War and Reform: British Politics During the Second World War (Documents in Contemporary History) - Softcover

World War II marked a crucial watershed in the political history of modern Britain. This book seeks to explain, through the eyes of contemporaries, how the transition occurred from the Conservative "enterprise society" of the 1930s to Labour's welfare state and mixed economy of the late 1940s. "War and Reform" also addresses the question of how the political changes of this period affected British society as a whole and how much public opinion itself shaped change. After introducing the main political debates about British politics during the war, the editor draws upon a range of primary sources, including political diaries and letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, manifestos and official government records. These are used to illuminate major developments of the period from 1939 to 1945 such as the downfall of Neville Chamberlain; the war leadership of Winston Churchill; the Beveridge Report and reconstruction; and the movement of popular opinion culminating in Labour's famous 1945 election victory.