5 - Nationalisation

Summary

Nationalisation was at the heart of Labour's economic policies in 1945. It was central to Labour's programmatic statements of the 1930s (see chapter 1), and the commitment was strengthened by the war. Nationalisation was ‘out of bounds’ under the wartime coalition; whilst Labour's commitment to controls over the economy matched both the demands and political possibilities of war, the Conservatives would not stomach public ownership. Hence the war contrived to ‘make public ownership a cherished icon. Labour's distinctive vision of economic change centred more and more on what was being denied it during the war.’

Nationalisation – before, during or after the war – never had a simple justification. In the 1930s the emphasis tended to be on the monopolistic and inefficient character of the specific industries concerned; in the war period the view that the role of nationalisation was part of a more general picture of a hierarchy of economic controls, aimed especially at securing full employment, gained ground. After 1945 both these objectives were central to the argument, though they were coupled to broader aims of depriving private capital of power and enhancing democracy. Nationalising was a means of increasing efficiency, a means of planning the economy, but for some an end in itself, as representing the appropriate form of ownership for a socialist economy.

In the context of the late 1940s' desire for output and efficiency (see chapter 4), along with the existence of other instruments of economic control (both physical and fiscal), and the lack of any immediate threat of mass unemployment, the debate on nationalisation tended to shift towards ‘efficiency’ issues.