1950 Unknown His Future - Your Vote

For Radical Reform (1951)

alongside utilising a similar tactic from 1950, asking voters to remember the ‘dark past’ & ‘bitter 34‘1951 Labour Party memories’34 of the pre-war Conservative It was little over a year after the 1950 Election Manifesto’ <https:// web.archive.org/ governments especially in terms of prosperity that the public was asked to return to the polls and web/20170504061149/ http://www. and employment. vote again. Although 1950 had seen Labour defeat politicsresources.net/ area/uk/man/lab51.htm> the Conservatives, they had a slender majority. Amid [accessed 23 March 2020]. We can see Labour’s manifesto claims quite an upcoming Commonwealth Tour in 1952 King clearly in the election propaganda, and instantly we George VI was concerned of a change of Government can see the echoes of prior campaigns, ‘The Good in his absence, to this end, Clement Attlee called an Neighbour – Votes Labour’ is a sentiment repeated election for 1951 to sure up his parties position within in 1950, engaging in similar notions of fulfilling a civic Government. By this point, Labour had implemented duty by voting Labour. Although, whereas in 1950 most of its policy commitments from 1945 and there Herbert Morrison had engaged in a campaign to was maybe an air of ‘staleness’, around government sell socialism as a means that could help the people, and its ability to make changes. Come to the election, largely ignoring the more radical elements of the Labour polled the highest, taking 48.8% of the vote manifesto in their campaign literature, in 1951 Labour and breaking the record for the most votes achieved was a lot more blatant in selling their traditional by a political party in the UK along the way.32 32‘General Election Socialist ideology; ‘End the profit ramp – Vote Labour’ Despite this resounding victory, or at least Results 1885-1979’ <http://www.election. [№ 028] and ‘Declare War on the profiteers – Vote that’s what the numbers would lead you to demon.co.uk/geresults. html> [accessed 20 Labour’ [№ 016] stand out as combative ideas believe, it was the Conservatives for the first June 2020]. against the Conservative ideas of capitalism, gone was time since 1935 and the onset of the War who came out the idea that people would be turned off by socialism or as the winners, gaining 23 seats and a 10 seat majority, grand ideas. The ostentatious statement ‘For Radical with the First-Past-the-Post system concentrating the reform - Vote Labour’ [№ 025] sums up the ideology. Labour vote in safer areas, it was the Conservatives These ideas are exciting, but maybe Herbert Morrison who dealt the decisive blow. was right in 1945, sell the ideas to the people in a way that they can understand. Often 1951 doesn’t feel as But the 1951 campaign for Labour can be summarised personable or honest as prior campaigns have done, by its large scale similarity to the 1950 campaign, the and maybe that links to the oppressive nature of the political message remained largely similar, in their aesthetic. The problem that Labour had in selling itself manifesto they set out to ‘secure peace; to maintain is that by this point the Conservatives had come to full employment and increase production; terms with Labours post-war reforms, and actively to bring down the cost of living; to build a 33‘1951 Labour Party Manifesto’ <https:// campaigned to keep them, radical socialist ideas were just society.33 The campaign relied heavily web.archive.org/ web/20170504061149/ Labours way of cutting through the crowd. on Labours record over the six years in http://www. politicsresources.net/ government and their perceived successes, area/uk/man/lab51.htm> [accessed 23 March 2020].