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Britain elected a Labour Government at the end of World War II. The welfare state has a long history dating back to the Middle Ages, but the full implementation only began after Britain's victory over NAZI Germany ending World War II in Europe. The General election of 1945 rejected Winston Churchill who had led the country through World War II and put in place a Labour Government which set about building the modern welfare state. Firmly believing in Socialism and hostile to capitalism, the Labour Party thought that they would bring prosperity and affluence to Britain. The reforms included nationalization of a significant part of British industry, founding a national health system, expanding educational opportunity, sharply increasing taxes, empowering the Trade Unions, subsiding public services, and a wide range of other measures. Some of the reforms like expanding secondary education was a needed and beneficial step. Other measures like the National Health system were popular, but had mixed impact. And some measures proved to be economic disasters. The overall impact was not mixed. Britain went from being the most affluent country in Europe before the War to the poorest industrial country in Western Europe. In only a few years Britain was eclipsed by not only the occupied countries of Western Europe (Belgium, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands) as well as defeated Germany which was absolutely leveled during the War. And British living standards would be passed not only by other European countries, by Japan in Asia. Britain before the War was a technological leader, one factor it its ability to survive the NAZI Blitz. Not only did the technical invitations slow, but it was American not British industry took advantage of all the technical advances to create new products gaining great economic success and affluence or the wider public. None of this occurred in Britain which had to continue war time rationing into the 1950s. By the 1960s areas of Britain had economic levels more in line with the depression era than modern vibrant Western Europe. In short the welfare state instituted with all the best intentions, brought genteel poverty to the British people. Mrs. Thatcher summarized it succinctly, "... the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money to give away ...." And the Western democracies are rapidly running out of money.
The welfare state is often has come out of the move toward socialism which began with Karl Marx and other authors who introduced socialist ideas in the mid-19th century. Actually the origins of the welfare state are much older, in fact ancient. This is a vast subject, but the the first important societal/religious system to promote the idea that society had a responsibility for the poor were the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.. Jesus coming out of the Jewish tradition spoke very strongly on this with many comments conveying a concern for the poor. We see Bible passages such as "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." 【Matthew 19:24】 Islam was the latest of the the three religions (7th century AD). Of the three religions, Islam probably goes the furthest, at least in the scriptures, in making charity an integral part of the religion. Charity for the por is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. That is not, however, how it has transpired in real life. First, Muslim countries tend to be very poor, in part because of Islam. And poor people can not afford much charity. Second, the charity generated from Muslim countries is almost entirely charity for other Muslims and projects to promote Islam, not to aid the poor. This is in sharp contrast to Jewish and Christian charity. There are about 50 Muslim majority countries in the world, some of which have refugee problems. But notice that thiose refugees do not want to sek ayslum in other NMuslim countries not do Muslim countries care to offer asylum. They want to reach Christian countries, knowing that they will be treated better there than in other Muslim countries. And the English speaking counttries (America and Britain) are the the two countries that they are most anxious to reach. France with its own sizeable Muslim population is the third most prized choice. One You Tuber explains this shocking phenomenon. Tememberv that charity is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Part of the reason for this is the preferred countries are wealthy and have resources to assist refugees while most Muslim counries are poor with few resources. There are, however, some wealthy Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia. But for the most part, the refugees are not anxious to go to even these nich Mislim countries nor are these ciuntries anxious to accept refugees.
There is a conundrum at play when dealing with the welfare state. And that is that welfare is expensive, especially the level of support that people in the West have come to expect. That means that someone has to pay for welfare programs. That is feasible if most people are working and paying taxes. This is why the welfare state seems to be working in Scandinavia, although attitudes are changing about Muslim migrants. But in other Western countries, the welfare state is approaching crisis levels, because it is not being sustained by tax revenue. It has required massive borrowing--borrowing that can not be sustained indefinitely, especially in economies that are not growing or growing at very low rates. This is not only true of Britain, but at virtually all Western countries outside of Scandinavian. Now even socialist politicians in Europe, including the Labor Party in Britain figured out after taking power. To support an expansive welfare system, a vibrant core capitalist economy was needed to pay the bills. The simple fact is thst there are no prosperous countries without core capitalist economies. And while the welfare state requires a successful capitalist economy, the welfare states now in place creating huge and growing debt levels are adversely affecting the underlying economies needed to support them. And if all of this was not bad enough, there is the demographic problem with the countries with major welfare states. People are not having babies like they used to. The birth rate is gar below that necessary to sustain the population. And this means that there are fewer workers left to sustain the welfare recipients at a time that more people are leading longer lives and require greater welfare support.
