The revolution that never was

The onset of mass unemployment seemed to many observers to threaten a period of acute instability in British political life, and even a complete breakdown of the traditional procedures of parliamentary government. The growth of extremist parties, the spread of violent demonstrations, and the helplessness of politicians in the face of the world slump seemed portents of fundamental changes in the character of politics and society. Harold Macmillan, for example, considered that after 1931, ‘Something like a revolutionary situation had developed’ in Britain. ¹ For Stafford Cripps, mass unemployment opened a period in which ‘the one thing that is not inevitable now is gradualness’. ² John Strachey contemplated the need to wield totalitarian power in the event of a breakdown of the political system, while Mosley and the B.U.F. waited for an opportunity to restore order in the event of a communist revolution. ³ For Marxists, the great depression was clearly the ‘final crisis’ of capitalism. Harry Pollitt wrote in 1933 that ‘we are moving to a new round of wars and proletarian revolutions, in which the capitalists and the working class are both striving to find a solution of the crisis, each in their own class interests.’ ⁴