Chronicles of a death foretold: The winter of discontent and construction of the crisis of British Keynesianism

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 63, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 446-470

  Hay, Colin ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 77956150692     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: 14602482     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsp056     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. An earlier version of this paper was first presented to open a panel discussion to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the 'Winter of Discontent' at the British Academy, London, 22 January 2009. I am extremely grateful to the panellists, Peter Riddell and Lords Baker, Lea and Lispey, and other participants in the discussion for their invaluable comments and suggestions. I am also indebted to the referees of this journal for their thoughtful and suggestive advice.
2. David Marsh, 'The Future of Politics', British Politics, 4, 2009, 117-126.
3. Andrew Gamble, 'British Politics and the Financial Crisis', British Politics, 4, 2009, 450-62.
4. Michael Artis and David Cobham, eds, Labour's Economic Policies, 1974-79, Manchester University Press, 1991, p. 1.
5. Dennis Kavanagh, 'The Fatal Choice: The Calling of the February 1974 General Election', in S. Ball and A. Seldon (eds), The Heath Government, 1970-1974, Longman, 1996;
6. Robert Taylor, 'The Heath Government and Industrial Relations: Myth and Reality,' in S. Ball and A. Seldon (eds), The Heath Government, 1970-1974, Longman, 1996.
7. Kathleen Burk and Sir Alec Cairncross, 'Goodbye, Great Britain' The 1976 IMF Crisis, Yale University Press, 1992, pp. 20-58.
8. Joel Barnett, Inside the Treasury, André Deutsch, 1992, pp. 97-117.
9. Fritz Scharpf, Crisis and Choice in European Social Democracy, Cornell University Press, 1987, p. 82.
10. David Coates, The Crisis of Labour: Industrial Relations and the State in Contemporary Britain, Philip Allan, 1989, pp. 77-97;
11. Gerald A. Dorfman, British Trade Unionism Against the Trades Union Congress, Macmillan, 1983, pp. 93-100;
12. David Marsh, The New Politics of British Trade Unionism, Macmillan, 1992, pp. 47-9.
13. J. Douglas, 'The Overloaded Crown', British Journal of Political Science, 6, 1976, 483-505;
14. Anthony King, 'Overload: Problems of Governing in the 1970s', Political Studies, 23, 1975, 284-96.
15. Gerald A. Dorfman, see above note 9, p. 3;
16. Peter Gourevitch et al., Unions and Economic Crisis: Britain, West Germany and Sweden, Allen and Unwin, 1984, pp. 62, 71.
17. David Coates, see above note 9; Peter Gourevitch et al., see above note 11, p. 53.
18. Simon Clarke, Keynesianism, Monetarism and the Crisis of the State, Edward Elgar, 1988, p. 301.
19. Peter Gourevitch et al., see above note 11, p. 56;
20. Steve Ludlam, 'Old Labour and the Winter of Discontent', Politics Review, 9, 2000, 2-5;
21. Robert Taylor, 'The Trade Union "Problem" in British Politics', in Ben Pimlott and Christopher Cook (eds), Trade Unions in British Politics, Longman, 1982, p. 207;
22. Robert Taylor, The Trade Unions and the Labour Party, Croom Held, 1987a.
23. Keith Middlemas, Power, Competition and the State. Volume 3: The End of the Post-War Era, Britain Since 1974, Macmillan, 1991, p. 156.
24. James Callaghan, Time and Chance, Collins, 1987, pp. 517-21.
25. Keith Middlemas, see above note 15, p. 159.
26. Denis Healey, The Time of My Life, Harmondsworth, 1989, p. 462.
27. Bernard Donoughue, Prime Minister: The Conduct of Policy Under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, Jonathan Cape, 1987, pp. 161-2.
28. Bernard Donoughue, Downing Street Diary. Volume 2: With James Callaghan in Number 10, Jonathan Cape, 2008, pp. 356-9.
29. The chorus to the song famously concludes, 'Can't get away to marry you today, my wife won't let me!'. Somewhat ironically, Callaghan in fact deliberately misattributed the song to Marie Lloyd on the advise of his Private Secretary who thought that she would be rather more familiar to TUC delegates than Vesta Victoria (Donoughue 1987: 161; 2008: 356).
30. Gerald A. Dorfman, see above note 9, p. 65.
31. James Callaghan, see above note 16, p. 531.
32. As is evidenced by the fact that Ford did not feel it necessary to put up prices following the resolution of the dispute.
