2 Political, Economic, Intellectual and Literary Background

Dr. Ratan Tilak Mohunta

Background: The Political Scene 

The beginning of the Twentieth Century in European history can be referred to as an age of anxiety. The British Empire, which had established itself on a firm edifice after having colonized more than a third of the land and people of world, now seemed to be shaky. England was entering a period of uncertainty after a long period of political stability under Queen Victoria. A brief look at the time line of British history of the 20th Century will give us some idea of its changing political contours.

1900 – 1914 (Edwardian Era) 

This brief period in English history is called the Edwardian era although Queen Victoria’s rule came to end in 1901 and King Edward reigned from 1901 -1910. However, for the sake of convenience, historians generally refer to the period marking the end of the 19th century to the outbreak of World War I in 1914 as the Edwardian Era.

1914 – 1918 (World War I) 

• The causes for World War I were many; however we can list some of the major causes that prepared the ground for the first big war in world history:
• European nations were intertwined in a web of alliances: Germany – Austria / Italy – Hungary formed what is known as the Triple Alliance, and France – England – Russia formed the Triple Entente. These alliances were formed because the countries felt that the borders didn’t represent territorial boundaries clearly.
• There was growing militarism at the time with large standing armies and each country looked at the other with a haughty attitude of superiority. France and Germany also dew their own specific battle plans
• Growing imperialist tendencies was driving European nations into a ruthless competition for natural resources, especially minerals.
•   Jingoistic Nationalism pushed countries into territorial disputes, rivalries and rush for resources.
• A series of disastrous events between 28th June and 4thAugust 1914, beginning with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria- Hungary triggered the Great War. Nations immediately took sides with England –France –Japan –Italy –Russia – America forming the Allied powers and Germany –The Ottoman Empire –Austria / Hungary forming the Central powers.

Initially, England hardly imagined the economic cost of war and neither did it worry so much about the ill-conceived long drawn battle. The war shattered the economy of England and had a long term effect on development and progress. Stephen Broadberry and Peter Howlett in their article titled “THE UNITED KINGDOM DURING WORLD WAR I: BUSINESS AS USUAL?” quote EMH Lloyd to stress the economic impact of the war on England:

“Throughout the war there were two phrases which must have been repeated hundreds of times…“Every private interest must be subordinated to the successful prosecution of the war” and “There must be as little interference as possible with the normal channels of trade”…The real problem was to determine the exact degree of interference with normal trade channels that was necessary for the successful prosecution of the war.”

The stress on continuing trade in spite of the war shows England’s desperation to strike a balance between its political – military and economic interests

1918 – 1939 (Inter War Period) 

The years between the two world wars can be termed as Britain’s last bit of glory in world history. Reduced greatly by the huge cost of the Great War, England was now literally licking its wounds. History had changed England forever.Even though, the “Big Four” of Allied Powers – Woodrow Wilson of the United States, David Lloyd George of Britain, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy, and Georges Clemenceau of France –came together to broker a fragile peace to end the first war; It was Woodrow Wilson’s enormous influence that helped clinched the deal. Moreover, England had to repay £900 million to America as cost of the war. Its investments abroad were wiped out as its coal and cotton exports fell. World War I, popularly called the “war to end all wars” clearly threw up America as a new world power. With its industrial and military might, this new power would soon replace England in global politics. This had a lasting impact on the British Empire; reforms were initiated at home as the dominions of the empire began to shrink by late 1920’s. With an increase in electorate, the first Labour government under the leadership of Ramsay Mac Donald came to power in 1924. By 1927, all women above the age of 21 were allowed to vote.

1927 (General Strike) 

A huge general Strike hit England just when it was on its way to economic recovery; however the new conservative government headed by Stanley Baldwin was able to quell the strike after nine days employing middle-class strike breakers.

1929 (The Great Depression) 

The financial meltdown of Wall Street in New York was a signal to all European nations that eleven years after the war, the European economy was still shaky. Europe witnessed high levels of unemployment and misery.

1939 – 1945 (World War II) 

Before World War I, Germany was the leading player, the drive engine of the European economy. After the war though, it was reduced to a shadow of itself with shrunk military strength owing to disarmament brokered at the treaty of Versailles and its coal fields at Ruhr occupied by France. Driven by economic misery and despair, treated like a pariah among others, Germany was forced to act in desperation. Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 with a promise to reverse the treaty of Versailles. He withdrew from the disarmament conference and left the League of Nations. The inter war period saw the rise of dictatorships in Europe which England could safely avoid by introducing parliamentary reforms. Nevertheless, Britain was hit by the economic slump that came with the collapse of Wall Street and by continued labour strikes.

