Was Britain characterised by division in the twentieth century?

By Connie Portman, Third-Year History

Unlike David Edgerton – who has emphasised decline – or Jeremy Black – who has highlighted modernity – I believe that the twentieth century can be characterised by social division. More specifically, divisions of class, gender and race that are associated with “advantages and disadvantages, inequalities and differences”. (Jane Ribbens McCarthy) Political categories within the twentieth century, such as ‘social democracy’, or ‘neoliberalism’ can cloud these important social histories. Three case studies – the 1926 General Strike, the failed 1945-50 campaign for equal pay for women, and Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968 – represent contours of division and inequality in British society which were prevalent throughout the twentieth century. These moments in British history illustrate a “Divided Kingdom” (Pat Thane). They are not anomalous moments of tension, but consequences of the unequal social hierarchies of class, gender and race that permeated Britain in the twentieth century, and that still exist today.

Divisions of class remained strong throughout most of the twentieth century in Britain. The militancy of working-class solidarity against employers and the government hit its peak during the 1926 General Strike. (Liam Ryan) Mine-owners took large wage cuts and implemented longer working days, leaving miners and their families to struggle. In solidarity, the triple alliance of miners, transport workers and railwaymen were set to disrupt Britain’s core industries from the 3rd May 1926. For the following nine days, however, the government enlisted thousands of volunteers to operate the affected services, such as trains, buses and coal operations. Thus, the poverty-stricken, desperate miners, were polarised against the middle-class, university-educated volunteers. One volunteer, Frederick Peachey, was killed by three angry strikers in Rotherhithe Tunnel in London. The conflict between volunteers and strikers during the General Strike encapsulated the tensions of wealth inequality in Britain. Despite the myth of a “peaceable kingdom” in the interwar period, the General Strike, and the seven-month lockout that followed, says otherwise. (Jon Lawrence) Industrial action in Britain has occurred time and again in the last century: the 1968 Dagenham Ford Factory strike, the 1972 miners’ strike, the 1976 Grunwick strike, and the 1984-5 miners’ strike. Writing this in 2023, a year in which Britain has seen industrial action from university lecturers, junior doctors and railway workers, it seems as though the legacy of a divided twentieth century is still with us. 

The post-war era is often seen as a time of political consensus in Britain; an agreed Keynesian economic system to aid the recovery of full employment and the creation of a welfare state. Women, however, were left behind. Even amongst a labour shortage, women were refused in jobs where there could be major competition with men coming back from the war. In addition, the government made cuts to child support to pressure women back into the home – into the domestic sphere again. Many women at the time saw this as a huge betrayal, after working successfully during the war in traditionally ‘male’ jobs such as driving ambulances or manufacturing weapons. Under mounting pressure, the Royal Commission on Equal Pay released a report in 1946, which found an average pay gap of fifty per cent for women in the public sector doing identical work to their male counterparts. It was not until 1970 that the Equal Pay Act was rushed through Parliament by cabinet minister Barbara Castle. However, there is still a disparity in Britain, with the government reporting on average a 5.45% Gender Pay Gap in 2022. So, Britain in the twentieth century was not only divided in terms of inequality of wealth, but by the stubborn sexism of the workplace that angered women well before –  and after – the mainstream establishment of the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s.

Finally, immigration has been a contentious issue in Britain for much of the twentieth century. From 1967, migration of Kenyan Asians to Britain had been growing due to Africanisation policies of recently independent Kenya. The “Rivers of Blood” speech, given in Wolverhampton by Conservative cabinet minister Enoch Powell in April 1968, fuelled an immediate spike of racist, anti-immigration rhetoric on the streets of Britain. Thus, race became a barrier to the “golden age of opportunity and equality” that supposedly arrived in the late 1960s and 1970s. (Glen O’Hara) The Express & Star Newspaper Ltd reported that on 24th April 1968, protesters in Wolverhampton held signs saying “BACK HIM NOT SACK HIM” in Powell’s defence. (Shirin Hirsch) In his speech, Powell suggested that immigrants would eventually get priority over Britain’s resources, such as hospital beds and schools, one day dominating the indigenous population. Powell made popular the National Front: a new political party, likened to the 1930s’ British Union of Fascists. (Evan Smith) Despite efforts by many who opposed Powell and the National Front, such as the National Union of Students who established a “no platform” policy in 1974, racist hate crimes were increasing. Powell’s speech  embodied the official and unofficial racism that was characteristic of twentieth-century Britain. (Panikos Panayi) One only has to glance at the rhetoric used by certain Brexit ‘Leave’ campaigners in 2016 to see how these hostilities have resurfaced in multicultural Britain’s very recent past.

In conclusion, Britain was characterised by division in the twentieth century, due to overwhelming tension between different social groups. More specifically, industrial action, gender inequality in the workplace, and the scapegoating of innocent migrants points to the multifaceted nature of this division. Social divisions are reflected in the political realm and in personal histories of twentieth-century Britain. When historians characterise the past with contemporary political ideologies or arbitrary decade markers, the plight of the working-class, of women and of new commonwealth immigrants is often lost. Britain during the twentieth century still saw unity, love and affection. However, historians have an obligation to tell the truth; divisions and inequalities of wealth, gender and race have made a huge impact on the lives and events of twentieth-century Britain, and still linger in 2023.