The politics of planning : the debate on economic planning in Britain in the 1930s

444 Pages·2011·1.517 MB·English

by  Ritschel, Daniel

Title Pages
The Politics of Planning: The Debate on Economic
Planning in Britain in the 1930s
Daniel Ritschel
Print publication date: 1997
Print ISBN-13: 9780198206477
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.001.0001
Title Pages
The Debate on Economic Planning in Britain in the 1930s
(p.ii) (p.iii) The Politics of Planning
(p.iv) This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard
specification in order to ensure its continuing availability
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© Daniel Ritschel 1997
Page 1 of 2
Title Pages
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Oxford Historical Monographs
The Politics of Planning: The Debate on Economic
Planning in Britain in the 1930s
Daniel Ritschel
Print publication date: 1997
Print ISBN-13: 9780198206477
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.001.0001
(p.i) Oxford Historical Monographs
Editors
R. R. Davies
Sir John Elliott
P. Langford
H. C. G. Matthew
H. M. Mayr-Harting
A. J. Nicholls
Sir Keith Thomas
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Dedication
The Politics of Planning: The Debate on Economic
Planning in Britain in the 1930s
Daniel Ritschel
Print publication date: 1997
Print ISBN-13: 9780198206477
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.001.0001
Dedication
(p.v) For my mother who taught me to love history
Page 1 of 1
Preface
The Politics of Planning: The Debate on Economic
Planning in Britain in the 1930s
Daniel Ritschel
Print publication date: 1997
Print ISBN-13: 9780198206477
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.001.0001
(p.vi) (p.vii) Preface
In the course of the research and writing of this work, I enjoyed the generous
advice and comments of many scholars and friends, although I am afraid that I
may not have done justice to their learned counsel. Foremost among them are Dr
John Rowett, Prof. George Peden, Dr Michael Freeden, Dr Colin Matthew, Prof.
Martin Petter, Prof. Norman MacKenzie, and Mr A. F. Thompson. Prof. Richard
Rempel helped not only with invaluable advice on the text, but also with his
steadfast friendship and support of my fledgling career. My greatest debt, of
course, is to Dr Jose Harris, whose exacting standards shaped the work, both at
its initial stage as a doctoral thesis and since.
The research took me to many archives and libraries, but Richard Storey and
Richard Temple at the Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, Dr Angela
Raspin at the British Library of Political and Economic Science, and the
archivists and librarians at the Public Records Office, House of Lords Records
Office, the Bodleian Library, the McMaster University Library, and the Thomas
Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, deserve particular thanks for their
assistance. The late Earl of Stockton, the late Lord Boothby, Sir Alec Cairncross,
Lord Molson, and Mr Michael Barratt Brown gave generously their time and
memories. Lord Melchett kindly gave me access to the papers of his grandfather,
Henry Mond.
I wish also to express my gratitude to the Social Science and Humanities
Research Council of Canada for its support of my work, both at Oxford and
subsequently. Some research for the book was also made possible by the Quebec
Ministry of Education and the Designated Research Initiative Fund at the
University of Maryland Graduate School, Baltimore.
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Preface
Last but not least, I want to beg the forgiveness of Eva and Sebastian, who have
put up with my work-related distraction and absences for far longer than I care
to admit. Their love and support have allowed me to practice the art my mother
first taught me to love.
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Abbreviations
The Politics of Planning: The Debate on Economic
Planning in Britain in the 1930s
Daniel Ritschel
Print publication date: 1997
Print ISBN-13: 9780198206477
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.001.0001
(p.x) Abbreviations
AP
Clifford Allen Papers
BLPES
British Library of Political and Economic Science
BTC
Birmingham Town Crier
CP
G. D. H. Cole Papers
CRD
Conservative Research Department (Archive)
DH
Daily Herald
Ec. HR
Economic History Review
EHR
English History Review
FAB
Fabian Society Archive
FBI
Federation of British Industries (Archive)
JCH
Journal of Contemporary History
LPCR
Labour Party Conference Report
MG
Manchester Guardian
NC
News Chronicle
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Abbreviations
NFRB
New Fabian Research Bureau
NL
New Leader
NO
New Outlook
NS
New Statesman
PEP
Political and Economic Planning (Archive)
PQ
Political Quarterly
PRO
Public Records Office
TT
Time and Tide
WER
Week-End Review
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Introduction
The Politics of Planning: The Debate on Economic
Planning in Britain in the 1930s
Daniel Ritschel
Print publication date: 1997
Print ISBN-13: 9780198206477
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.001.0001
Introduction
Daniel Ritschel
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206477.003.0001
Abstract and Keywords
This section discusses the necessary ingredients of Whig history—the great new
ideas represented by the thought of John Maynard Keynes, the Cambridge
economist and prophet of managed capitalism; the villains who are the
contemporary defenders of neo-classical orthodoxy within the Treasury, much of
the economic profession outside of Cambridge, and the ‘economic conservatives’
in both Tory and Labour governments between the wars; and the heroes who are
Keynes's disciples: the ‘economic radicals’ who carried on a pioneering struggle
for economic reform throughout the slump-ridden inter-war years of Britain. It
describes the complex process of ideological debate, the struggle over the
meaning of planning, and the retreat from planning towards the Keynesian
‘middle way’. It identifies that the problems of traditional treatments of the
Keynesian revolution have stemmed from an undue readiness to accept claims
about the ‘scientific’ nature of economic knowledge.
Keywords:   Whig history, John Maynard Keynes, neo-classical orthodoxy, economic conservatives,
economic radicals, inter-war years, ideological debate, planning, middle way
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Introduction
Few historians today would seriously uphold the classical Whig interpretation of
the revolutions of the seventeenth century or the great reforms of the
nineteenth. Its paradigm of an inexorable march of progress, driven by powerful
new ideas of constitutional reform and liberty espoused by an ever-growing body
of enlightened opinion in the face of stiff resistance by reactionary interests, has
suffered probably an irreversible set-back at the hands of modern scholars.1 Yet
a Whig interpretation is alive and well in the dominant narrative of the origins of
the Keynesian revolution in the middle years of this century. Indeed, the view of
the ‘road to 1945’ as having been paved by the ineluctable advance of
progressive ideas upheld between the wars by a small but vocal body of
economic dissidents has long held the status of conventional wisdom.
The necessary ingredients of Whig history—heroes, villains, and great new ideas
—are all present. The great new ideas are more than amply represented by the
thought of John Maynard Keynes, the Cambridge economist and prophet of
managed capitalism. The villains are the contemporary defenders of neo-
classical orthodoxy within the Treasury, much of the economics profession
outside of Cambridge, and the ‘economic conservatives’ in both Tory and Labour
governments between the wars. The heroes are Keynes’s disciples: the
‘economic radicals’ who carried on a pioneering struggle for economic reform
throughout the slump-ridden inter-war years. Though unsuccessful before the
war, they are credited with a host of important ideological and policy
developments loosely associated with the ‘Keynesian revolution’ of the 1940s,
spanning not only the official commitment to the maintenance of full
employment in 1944, and the rapid extension of public ownership and state
intervention in the ‘mixed’ economy under the Labour (p.2) governments after
the war but also the bipartisan endorsement of the Beveridgeian welfare state
and the general climate of ‘Butskellite consensus’ in post-war British politics.
Thus while the inter-war period may have appeared to many at the time to have
been one of tragically wasted years in economic policy, and conflict in politics
and society at large, the prevailing account rehabilitates it as the fertile seed-
bed for the progressive advances of the post-war years. The entire narrative has
been described by Paul Addison as ’so characteristic of the Whiggish and
evolutionary pattern of British politics’.2
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