Post War Britain (1945 to the Turn of the Millennium) 

1945-51: The Third Labour government came to power in 1945 which inherited the economic problems of the pre-war period coupled with instability created by war. British exports stood at an all-time low necessitating immediate reforms and legislations. The chief areas of concern were nationalization and economic planning, social welfare and trade union law. Thomas F. Cooley and Lee E. Ohanian in their article titled “Postwar British Economic Growth and the legacy of Keynes” suggest that “the policies used by Britain to finance  World War II represented a dramatic departure from the policies used to finance earlier wars and were very different from the policies used by the United States during the war”(Cooley 439) Following the recommendations of the eminent economist J.M Keynes, Britain taxed “capital income at a much higher rate than the United Statesduring the war and for much of the postwar period”.

The 50s: Mark Clapson suggests that the 1950s are increasingly studied by historians for key reasons which include “the transition from the austerity of the years between 1945 and 1951 to full employment and affluence. This corresponded with three successive victories of the Conservative Party following the Labour governments of 1945–51”.

The 60s: Anybody familiar with popular culture will know that the 60s mark a new decade of permissiveness in sexual mores, growth of youth cultures and pop music. Weary and desperate from the trauma of war, Britain too was turning to culture and leisure time activities as an escape from the grim economic realities of life. It was time for many to accept the absurdities of postwar life by looking away from the immediate present.

The 70s: The Zeitgeist (the defining spirit of the times) of the 60s carried over to the 70s “until the decade became beset with economic problems” (Clapson 8).Clapson claims that “the oil crisis, the return of mass unemployment and worsening industrial relations are typical fare on the menu of the 1970s” (8). Finally, the rise of Thatcherism saw the end of consensual politics in Britain and the economy, once again, turned from welfare to aggressive capitalism.

The 80s: The 80s can be better described as the decade of conservative politics in England. With the opposition from labour considerably weakened, Thatcher’s rigid policies continued to govern its economy. Clapson says that many conservative historians would like to believe that Thatcherism and the victory in the Falklands war helped England regain some of its lost self-confidence as a nation.

The 90s: The 90s is a significant decade for many reasons. For England, it was a period of change after a long stint of conservative rule; Labour party which called itself New Labour came to power in 1997 and promised to set a new agenda for politics. This period can also be termed as the post – cold war decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The mighty USSR was struggling to exercise control over its Eastern republics in the 80’s. During 89 -90 the Berlin wall that stood as a symbol of the divide between East and West Germany came down, and by late 1991 the Soviet Union crumbled giving birth to independent republics.

We have now listed the major political and economic issues that dominated Europe in the 20th century and examined their implications for England. It is now possible to go back and study the domestic scene: the social, cultural and the everyday of English life.

The Socio- Cultural Landscape of England during 1900-14 

By the end of 19th century, England had witnessed a surge in industrial production. Merchant capitalism had turned the nation into a hub of production and business. The result of this could be seen in the growth of big industrial cities like London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. At the beginning of the 20th century almost 80% of the population of England lived in cities. The pressure on city councils to provide basic amenities like water, electricity and sanitation was mounting. Whereas production of goods and services increased considerably, the increasing population and huge migrations into cities created new social problems. Gabriel Tortella in Origins of the 21st Century states that “economic growth required an enormous geographical and occupational redistribution of population, that is to say, a change in its structure” (Tortella 80). Nonetheless “The population exodus to the cities caused serious social problems. In the first place, the cities were not ready to receive the huge influx of new inhabitants”(82). Cities gave birth to slums and disease; poverty became a major worry for the British government. London city presented a grim picture of islands of prosperity in oceans of misery. The worst sufferers were working class migrants who made cities their new habitat. As Clapson rightly points out “Almost three quarters of the British people were working class, engaged in industrial or manual labour” (Clapson 10) at the beginning of the century. Social investigation however, showed that “up to a third of the working-class population of Britain’s cities lived in poverty”.

East End of London: 

The East end of London refers to the districts to the east and outside of the medieval walled city of London. It lies north of the river Thames; since late 19th century it was synonymous with endemic poverty. Notorious for crime and prostitution, the East end became a derogatory term linked to filth and squalor. Serial murders by Jack the Ripper around 1888 in Whitechapel created a sense of dread among residents of East End. Laura Vaughan “Mapping the East End Labyrinth” suggests that “East London in 1888 was an overcrowded, densely packed district, suffering from some of the highest rates of poverty in the city.” Further, she adds that “The situation in the East End was more complex still if we consider the mix of people living in the area at the time. By the time of the Ripper murders the area contained two principal minority groups: Irish and Jewish. J. A. Jackson has described how the Irish influx had started a generation earlier with the famine of the 1840s, when many Irish migrants arrived in British ports –‘destitute, starving and often diseased.’ In 1900, a majority of the British population was white, however, small communities of black Britons lived “close to the docks and ports of the largest cities” (Clapson 10), reminding the whites their colonial history. In addition, a large number of Jewish émigrés (immigrants) also “tended to live near docks or to inhabit the most affordable housing” (10). Clapson suggests that the racial and cultural mix that was beginning to grow then gradually developed into full-fledged multiculturalism towards the end of the century.

