Crisis? What crisis?: The Callaghan government and the British ‘winter of discontent’

by John Shepherd

On 22 January 1979, one and a half million workers were on strike - the highest number since the 1926 General Strike. Iconic images in the media of the industrial unrest that swept Britain in an Arctic winter captured mountains of uncollected rubbish in London's theatre land; militant shop stewards turning patients away from hospitals and a national strike by road hauliers that threatened to bring the country to a standstill. Even corpses were left unburied. Within weeks the beleaguered Callaghan government fell from power by a single vote. In the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, beginning eighteen years of unbroken Conservative rule. Over thirty years later, the British 'winter of discontent' still resonates in British politics and contemporary public rhetoric. This is the first full-length account of a major turning point in late twentieth-century Britain. Based on a wide range of recently available historical sources and key interviews with politicians, trade unionists, civil servants and journalists, it breaks new ground in analysing the origins, character and impact of this turbulent period. How did industrial relations break down between the government and the unions? Why was no state of emergency declared? Was the 'winter of discontent' inevitable or avoidable? Who was to blame - the Labour government or trade union power? This important study will appeal to all those interested in contemporary history and British politics.

Genres: Politics

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2013

About the author

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Reviews

[David Civil · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Shepherd’s book is by far the best account of the strikes which engulfed Britain in the winter of 1978-1979, most readily remembered by the term ‘The Winter of Discontent’. This account provides a vast amount of detail, utilising press reports, political memoirs, and Cabinet papers, on individual strike action, ranging from the Ford Motor strike in September 1978 to the public sector National Day of Action in January 1979. Shepherd also includes chapters on the media, the Conservative Party strategy and the aftermath of the strikes. Throughout these chapters he highlights the contingency of the events which serves to undermine the Thatcherite mythology which portrays this period as the culmination of the inevitable breakdown of the Keynesian, post-war consensus. While Crisis? What Crisis? opens up new areas of research on this relatively unexamined winter, Shepherd provides a relatively top-down approach and the voices of ordinary citizens, trade union members, and political activists are ignored in favour of relatively elite actors. Despite this, by accurately portraying the strikes as a series of crises, which were not necessarily interconnected, Shepherd’s account provides a welcome antidote to historians, ranging from Dominic Sandbrook to Colin Hay, who portray the ‘Winter of Discontent’ as a single, climactic entity.