The Politics of Planning

Barbara Wootton, Friedrich Hayek and the debate on democratic federalism in the 1940s

“…Keynesian economics and the American New Deal experience of the 1930s enhanced the British concern with welfare and economic planning. 3 The war experience persuaded many to reconsider the advantages of the planned economy, and to think about One of the aims of this paper is to flesh out some of the eclectic sources inspiring her international thought. Wootton was wary of associating herself with a specific internationalist tradition.…”

What Was the New Party? Sir Oswald Mosley and Associated Responses to the ‘Crisis’, 1931−1932

“…With the economy failing, the Labour government holding fruitlessly to Snowden's orthodox liberal economics, and Baldwin's Conservative Party appearing unable to form an effective opposition, broadsheets began raising the possibility of a National government being formed and also pondering the merits of tariff reform long before the 'crisis' of August 1931. 104 Simultaneously, more original concepts such as planning, corporatism and parliamentary reform began to inform discussion across the political and social spectrum in the early 1930s. Planning, for instance, had long been an objective -albeit ill-defined -of the Labour Party and ILP, but it had also become an acceptable concept for Tory and Liberal radicals by the turn of decade.…”

The Labour Party and Mr Keynes in the 1930s: a Partial Keynesian Revolution Without Keynes

“…123 Durbin's embrace of Keynes was evident, albeit partial and hesitant. 124 In February 1931, Douglas Jay wrote a favourable review of Keynes' Treatise on Money.125 He recalled having later that year been impressed by an Evening Standard article in which Keynes had excoriated the new National government budget as being 'replete with folly and injustice. '126 Along with Durbin, he was one of the younger Labour fraternity's most economically literate and assiduous 'Keynes watchers'.…”