These once again
are my words... My opinions Winston Churchill was our well loved War Leader and
as a man was well respected.. His politics however was conservative "Old School"
and as such was no longer acceptable to the people of this country. His party
was very heavily defeated at the Ballot box as the very first Socialist
Government came to power manned with new politicians from the working classes
and most veterans of the war.. A change had to take place if this country was to
survive.. As a footnote.. Churchill the man remained revered by the country even
when his politics were rejected. In fact when Churchill died much later he was
the only common man ever to be given a royal funeral Germany also devastated by war received millions in
American aid under the "Marshall Plan" and re-built very rapidly.. So the looser
was paid to re-build…Whilst the winner had to do this himself at a time when the
country was broke.. The "Marshal Plan" millions were also offered to Russia.
Stalin rejected American Aid as the political strings attached was not to his
liking.. This offended the Americans and by 1948 "The Cold War" between America
& Russia had started. The new British government took some radical steps
and immediately replaced all civil servants that dealt with money. This had the
effect of ensuring that Government corruption disappeared overnight as every
penny was needed to re-build our infrastructure. The railways were nationalised ensuring that the
infrastructure was re-built without private enterprise taking away half the
money.. The coal mines nationalised as it was our only source of power and had
no business in private hands… All utilities totally smashed had to be re-built
with public money and hence were nationalised. This Nation embarked on the
biggest home building program ever seen. Millions of houses were built in the
next 10 years to put the population under a roof and to overcome the
overcrowding that had naturally occurred as millions of homes were destroyed in
the 5 years of bombing… Municipal owned housing was rented out to the
population.. and by 1956 the nation was re-housed.. The national Health service
was set up in 1948 and for the very first time health care was available to
all…These actions were radical But so very necessary to re-build this country..
Without Socialism at this time, this country could not have recovered as no
private company had the funds or the will to re-build on such a massive
scale
The war in the pacific and hence with Japan,
continues and I intend to get back to that aspect later
The British Isles
are devastated… Whole major cities on fire and reduced to rubble… The
infrastructure totally smashed with no power lines, fresh water or sewage
systems operational.. A major civilised power totally broken and in urgent need
of renewal.. Food was still scarce.. Rationing went on into the late 1950s. This
country of mine was broke, owed millions of pounds that it had borrowed to
sustain 5 years of total war. The biggest problem was that we had lost almost
two generations of men…And the few that returned were insufficient to re-build
this country.. The War may be over.. but the fight to survive was just
beginning.
One very good example of how bad our infrastructure was , was
to consider our railway network.. For 5 long years it had been our lifeline as
it moved men and machines all around the country as required by the war effort..
It had been constantly bombed and hurriedly repaired with virtually no
maintenance.. My home town of Doncaster is a major railway junction for the
countries network and had been bombed repeatedly. I was more fortunate as I
lived 7 miles away from the main target in a very small outlying village. When
the men returned from the war there was insufficient numbers to man, repair and
refurbish our railways.. Desperate measures were needed as the country for the
very first time encourages black immigration from British colonies in the
Caribbean. For example many Jamaican men and their families were encouraged to
come and live and work in the UK.. This legacy can be seen to this day as any
visitor to London will not fail to notice that our entire underground railway
system is manned by men an women of Jamaican descent.
There was now to be
a political revolution in Britain . Men returning from the war came back with a
very confident attitude and would no longer accept the politics of the ruling
classes.. Many of these men became politicians for this time they needed to make
a difference in their peacetime lives as they had done so during the war years..
Socialism was born and with it true democracy was present in the UK. .It is my
firm belief that this really was the start of Democracy as we know it in my
country and once again it took a major war to implement it
The UK was now a true democracy with all working towards improving
the quality of life for all.. Wages were low… men worked long hours. Food was in
short supply as was clothing.. all efforts and available money were put into
building homes and the basic infrastructure of this nation.. This was true
Socialism and was the only way that this country could possibly recover.. WW2
had basically changed major attitudes in this countries population and whilst
the people had little, they were happy to do without as all strove for the
common good… I am not at all religious, But often think that this unselfish
behaviour was Christianity at its finest & If I had to decide I must
conclude that God is in fact a Socialist.