the Sixties in 1961 and this was endorsed by the Blackpool Conference. The two volumes of Research Department Memoranda for 1961 feature the various drafts for the 1961 Policy Statement (RD124), various draft statements on Britain and Europe (including RD124, RD112, RD113, RD114 and RD126) as well as tackling many issues such as Ship-building, British entry into the Common Market, the Steel Industry, pensions fraud, Britain’s scientific and technical resources, education, and new needs in social policy.

The substance of the debates on decolonisation, economic policy, health, nuclear power and nuclear deterrents and other prominent issues, together with Labour’s distinctive views which formed much of the agenda for the post-war period can be found in these volumes of Research Department Memoranda. This microfiche set therefore provides an essential research and reference resource for all those interested in the post-war years.

The Nature and Organisation of the Research Department:

The very first volume of Research Memoranda commences with the scheme of Committees on Reconstruction, agreed by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party based on the recommendations made by Professor Harold J Laski in July 1941. Sub-committees were to be set up to discuss policy issues on the following subjects:

  • International organisation including the future of the armaments industry.
  • The machinery of central and local government.
  • The principles of post-war finance including banking & taxation.
  • Reconstruction of the transport system with reference to the railways, roads, shipping and canals
  • The reconstruction of the mining, electricity and gas industries.
  • Agricultural reorganisation including forestry.
  • The reorganisation of education
  • Treatment of disabled persons and the dependants of men killed in the fighting forces.
  • The future of the public health services.
  • The principles of housing policy including rent restriction.
  • Unemployment in connection with military and civil demobilisation with special reference to schemes of public works.
  • Legal reform.
  • Priorities in relation to resettlement of population.
  • Science and scientific research in the national life.

A Central Committee, with Laski as its Secretary, was to be responsible for co-ordinating the work of the various sub-committees and for the allocation of permanent Research Staff to carry out the investigation of particular issues.

In The Labour Party and Whitehall (London, 1992), Kevin Theakston, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Leeds, notes that "behind a party’s programme there needed to be solid investigation, with the party organisation able to serve up detailed proposals in such a form that there could be no question of delay after the election while the official machine ponderously set about trying to clothe ministerial policy in concrete terms, giving vested interests and its opponents time to mobilise against the government." Thus the Labour Party needed a Research Department to furnish it with necessary reports and detailed policy proposals.

The Labour Research Department itself evolved from the Fabian Research Bureau founded in 1912. This became the Labour Research Department, based at Policy Headquarters, in 1917. Important work was done in the 1930’s by the National Executive Committee’s policy sub-committees and by unofficial socialist think-tanks such as the New Fabian Research Bureau and the informal XYZ Club of financial and economic experts.

During the war years great strides were made in producing a feasible party programme and the first Research Department Memoranda date from July 1941.

The Research Department did, however, suffer from a number of problems. Looking back, in the mid 1960’s the Crossman Diaries are very scathing about the lack of preparatory work during periods of Opposition. At one point in the mid 1950’s a lot of detailed work was done, but after 1959 a deliberate decision was taken for a broad brush approach. Progress was also hampered by the peculiar structure of Labour Party policy-making. Authority was divided between Conference, the National Executive Committee and the parliamentary leadership in the Shadow Cabinet. Resolutions could be approved by Conference and become party policy without any research work being done.

There were difficulties in co-ordinating Labour’s policy-making in Opposition. Particular election set-backs would prompt renewed self-examination and a need to co-ordinate research and policy activities. However, distractions of one kind and another always loomed large on the horizon. There was also a third problem. This was the Labour Party’s limited research capability. Labour’s Research Department is small. The number of researchers fluctuated between 8 and 17 in the period from 1950 to 1979 (this is something like half the size of the Conservative Research Department which itself professes to be overstretched and can do very little in-depth policy research). When one also considers that these research staff must also service the National Executive Committees sub-committee network and work on party publications and other routine functions, (it has been estimated that only around one fifth of their time is actually devoted to "research), it is surprising that such a considerable amount of Labour Party Research is carried out at all.

In the 1970’s some Labour front benchers were able to employ their own research assistants (funded by the Rowntree Trust) and after 1979 the so-called "Short Money" provided funds for Shadow Cabinet advisors (allowing each member of the Shadow Cabinet at least a half-share in a researcher).

Over the years various proposals have been made to beef up the Labour Party’s research effort, with talk of an enlarged Research Department, better links between party headquarter and the advisors working for Labour front benchers (in and out of office) in the form of an independent socialist think-tank. The Fabian Society has long been unable to conduct much policy research. One may reflect that the appearance in 1989 of the Labour-orientated Institute for Public Policy Research was a belated response to the influential right-wing think-tanks which have had such a notable impact on the policy agenda and thinking of the Thatcher government in the 1980’s.

