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" Prospects for socialism : "
Flinn, Andrew D.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1098978
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TLets557595
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| Main Entry
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Flinn, Andrew D.
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| Title & Author
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Prospects for socialism :\ Flinn, Andrew D.
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| College
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University of Manchester
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| Date
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1999
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| student score
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1999
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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This thesis examines the success or otherwise of left-wing politics in the years 1933 to1941. The study focuses on the cities and towns which broadly correspond to themodem administrative region of Greater Manchester. Rather than attempting anotherbroad and inclusive history of the thirties, the methodology adopted is of a series ofcase studies. The region selected is notable for the diversity of all aspects of workingclasslife, including work and politics. The case studies chosen, describing theexperiences of left-wing activists in the engineering, railway and cotton industries,within the Irish Catholic and Jewish communities and as members of the Women's CooperativeGuild, reflect that diversity.This research concentrates on rank-and-file organisation and grass roots activism. Thefocus is not on trade union or party leaders but on strikers, shop stewards, branchsecretaries,c onferenced elegatesa nd local party workers. The actions of thesep oliticalmilitants are examined not only in terms of national events but equally importantly inthe context of local economic and social factors. To achieve this, the records of nationalorganisations are used in conjunction with extensive reference to local materials, oralhistory and other autobiographical sources.The case study approach allows for the examination and contrast of the effects ofdifferent factors such as class, gender, occupation, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs,culture, political traditions and economic circumstances on the implantation ofsocialism amongst working-class activists in differing communities in the 1930s.Among the questions considered are the relationship between industrial militancy andpolitical radicalism; the links between the experience of class and political allegiance;the effects on the development of local Labour and Communist Parties of the enduringpresence of other forms of working-class politics including Conservatism and non-Communist socialism; the extent to which the nineteen thirties can be said to completethe "double closure" of British socialism; how far the dominant organisations of labourpolitics failed to fully represent the interests of a heterogeneous working-class; thedifferences between the objectives of Labour Movement leaders and local activists; theoutcome of the conflict between community (including religious) elites and left-wingparties; the relationship of feminism to 1930s Labour politics and the representation ofgender issues by the dominant working-class organisations; the experience ofgenerational differences in political conflict; the continued relevance ofinternationalism and anti-war sentiment in an era of anti-fascist alliances, and finallythe relationship of the local to the national, the specific to the general.
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| Added Entry
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University of Manchester
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