ABSTRACT
Blackpool's confident adaptation to change in the half century before the First World War was neatly encapsulated in the town's motto, 'Progress'. In the two decades between the wars, however, this premier holiday resort of Britain's working class faced far more uncertain economic circumstances which were to tax the confidence and skill of the municipal government. But before the problems of Blackpool's local politics in this period can be analysed, its historical development needs to be explained.
