Would Labour turn this country into a communist state?

So was the road haulage industry renationalised later, Grandad? Because BRS wasn't privatised until the 1980s.

Or did they just allow private hauliers back into the system?

MazieD
Your correct the Churchill goverment allowed once again Private Haulers to enter the industry.

I thought so! My DP worked for them for 20+ years. That's why we were in S. Yorks in the Miners' Strike.

Anniebach [So Attlee got it wrong by nationalising the railways, and how come Churchill wasn't a national hero in 1947 , sorry but I can't accept that as a reason for winning in 1950 but not in 1947] End Quote

Anniebatch with every respect to your above posting, but if you read my forgoing posting(s) I did not state that "Atlee got it wrong in by nationalising the railways". I stated that the Atlee goverment nationalisation of the Road Haulage Industry was a wrong step.

Also there was no General Election in 1947, they were in 1945 and 1950. The reasons i believe the Atlee Labour party won the 1945 general election I have also stated in previous posting. Therefore, if you refer to that you can take up argument with my points

MazieD, great company the BRS both when nationalised and in the first few years after de-nationalisation. It was when they became Exel by name that things for the employee really started to go down hill.

I'm pleased to read your posts, Grandad - Attlee is one of my most admired politicians.
He was the right man for the times, as was Churchill in the previous years.

I certainly think Atlee is an interesting politician and man. I am still ploughing my way through Citizen Clem but well worth it.

I seem to remember reading that the 1945 government was swept somewhat into more nationalisation than they intended. I can remember my father telling me that, although he felt it right to vote a Labour government in after the war he did feel they hadn't shown Churchill how they felt about what he had achieved. I don't think he was alone with that feeling.

I believe that at the start of 1945 it was obvious to all that the war was coming to an end. I also believe that to the armed forces personnel (many of who had been fighting for nearly seven years) did not want more than anything else to return to a country that could not provide the jobs, housing etc that they had paid such a high price for.

Atlee articulated that feeling far better than Churchill who was still very much sidetracked from the election by the growing problems of post war Europe. Therefore, I feel that there was a feeling that Churchill was not as concerned with the welfare of those who had lived out a war fought at home and abroad and therefore the Labour message of "Homes Fit for Hero's" came through.

In the above it was articulated more than anything else just what the vast majority of the population wanted which was a different Britain from the poor housing, health and unemployment that they knew at the start of the war. Hence the Labour landslide of 1945.

To those returning, Churchill was the leader required for the war years. Atlee was the leader required for the coming years or peace