This microfiche set includes a comprehensive list of all the Research Department Memoranda for the period July 1941 through to May 1979. This appears on the first six microfiche. Also, a full list of all the Research Department Memoranda in each volume is reproduced at the start of that particular volume. A subject index is available for the Research Department Memoranda for the period June 1970 through to June 1981 and this is reproduced on fiche 7, 8, 9 and 10. The subject index to the Information Papers, 1960-1981 is reproduced on fiche 11. The body of material for Part 1 then starts on fiche 12. In all, Part 1, covering the period 1941 through to 1961 comprises a total of 167 microfiche. With its detailed listing and subject indexes this project provides material that is readily accessible to the researcher and very easy to use.

A tremendous range of subjects is covered. The subject indexes include headings under:

  • Advertising
  • Agriculture
  • Aircraft industry
  • Animal welfare
  • Arts
  • Banking and Finance
  • Common Agricultural Policy
  • Companies
  • Conference
  • Construction industry
  • Consumers
  • Defence
  • Devolution and regional government
  • Economic policy
  • Environment
  • Europe
  • Fuel and energy
  • General policy
  • Health
  • Housing
  • Human rights
  • Industrial democracy
  • Industrial relations
  • Industry
  • Inner cities
  • Labour Party expenditure
  • Land
  • Law and order
  • Legal services
  • Leisure
  • Local government
  • Machinery of government
  • Manpower
  • Media and Communications
  • Microelectronics
  • Nationalisation and nationalised industries
  • Northern Ireland
  • Pensions
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Prices and Incomes
  • Public expenditure
  • Race Relations
  • Resolutions
  • Rural areas
  • Science and technology
  • Scotland
  • Security services
  • Shipbuilding
  • Social Policy
  • Social Security
  • Taxation
  • Town and country planning
  • Trade - internal and external
  • Trade Unions
  • Transport
  • Under Fives
  • Unemployment
  • Wales
  • Water
  • Women
  • Workers Co-operatives
  • Youth

There are some important contributions by prominent figures such as Denis Healey, Tony Benn, Aneurin Bevan and Richard Crossman. However, the bulk of the material is that produced by the Research Department staff.

A typical volume, that for 1945-1947, includes memoranda on Labour policy for privately owned industry, the educational programme, Trades Disputes Act, 40-hour week, the achievements of Labour Councils, the National Health Service, the Research Programme 1946-1947, Criteria for Nationalisation, and Public Ownership: The Next Step.

A memorandum of November 1945, RD9, sets out the Staff Needs of the Research Department. Michael Young, Secretary of the Research Department, summarises the department’s work as follows:-

"a) Provision of secretariat to the Policy Committee and the sub-committees, eg. Joint committee with the TUC on trusts and cartels.

b) Maintenance of full records for information purposes.

c) Provision of information on policy matters to MPs, candidates, Labour Parties, Trade Unions, and other affiliated organisations, writers for the Press, individual members of the Party, etc,

d) Provision of information and advice on all aspects of local government and the maintenance of contact with Labour Groups of Local Authorities.

e) Editing and publication of the Labour Bulletin, Handbooks, eg. General Election Speaker’s Handbook, 1945, and Local Government Handbook 1956-1946, and any Policy Reports that may be called for.

f) Preparation and publication of topical educational pamphlets in the Labour Discussions Series, and of advice on methods of making the best use of these pamphlets, including suggestions about syllabuses for weekend and summer schools. First six subjects are: Rise of the Labour Party, Shortages, Coal Nationalisation, Bank of England and Investment Control, Exports, and Local Government Reform, but others will follow at regular intervals.

g) On the assumption that the department takes responsibility for further Labour Party publications eg. Speaker’s Notes, Labour Year Book, possible Local Government Bulletin, Labour Diary, and election and campaign material, the work of the Department will be considerably augmented."

Michael Young notes "It is essential that at all times the Department should make the greatest possible use of voluntary workers, including MPs, members of the Fabian Society, PP and individual members of the Party. But at the moment the pressure on the Secretary, Miller and other members of the staff is too great to allow of the most effective mobilisation of volunteers."

In RD32 of October 1946 Michael Young comments on the Research Programme for 1946-1947. In paragraph two he notes: "In some ways the reformulation will present more difficulty than that contained in Let Us Face the Future. The latter embodied the thinking of two decades which had offered practically no opportunity of carrying out Labour’s policy. The next election programme, on the other hand, will call for new and original thinking on certain questions during years in which many leading members of the Party, on the national and local levels, will be heavily occupied with vital current tasks, although if the Government’s policy on such matters as housing, the social services and education is fully successful there will be no need for any basic change in the Party’s programme. It is also far more difficult to draw up election programmes in advance than before the war since the Labour government, unlike Tory governments of the past, is introducing great reforms and their results cannot yet be forseen in detail." The five page document also reviews requirements concerning co-operation with the Fabian Society on future research work.

