Why the Labour Party Won the Election in 1945 Essays -- Papers

Why the Labour Party Won the Election in 1945 The Labour Party won the general election in 1945, with Clement Attlee returning as Prime Minister. The state of play was that Labour has won 314 seats, the Conservatives 294. Socialism was not widely recognised until 1945. The majority of people were almost frightened by it. This was because Russia was a socialist state, promoting communism. When Russia proved to be a reliable alley during the war, socialism became less strange and was more approved of. The middle class citizens now started to vote socialism, they saw it as respectable. This therefore increased to amount of votes for labour. After the war, there was a mood for social change. This was because soldiers who came home from serving in the War came back to unemployment. They were promised a land fit for hero’s but instead came back to a depression. The 1930’s depression caused poverty in Britain and many citizens lost their job and became unemployed, the British public did not want to have go through this again. This caused for a change in government to see what a different party would offer the nation, to improve its chances of recovering now the war was over. The labour slogan was â€Å"Let us face to the future†, this slogan prompted forward thinking. Labour promoted the welfare state; this was made by written in the Beveridge report and labour made it specific in its manifesto. This meant families could receive the Allowances Act which would provide a regular sum for second and subsequent children to be paid to the mother. The National Health Service Act in order to provide a free and fully comprehensive health se... ...o† in power. This was the internal security police of Nazi Germany. The Nazis established the Gestapo in order to monitor and stamp out any political opposition to the Hitler regime. Under Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo's powers became brutal and far-reaching in ferreting out Jews, Marxists, and even moderate critics of the regime. By referring the labour party to such a brutal regime it was not approved upon and lost creditability for the conservatives. Overall the actions of Winston Churchill and his decisions through the campaign cost them to loose the election to Labour. I believe that the conservative’s ways of campaigning and relying on gratitude from the British public for winning the war, lost them votes. I also believe that by trying to discredit the Labour party also lost them respect, which lost them votes.