251. Labour Party doctrine and devolution: the Welsh experience.
- Author
-
Barry Jones, J.
- Subjects
POLITICAL parties ,POLITICAL doctrines ,WELSH national character ,HOME rule (Wales) ,NATIONALISM - Abstract
Over a wide range of doctrinal issues, the Labour Party has confused inheritance which owes as much to Methodism as to Marxism. Whilst Labour's socialist doctrines have always been amenable to interpretation and re-interpretation as the need arose, this task has often proved more difficult in situations where they have been associated with specific policies. The devolution issue posed serious problems of doctrine and policy, which the Labour Party had largely avoided since its inception at the turn of the century. Before the First World War, many of the socialist ideas in general currency in Great Britain were anti-statist and reflected the prevailing Marxist analysis that the state was an instrument of class exploitation. The anti-statist tradition within the Labour Party which had made it receptive to the concept of home rule was one of the later casualties of the First World War. By the early 1920's, the party gradually moved towards an acceptance of the paramountcy of economic issues and with it the need for central economic planning. The shift in doctrinal emphasis was eased in Wales by the gradual decline of forces which had given a nationalistic character to Welsh politics. However, new political realities demanded a fundamental reappraisal of the party's sympathy for Welsh nationalism and home rule.
- Published
- 1984
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