ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the relationship between the British labour movement and military service during and after the First World War. It considers the extent of the radicalisation of troops during and after the war, and the extent to which the war acted as a channel for soldiers towards the labour movement. This includes First World War veterans who would later reach high political office, such as Clement Attlee and Douglas Houghton, in addition to ordinary ex-servicemen who became left-wing activists at a local, grassroots level. It argues that the war led to an evolution in the broad Left’s attitude towards soldiers and ex-servicemen, this evolution being central to changing the wider culture of the British Left. The war both encouraged ex-servicemen to look more favourably upon the labour movement, and undermined ideological contradictions between military service and left-wing beliefs. Significantly for the fortunes of the Labour Party after 1918, this change in attitude vis-à-vis the military and the Left was symbolic of a wider shift in left-wing attitudes towards the working class and working-class culture more generally. The Left’s changing attitude towards military service was crucial to the broadened appeal of the Labour Party beyond its traditional heartlands after 1918.