33. Robert Taylor, 'Symposium: The Winter of Discontent', Contemporary Record, Autumn, 1987b, 34-43.
34. Bernard Donoughue, see above note 19, p. 172.
35. Steve Ludlam, see above note 14, pp. 2-5.
36. Moss Evans, in Taylor 1987b: see above note 24, p. 40.
37. PREM 16/1707, IAF to TPF, 17/11/78.
38. Moss Evans, in Taylor 1987b: see above note 24, p. 42;
39. Paul Smith, 'The Winter of Discontent: The Hire and Reward Road Haulage Dispute, 1979', Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 7, 1999, 27-54, 38-39.
40. PREM 16/1707, AB to RH 15/11/78, B05549 Contingency Plans 21/11/78; AEB to PM 15/12/78, KRS to PM 15/12/78, KRS to EMP 18/12/78; EY(P) 11/12/78.
41. EY(P) 11/12/78.
42. PREM 16/1707, A08568 letter to the PM.
43. For an excellent and detailed account, see Paul Smith, see above note 29.
44. Colin Crouch, The Politics of Industrial Relations, 2nd Edition. Fontana, 1982, p. 114. Paul Smith, see above note 29, pp. 49-50; Hansard HC Debate 21 February 1979, vol. 9693, cc. 402-4.
45. Douglas Smith, then Deputy Secretary in the Cabinet Office, was particularly clear on this in a witness seminar in 1987. 'I never believed then (nor since) that the road haulage dispute did powerful damage to any interest, more particularly to the essential services of this country. I recollect no occasion where the use of the military, for example, was necessary or would have assisted. Many myths have grown up about this winter but one that has grown, to which I can't subscribe, is [that] . . . the country was virtually paralysed, deprived of materials, with factories closing and serious shortages of food and medical supplies. I don't believe that to be right. The only shortage of food I recollect in the whole of the affair was that Kellogg's Cornflakes were difficult to obtain in some supermarkets!' (in Taylor 1987b: 42); The Economist, 20 January 1979.
46. William Rodgers, 'Government Under Stress: Britain's Winter of Discontent 1979', Political Quarterly, 55, 1984, 171-9.
47. Bernard Donoughue, see above note 19, p. 176.
48. Steve Ludlam, see above note 14, pp. 2-5.
49. Gerald A. Dorfman, see above note 9, pp. 84-5; David Marsh, see above note 9, p. 61.
50. William Rodgers, see above note 36, 171-9.
51. PREM 16/1707
52. David Coates, see above note 9, pp. 92-3.
53. Peter Gourevitch et al., see above note 11, p. 57.
54. William Rodgers, see above note 36, p. 172.
55. Lewis Minkin, The Contentious Alliance: Trade Union and the Labour Party, Edinburgh University Press, 1991.
56. Bernard Donoughue, see above note 19.
57. Michael Artis and David Cobham (eds), see above note 4.
58. Geoffrey Ingham, Capitalism Divided? The City and Industry in British Social Development, Macmillan, 1984;
59. Neil Rollings, 'British Budgetary Policy, 1945-1954: a "Keynesian Revolution"?', Economic History Review, XLI, 1988, 283-98;
60. Colin Thain and Maurice Wright, The Treasury and Whitehall: The Planning and Control of Public Expenditure, 1976-1993, Oxford University Press, 1995;
61. Jim Tomlinson, 'A "Keynesian Revolution" in Economic Policy-Making?', Economic History Review, XXXVII, 1984, 258-62.
62. Grahame Thompson, The Conservatives' Economic Policy, Croom Held, 1986, 33.
63. For a detailed textual analysis, see Colin Hay, 'Narrating Crisis: The Discursive Construction of the Winter of Discontent', Sociology, 30, 1996, 253-78.
64. The front page headline framed the paper's coverage of the quizzing of bank bosses by the Treasury Select Committee the preceding day.
65. Colin Hay, 'Managing Economic Interdependence', in P. Dunleavy, R. Heffernan, P. Cowley and C. Hay (eds.), Developments in British Politics 8, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006;
66. Colin Hay, Nicola Jo-Anne Smith and Matthew Watson, 'Beyond Prospective Accountancy: Reassessing the Case for British Membership of the Single European Currency Comparatively', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 8, 2006, 101-21.
67. Colin Hay, 'Good Inflation, Bad Inflation: The Housing Boom, Economic Growth and the Disaggregation of Inflationary Preferences in the UK and Ireland', British Journal of Politics and International Studies, 11, 2009, 461-78.
68. What makes this all the more likely is the increasingly speculative character of the process of priceformation in the market for oil. Any resumption in growth in the world economy is likely to be reflected in a steep appreciation in the price of oil. Moreover, Britain's exposure to this is only likely to be compounded by the weakness of sterling.