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Monday, November 23, 2009

L2 Britain since 1900 DST Text commentary. Some more elements.

Remember the questions you must look at.

WHO wrote the document?

[NB : "a member of the Labour party" is not good enough]
Clement Attlee, ex-prime minister of Britain, one of the Labour ministers responsible for major social reform, and a number of nationalisations immediately after the war.

WHEN did he write it?
[NB : "A few years after the second world war" is not good enough.]
In 1954. The Conservative government defeated Labour in 1951, so Attlee has lived through a major defeat. Nevertheless, the new Conservative government did not dare reverse the social reforms made by Labour, so one can imagine that Attlee is still rather proud of his achievement.

WHY did he write it ?
Politicians write autobiographies to justify their past decisions and also to explain history for people who have a political or intellectual interest in it.

WHAT does he say?
As the ex-prime minister of one of the most successful Labour governments, Attlee criticizes harshly Ramsay Macdonald, one of the least successful Labour governments, who was seen as a traitor because he chose to lead a new "national government" with a Conservative majority, rather than decide not to cut social benefits.


These are just a few notes to begin with...

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