Working Class Culture 

The huge migrant populations that entered the cities in search of employment settled in low – cost housing suburbs. Low-skilled technical workers, semi-skilled unskilled labour together formed one of the largest industrial workers populations. Uprooted from their traditional vocations, the working class had lost its social and cultural moorings. Hard labour in tough work environments often made the workers life dreary and monotonous. Work had to alternate with leisure and the working class sought relief through activities like partying in pubs, gambling and playing or watching football.

While cricket continued as the game of the aristocratic gentleman, football began to emerge as a new form of public entertainment, especially among the working class. Although football was a very old game played in crude format for a long time in Britain, it did not gain as much popularity as horse racing, cricket or boxing till the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The latter, according to Adrian Harvey, “had long been major commercial enterprises, consisting of hugely popular contestsinvolving professional competitors and watched by thousands of spectators”(Harvey xiii). He does not fully agree with the view of some sports historians that the sport became popular only because “boys from public schools took the rough, wild and undisciplined game that had existed for hundreds of years in the wider community and codified it. These new laws transformed football into a popular game by making it accessible to a mass public” (xiii). He suggests that the rules of soccer actually originated from various sources and were modified significantly over time. “One of the major sources of these transformations was the football culture that emerged in Sheffield during the 1850s” (xiv). Sheffield was known internationally in the 19th century as the crucible of steel production; hence it is not surprising that the city with its large working class population boasts of having the oldest football club in the world.

The Bourgeoisie or the Middle Class 

The term “Bourg” in French means a Town or a small Market Town. Although, a bourgeois literally, is one who resides in a town, contemporary meanings are much influenced by Marxists interpretations of the term. The middle class definitely emerged as a new social group in industrial society. They stand in between the landed aristocracy and the landless peasants of the old agrarian feudal system. It is stratified further as the upper (haute), the middle (moyenne) and the lower (petite) bourgeoisie. These categories together formed the bourgeoisie. Marxists generally refer to the upper stratum, mostly affluent, capitalist owners of the means of production as Bourgeois. The bourgeoisie is the capitalist class that stands opposed to the proletariat (working class) in industrial society.

Clapson suggests that “Structural changes in the economy” generated“more employment suitable for the middle classes” (Clapson 11), nevertheless, England was still a male dominant society. Hence, the question of gender equality was always a middle class preoccupation. However, women began to enter some middle class professions “notably in education and law” (11). This happened partly due to “the expansion of compulsory mass education initiated by the Education Act of 1870” (11). A large number of middle class women entered the teaching profession and their growing number in the education sector “reflected the emphasis that middle-class families had placed upon learning and qualifications”.

The cultural activities of the middle classes varied considerably from that of the working class. Talking about sex in public was taboo and greater sexual freedom was, even now, the exclusive privilege of the rich. By the beginning of the 19th century, “most large towns and cities had at least one music hall” (11). The middle class being the educated class of British society consumed daily stories from newspapers, magazines, journals and soon emerged as the reading public constituting the bourgeois public sphere. The “Education Acts from 1902 that extended compulsory education to almost all children, growinglevels of disposable income, and the commercialization and expansion of the press,” all contributed to this development”.

Economy and Politics (1900-14) 

Economy: England was a leading manufacturing country at the beginning of the century  with textile, iron and steel, coal, and ship-building being some of the major areas. Laissez Faire capitalism spurred industrial growth as was evident from “the cotton manufacturing mills in Lancashire and Cheshire, and in woolens and some cotton textile making in west Yorkshire. Coal mining was another hugely important provider of jobs in the North-West, as it was across many other areas of England, and in Scotland and Wales” (13). These industries were run with the help of a huge labour force that began to unionize itself to protect its interests and rights. The British Trade Union movement was still in its infancy in 1880’s, given the comparatively smaller size of working class population. Labour unions were either poorly organized or not properly recognized then. The Scottish railway strikes of 1890 had shown how labour could organize itself and engage in collective bargaining. More labour unrest in 1911 -13 proved that lack of collective bargaining could be disastrous to industry. The World War-I gave a significant boost to collective bargaining as “large sectors of the economy came within the scope of the Munitions of War Act of 1915 and the later amendments” (Labour and Trade Unions in Great Britain (1880-1939).

Politics: The enormous growth and organizational capacity of trade unions would soon transform labour into a new political group. At the beginning of the century though, British politics was still dominated by the conservative Tories and the liberals. By 1900, however, the birth of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) formed by a number of socialist groups, “notably the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party” (Clapson 14). It soon evolved into “the most powerful vehicle for socialism in Britain” (14). Leading members of prominent trade unions joined the committee.“The LRC was renamed the Labour Party in 1906”(14), and by 1924, the first Labour government was voted in to power replacing the conservatives. The rise of Labour as a new political force considerably weakened the liberals so much so that the latter could never make a comeback after 1918.

