9 - The social democrat high point, 1945–79

Summary

ABSTRACT

This chapter will explore the performance of social democratic parties in Sweden, the UK and Australia during the period of prosperity that followed the Second World War, highlighting their general approach to social and economic policy and their specific relationship to unions. The parties were closely linked to their national union movements and placed an emphasis upon protecting and improving workers’ living standards. While the Swedish labour movement made major gains with SAP, the relationship between unions and their respective labour parties in Australia and the UK were tense by the end of the 1970s as they tried to deal with the economic and social fallout from the end of the postwar economic boom. There was a growing recognition, particularly in the UK and Sweden, of need for worker voice at the enterprise level.

Keywords: social democratic parties; union ascendancy; union influence

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will explore the performance of social democratic parties during the period of prosperity that followed the Second World War. It commences with a review of the concept of social democracy and provides an overview of the electoral fortunes and policy initiatives of social democratic parties in Sweden, the UK and Australia, with a particular focus on their relationship with unions. The Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) dominated politics in Sweden during the postwar period, while the UK's Labour Party (UKLP) held power from 1945– 51, 1964– 70 and 1974– 79. Australia had only relatively short periods of national Australian Labor Party (ALP) governments, 1945– 49 and 1972– 75, with state ALP governments being at the forefront of industrial and social reforms.

While the Swedish labour movement made major gains with the SAP, the relationship between unions and their respective labour parties in Australia and the UK were frayed by the end of the 1970s as they tried to deal with the economic and social fallout from the end of the postwar economic boom. Unions in the UK then faced the neoliberalism of Thatcherism, while the ALP adopted more neoliberal economic policies to restore their credentials as economic managers in the wake of the apparent economic mismanagement of the Whitlam government.