Labour and the Countryside

Drawing on new research, this book uncovers a fascinating but previously neglected chapter in the history of the Labour Party. As Labour was becoming a national force at the end of the First World War, many people believed that the party would be unable to form a majority government unless it won support in the countryside. During the 1920s and 30s, Labour embarked on a series of campaigns to take the message of socialism to the farms and villages. Labour and the Countryside re-examines common perceptions of an antagonism between Labour policies and rural Britain in a timely and illuminating study of politics and culture in the early twentieth century.