Industrial Reorganization and Government Policy in Interwar Britain Modern Economic and Social History Series

Offering a detailed overview of state involvement in the rationalisation and reorganisation of British industry between the wars, this is the first work to address the issues in a comprehensive manner for over 50 years. Utilising a range of primary source material (including papers from the PRO, the Bank of England, the Federation of British Industry and various private archives), Julian Greaves has combined a selection of detailed case studies of selected industries with a broader overview of the national political and industrial situation. The resulting work, which manages to balance analytical depth with breadth of coverage, argues that despite numerous problems and limitations, 1930s' industrial reorganisation policy was reasonably successful in meeting the limited aims of the government.

Contents: Preface; Introduction; Part I An Overview: Business organization and the British economy in the 1920s; Government policy and the rationalization of industry in the 1920s; The Labour government and the rationalization of industry, 1929-31; The National government and industry, 1931-39. Part II Case Studies: The reorganization of coal; The reorganization of steel; The reorganization of cotton; The reorganization of shipbuilding; Conclusion. Bibliography; Index.

Dr Julian Greaves is Lecturer in Modern History at the School of Historical Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.