ABSTRACT
FEW PARLIAMENTS IN THE 700 YEARS of its existence have fundamentally changed the course of English history. The Reformation Parliament of 1534 did, and the Long Parliament of 1641. The first determined that Britain would be Protestant, the second that constitutionalism would prevail over absolutism. The Parliaments of 1832 and 1867 determined that Britain would be a democracy. The Parliament of 1945 belongs to these few, for, though socialist ideas and practices had roots in the past, not until the Labour government of Clement Attlee did England make a decisive commitment to its goals and principles.
