The Postwar Moment : Progressive Forces in Britain, France, and the United States After World War II

An incisive, comparative study of the development of Post–World War II progressive politics in the United States, Britain, and France After the end of World War II, Britain, France, and the United States were faced with two very different choices: return to the civic order of pre-war normalcy or embark instead on a path of progressive transformation. In this ambitious and original work, Isser Woloch assesses the progressive agendas that crystalized in each of the three allied democracies, tracing their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to establish them after the war’s end, and the mixed outcome in each country. A fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Woloch is a highly regarded scholar who adds the United States to a discussion that is usually focused solely on Europe. His enlightening work successfully argues that the postwar moment deserves a more prominent place in the history of progressive politics. "An incisive, comparative study of the development of Post-World War II progressive politics in Britain, France, and the United States Toward the end of World War II, the three democracies faced a common choice: return to the civic order of prewar normalcy or embark instead on a path of progressive transformation. In this ambitious and original work, Isser Woloch assesses the progressive agendas that crystallized in each of the allied democracies: their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to enact them in the early postwar years, and the mixed outcomes in each country. The Postwar Moment examines three progressive postwar manifestos that reveal a common agenda in the three nations. The issues at stake included priorities for reconstruction or reconversion; "full employment" via economic planning; price controls; the roles of trade unions; expansion of social security; national health care; public housing; and educational reform. A highly regarded scholar of European history, Woloch persuasively adds the United States to a discussion that is usually focused solely on Europe."--Site web de l'éditeur Toward the end of World War II, the three democracies faced a common choice: return to the civic order of prewar normalcy or embark instead on a path of progressive transformation. This book assesses the progressive agendas that crystallized in each of the allied democracies: their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to enact them in the early postwar years, and the mixed outcomes in each country. The book examines three progressive postwar manifestos that reveal a common agenda in the three nations. The issues at stake included priorities for reconstruction or reconversion; “full employment” via economic planning; price controls; the roles of trade unions; expansion of social security; national health care; public housing; and educational reform. The book persuasively adds the United States to a discussion that is usually focused solely on Europe. Toward the end of World War II, the three democracies faced a common choice: return to the civic order of prewar normalcy or embark instead on a path of progressive transformation. This text assesses the progressive agendas that crystallized in each of the allied democracies: their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to enact them in the early postwar years, and the mixed outcomes in each country. The work examines three progressive postwar manifestos that reveal a common agenda in the three nations. The issues at stake included priorities for reconstruction or reconversion; 'full employment' via economic planning; price controls; the roles of trade unions; expansion of social security; national health care; public housing; and educational reform. The text persuasively adds the United States to a discussion that is usually focused solely on Europe CONTENTS 7 PROLOGUE 9 INTRODUCTION 15 ABBREVIATIONS 19 Part I: facing depression, fascism, and war 25 1. Britain: Labour’s Long Apprenticeship 25 2. The Travails of the French Left 63 3. The Roosevelt Era: From the New Deal to D- Day 108 Part II: Descent from victory: charting new paths 161 4. Labour’s Moment: The Election of 1945 and After 161 5. Starting Over, with de Gaulle or without Him 192 6. Postwar Prospects in the U.S. 232 Part III.Struggles and outcomes 277 7. Building Socialism British Style 277 8. Tripartism and Its Aftermath 324 9. The United States: Divided Government, Divided Nation 365 Conclusion: Three Scenarios, One Story? 427 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 457 Notes 461 INDEX 513 Offers a comparative study of the development of Post-World War II progressive politics in the United States, Britain, and France. Woloch assesses the progressive agendas that crystallized in each of the three allied democracies, tracing their roots in the interwar decades, their development during wartime, the struggles to establish them after the war's end, and the mixed outcome in each country. He adds the United States to a discussion that is usually focused solely on Europe and argues that the postwar moment deserves a more prominent place in the history of progressive politics. --Adapted from publisher description