ABSTRACT
George Alfred Spencer occupies a prominent place in the demonology of the extreme left.1 Clearly, a less emotive, a more reasoned, criticism of Spencer and Spencerism is long overdue. What, then, did George Spencer believe? This is the way he put it himself in 1948:
‘I have always made it a cardinal point of policy to show that by a joint effort with the Management material benefits will result to the worker. It is no exaggeration to say that in Nottinghamshire the employees fully accept this thesis and the consistent and good labour record exemplified as it is by the increasing output per man shift over the years, shows that the theories which I propounded in 1926 and which I acted upon, when put into practice with a co-operative management produces the best possible kind of results, both from a managerial and labour point of view.
