‘Our first business is to hate the British capitalist system.’ Three socialists and their attitudes to the British political structures, 1910-1923.

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History (research) (MA)

Westerhof, Arthur (2014)

‘Our first business is to hate the British capitalist system.’ Three socialists and their attitudes to the British political structures, 1910-1923.

Research master thesis | History (research) (MA)

The thesis deals with the political decisions of three members of the British labour movement in the period 1911-1923: John Maclean, Will Thorne and Ben Tillett. In particular, whether and why they chose to accept the existing British political structures during those years. The focus is on the constant re-assessment of the value of those institutions in times of crisis, and on which types of motivations played a part in the decisions that resulted from those perceptions and interpretations. The conclusion is that this constant re-assessment of their attitudes serves as a better overall explanation of the Labour Party's course during these years than ideological, structural or individual explanations - or at least adds to those.

Political motivations