ABSTRACT
The experience of government and the trauma of the General Strike had influenced Labour’s leadership in their approach to socialism. The 1918 Labour election manifesto was in common with all party manifestos at that time, rather brief, but it did reflect quite accurately the proposals from Labour and the new social order. The basic arguments of Labour and the New Social Order were translated into some twenty-six resolutions at the 1918 party conference, with remarkably little dissent. The Labour Party stood on the sidelines during the General Strike, the leadership playing no significant role in events. Labour and the Nation was designed to be a restatement of the goals set out in 1918 rather than an immediate programme for the party. In 1966 Labour reiterated many of the detailed proposals made earlier but also introduced for the first time proposals to modernize the government machine and Parliament.