All this had to be achieved with a staff of four people plus Michael Young as Secretary!

RD57 of May 1960 provides a four page analysis of the Research Department: its functions and staff. Paragraph 1 established the need for a Research Department:

"No individual can hope to keep abreast of changing developments in all the different fields of politics. Consequently there is a need for the services of those who can specialise in particular fields who can be relied upon to digest and interpret the information available. This is the basic reason why, in modern conditions, it is almost inconceivable that a political party should not have a Research Department.

Even when the Party is in office, a research staff is necessary: for it has to assist the NEC in the preparation of future policy and it has also to assist in keeping the movement in the country fully informed of the problems and achievements of a Labour Government.

When the Party is in Opposition however – and when the period of opposition is as long as ours has been – the Research Department must not only help its political leaders in their policy making but must act, as best it can, as a shadow civil service as well."

The document goes on to assess the quality and experience of members of the Research Department. It makes it clear that the Research Department does not, of course, make policy. However, it must ensure that when committees of either the NEC or of the parliamentary party are considering policy matters all the relevant information and argument is available to them. A high standard of work is required and speed, accuracy, judgement and intelligence are needed. The document states that in May 1960 only three out of eight members of the Department have had more than two years experience. This was argued to be an unsatisfactory state of affairs.

The document then goes on to assess the number of research assistants employed by the department. In 1940, as pointed out above, there were only 4 members. By 1950 there were 9 research assistants, 10 by 1953, 11 by 1956, 13 in 1959, but the number had dropped to 8 by 1960. The document concludes "It will be seen that the transition from Government to Opposition has made surprisingly little difference to the strength of the Department. There were 9 members in 1949-50 and, on average, 10 members between 1951-55. During the second period of Opposition 1955-59 the period in which the Department sustained a large programme of policy work – numbers rose from 11 to a maximum of 13 in election year."

The report concludes that at least twelve people are needed for the Research Department. It states "I am, however, certain that we cannot satisfactorily carry out our duties to the parliamentary party now entering its tenth year of Opposition nor to the Home Policy Committee with less than 12 people (for purposes of comparison, the Committee might like to know that today, with all the resources of government available to their Ministers, the Conservative Party Research Department numbers well over 30)."

RD90 of November 1960 goes on to outline a programme of work for the Home Policy Sub-Committee of the Labour Party. It assesses the roles of the various Sub-Committees dealing with current policy. This gives an appraisal and lists the membership of the Sub-Committee on Finance and Economic Policy, the Local Government Sub-Committee, the study group on Security and Old Age, the Sub-Committee on Television and Radio, the Sub-Committee on Industry and Science, the Joint Committee on Fuel and Power Policy, and the Joint Committee on BTC Finances.

By 1960 the Research Department was placing a greater emphasis on Parliamentary Briefings. It was offering new services such as a weekly report of news and comments for the Parliamentary Committee, Information Series: generally, substantial papers on major topics available to the whole Parliamentary Party, and more extensive briefing of Front Bench speakers and groups for Parliamentary debates. These new services were to keep the Research Department extremely busy. It was still also very much involved in Local Government Briefing, playing a big part in Party Propaganda and Publications, such as the production of the Speaker’s Handbook and the preparation of a substantial range of pamphlets on domestic policy. It was producing fortnightly Talking Points, Campaign Notes during elections, and the supply of information for both the Press Department and the Television and Radio Unit.

By 1960 it was envisaged that in the Research Department should continue to play an important role in propaganda work, if anything, in the future the Department needed to do more not less in the propaganda field. On policy, by May 1960, it was assumed that at least in the immediate future, the Research Department would not be engaged in the preparation of a large series of policy statements such has had been the case between 1955 and 1959.

Nevertheless, the Department still had an important role to play on many policy issues. The Department serviced as its main function the National Executive Committee’s Home Policy Sub-Committee, but also had to service the Local Government Sub-Committee as well. Each of those Committees had its own Sub-Committees – some temporary like the National Health Service Sub-Committee and others much more permanent like the Finance and Economic Policy Sub-Committee. The requirements of such a great number of committees and sub-committees was a great strain on the resources of the Research Department. The Research Department had a vital role to fulfil in giving a competent and reliable service of information and advice to all these committees.

The Department also had a clear duty to keep in touch with the many research centres in the universities and elsewhere doing creative research work on social, economic and industrial problems. The Department had to ensure that the results of such independent research were brought to the notice of the Policy Committee. This role required a very patient and persistent cultivation of the personal contacts with outside researchers.

All these functions meant that the Research Department had a pivotal role in the synthesis of ideas and attitudes, the provision of information, and the shaping of documentation through to agreed statements of party policy. This microfiche publication is an invaluable source for understanding this process.

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