The Empire before 1914: 

British imperial interests abroad had suffered a major setback in the Boer War (1899 – 1902) in South Africa. France and Germany were posing a stiff challenge to Britain in Africa. Clapson points out that “the mighty British army struggled to defeat the German-backed Afrikaans population in South Africa” (15). The scramble for Africa to grab its mineral wealth had thrown up new competition for the empire. Back at home, the issue of home rule for Ireland advocated by liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, a crusader for the cause, was defeated in parliament. “His first home rule bill in1886 split the liberal party and was rejected” and a second bill in in 1894 “was rejected by the House of Lords.”The Irish question continued to trouble England like a festering wound till it burst open in the Easter uprising of 1916.

What happened on the domestic Front during World War I 

The Great War had a lasting impact on British civil society. Although it was not the first time that a large number of civilians had to join the war, “mass mobilisation of servicemen” became the order of the day “first voluntarily and later via conscription” (16). Conscription means the compulsory enlistment of civilians for military service. The propaganda machinery of the government, through newspapers and posters tried to create a favorable public opinion and patriotic fervor. However, the uncertain sense of patriotism was not to last long. David Monger suggests that patriotism was all high diction which “though powerful enough to provoke enthusiasm in 1914, was soon cast aside by soldiers at the front, and later by friends and relatives at home” (Monger 502 -503).

Nonetheless, the war had a significant impact on gender relationships; the war created new employment opportunities for millions of women. “Many enjoyed incomes independent of their boyfriends or husbands” (Clapson 16). In a strange twist of irony, the war had “liberated women by emasculating men” (Heathorn1107). Many women “put on uniforms to serve as nursesput on uniforms to serve as nurses and drivers and a range of other war related tasks in the auxiliaries and drivers and a range of other war related tasks in the auxiliaries” (1108). As “Gender lines became increasingly ambiguous,”(1108) the imagery of the Great War as Sex War “came increasingly to be deployed by those men and women who believed the gender order was being turned upside down” (1108). The war destabilized British society and threatened to disrupt its bourgeois culture that had assumed a false sense of immutability.

War Poetry

The Great War was the first mechanized war characterized by the prototype battle tank, artillery shelling and trench warfare. Early modernist writers and artists, stuck by the horror of war, tried to respond to the gruesome reality through ballads and poems. Leading poets who recorded their thoughts and sentiments about the war are Wilfred Owen, Richard Aldington, Herbert Read, Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg and Robert Graves. Santanu Das recollects a moving account of what Owen wrote to his mother after three weeks at the Front: “‘I have not seen any dead. I have done worse. In the dank air, I have perceived it, and in the darkness, felt’”(Das 76).He suggests that discussions of war poetry assimilated into a “historical doctrine expressing the truth of war”. He also adds that images of war, like “Darkness, guns, mud, rain, gas, bullets, shells, barbed wire, rats, lice, cold, trench foot,” which have formed “the modern memory of war, are all “culled from the trench poetry of Owen, Sassoon, Graves, and Rosenberg” (76). As a result “historical and literary narratives often become interchangeable, as if war poetry was the transparent envelope of senseexperience: the seared senses of the war-torn soldier which become the most powerful form of testimony, altering the very meaning of the term ‘war poetry’ in the twentieth century” (76). The war produced “a culture of disillusionment” (Clapson 17) that, in turn, gave birth to the decadent modernist aesthetic.

Sample War Poem

Anthem for Doomed Youth Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.

The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Reference

• Clapson, Mark. The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Twentieth Century. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
• Cooley F. Thomas, Lee E. Ohanian. “Postwar British Economic Growth and the Legacy of Keynes.” The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 105, No. 3. (Jun., 1997), pp. 439-472. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00223808%28199706%29105%3A3%3C439%3APBEGAT%3E2.0.C O%3B2-5
• Das, Santanu. “War Poetry and the Realm of the Senses.” Tim Kendall Ed British and Irish War Poetry. New York: OUP, 2007, pp 73 -100. (Print).
• Harvey, Adrian. “Introduction,” Football: The First Hundred Years. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print.
• Heathorn, Stephen. “The Mnemonic Turn in the Cultural Historiography of Britain’s Great War,” The Historical Journal / Volume 48 / Issue 04 / December 2005,” pp 1103 – 1124 DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X05004930. http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0018246X05004930
• Monger, David. Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2015, pp. 501–528. http://tcbh.oxfordjournals.org/
• Tortella, Gabriel. The Origins of the Twenty –First Century. New York: Rotledge, 2010. Print.