Ethical Socialism and the Trade Unions: Allan Flanders and British Industrial Relations Reform

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John Kelly

Ethical Socialism and the Trade Unions

Allan Flanders and British Industrial Relations Reform

John Kelly

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Hardback

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English

Routledge
29 April 2010

Labour economics; Business negotiation; Industry & industrial studies; Trade unions

Series: Routledge Research in Employment Relations

Allan Flanders was one of the leading British industrial relations academics and his ideas exerted a major influence on government labor policy in the 1960s and 1970s. But as well as being an Oxford academic with a strong interest in theory and labor reform, he was also a lifelong political activist. Originally trained in German revolutionary ethical socialism in the early 1930s, he was the founder and joint editor of Socialist Commentary, the leading outlet for ‘revisionist’ social democratic thinking in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the leading figure in the influential 1950s ‘think tank’ Socialist Union and played a key part in the bitter factional struggles inside the Labour Party. The main argument of the book is that Flanders’ ethical socialist ideas constituted both his strength and his weakness. Their rigor, clarity and sweep enabled him to exert a major influence over government attempts to negotiate labor reforms with the trade unions. Yet he proved unable to explain the failure of the reforms amidst rising levels of industrial conflict, as his intellectual rigor turned into ideological rigidity. The failure of negotiated reform led to Margaret Thatcher’s neo-liberal assault on trade union power in the 1980s.

By: John Kelly
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: v. 22
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 640g
ISBN: 9780415878487
ISBN 10: 0415878489
Series: Routledge Research in Employment Relations
Pages: 246
Publication Date: 29 April 2010
Audience: College/higher education , Primary , A / AS level
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. Introduction: Industrial Relations and Social Democratic Politics 2. Revolutionary Ethical Socialism in Interwar Germany 3. Revolutionary Socialism in a Cold Climate 1932-1939 4. Trade Unions under Planned Capitalism 1939-1946 5. Democratic Socialism in the Cold War 1946-1951 6. The Recuperation of Ethical Socialism 1951-1959 7. Ethical Socialism and Industrial Relations Reform 1959-1973 8. The Limits and Failings of Industrial Relations Reform 9. Conclusions: Allan Flanders, Ethical Socialism and the Reform of British Industrial Relations. Epilogue: Industrial Relations Reform and Social Democratic Politics after Flanders

John Kelly is Professor of Industrial Relations in the School of Management, Birkbeck College, London University. His main areas of research are comparative labor relations, labor unions and industrial relations theory. Recent publications include Varieties of Unionism (co-editor, 2004), Union Organization and Activity (co-editor, 2004) and Rethinking Industrial Relations (1998).

Reviews for Ethical Socialism and the Trade Unions: Allan Flanders and British Industrial Relations Reform

Kelly's book on Flanders and ethical socialism is a valuable addition to the literature of industrial relations. It offers a detailed account of the political philosophy and policy activism of one of the founders of British industrial relations and in this way considerably illuminates an important historical chapter in the history of our field. -- Bruce E. Kaufman, Georgia State University, USA The book is the product of an intensive process of research, involving a comprehensive reading of Flanders' published and unpublished writings, extensive archival work, and interviews and correspondence with many of his key associates... -- Richard Hyman, London School of Economics (English Book Reviews for RI/IR, Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations)