ABSTRACT
At the depths of the Depression, when the case for radical working-class action in favour of a socialist programme seemed incontrovertible, the labour movement was divided and demoralized. The militant socialist minorities were at each other’s throats and were completely disillusioned with the Labour Party. The Party itself had lost its leaders and its parliamentary strength. It was looking for a new programme and trying to consolidate its confused followers. Thus during the worst crisis in British industrial history neither the labour movement nor its radical Left were able to take advantage of the situation. The Conservatives were supreme, even in many of the worst hit of the Distressed Areas.1