Britain as wll as Western Europe prospered from the end of the Napoleonic wars (1815) to the outbreak of World War I (1914). It was a period of unprecedented peace, prosperity, innovation, and innovation. The lives of millions were bettered.
We became more literate, more numerate, and healthier. We lived longer and we grew richer. Peasants who moved to the cities to work in the factories during the Industrial Revolution saw their children become members of the new educated middle class. The efficiencies of the Industrial Revolution and the wealth generated by it led to major advances the abolition of slavery (1834), child labor laws, and the advance toward free public education. Spending on food, clothing, housing all increased leading to more comfortable lives. shelter was education: bettering their lot. By the 1860s, literacy rates had more than tripled from the beginning of the century, and something like 95 percent of the population could read. Almost all of this ws achieved without state interference. One historian writes, "Until August 1914, a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country for ever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police." [Taylor]
The government made major educational reforms (1870). The Government made public education free and compulsory.
Here Britain lagged. American and he German states moved toward public education much earlier.
The Liberal government of 1906-14, championed by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, initiated important reforms (1906-14). The Government introfduce an old age pension plan--the Pensions Act of 1908. The People's Budget of 1909-10 sought accordin to Prime Minister Lloyd George sought to 'wage implacable warfare against poverty'. The National Insurance Act of 1911 saw the Liberal government moving away from its tradition of laissez-faire systems toward larger, more intrusive government. Taxes were collected, at first mostly from the wealthy and the proceeds redistributed. Afraid of losing votes to the emerging Labour party and the increasingly popular ideology of socialism, modern liberals betrayed their classical principles. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George said "the partisan warfare that raged around these topics was so fierce that by 1913, this country was brought to the verge of civil war."
World War I erupted (1914). It morphed beyond all control. Britain had to pour its entire national effort into the struggle. The British Government had to borrow enormous sums, mostly from the United States. And it had to move off the gold standard. The exengencies of War forced the Government to play a greater role in people's lives to ensure that everyone supportd the war effort md had their minimal needs met. . Rationing was adopted to ensure that food was availavle to everyone. And Britain introduced conscription for the first time.
England elected a Labour Government at the end of World War II. The welfare state has a long history dating back to the Middle Ages, but the full implementatiin began after Briain's victoiry over NAZI Germany ending World war II in Europe. The General election of 1945 rejected Winston Churchill who had led the country through World War II and put in place a Labour Government which set about building the modern welfare state. Firmly believing in Socialism, the Labour Party thought that they would bring prosperity and affluence to Britain.
The reforms included nationalization of a significant part of British industry, founding a national health system, expanding eucational opportunity, sharply increasing taxes, empowering the Trade Unions, subsiding public services, and a wide range of other measures. Some of the reforms like expanding secondary education was a needed and beneficial step. Other measures like the National Health system were popular, but had mixed impact. And some measures proved to be economic disasters.
The overall impact of Britain's welfafe reformks have not been mixed. Britain went from being the most affluent country in Europe before World War II to the poorest industrial country in Western Europe. In only a few years Britian was eclipsed by not only the occupied countries of Western Europe (Belgium, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands) as well as defeated Germany which was absolutely leveled during the War. And British living standards would be passed not only by other European countries, by Japan in Asia. Britain before the War was a technological leader, one factor it its ability to survive the NAZI Blitz. Not only did the technical innivatiins slow, but it was American not British industry took advantage of all the technical advances to create new products gaining great economic suucess and affluence or the wider public. None of this occurred in Britain which had to continue war time rationing into the 1950s. By the 1960s areas of Britain had economic levels more in line with the depression era than modern vibrant Western Europe. In short the welfare state institued with all the best intentions, brought genteel poverty to the British people. Mrs. Thatcher summarized it sucinctly, "... the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money to give away ...." The ever-growing welfare state was designed to help people but actully had the opposite effect.
Taylor, A.J.P. (1965).
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