Jump to page
In some form or another influences such as these are, of course, mentioned: the criticism is about balance in a book purporting to provide general explanations. Similarly it is the general claims that make questionable the stress given to the otherwise admirable discussions of individual industries. If the implied pragmatism expresses one important element, that does not entirely banish political and ideological commitment. Since wholesale socialization was nowhere being advocated, choices (priorities) had to be exercised over which industrial sectors to nationalize (or to nationalize first). Given that, the choices were not incoherent: energy and transport effectively constituted the early nationalizations. There was much more confusion over the purposes to be served. A string of reports, especially McGowan, Reid and Heyworth on Electricity, Coal and Gas, had pointed to the need for structural re- organization (not necessarily nationalization) as a prerequisite for greater efficiency, but also floating around were other objectives such as workers' control (effectively repudiated in the 1944 TUC Report on post-war reconstruction); more industrial democracy; and macro-economic regulation of the economy. In part, these got submerged in the desperate economic situation faced by the Labour governments of 1945 to 1951, but they were also neutered (whether consciously or not) by specific political decisions. In particular the form of organization for the nationalized industries the Morrisonian public corporation at arm's length from ministerial control together with the failure to give any content to the 'planning' rhetoric that permeated the 1945 manifesto, ruled out any use of the nationalized industries as the 'commanding heights' to act as a lever for macro-economic policy. All that has been said here is testimony to the stimulation provided by the book, not least in reflecting on the privatizations of the 1980s and beyond, where again it could be said that 'efficiency' is used to give rhetorical support to policies determined more by politics and ideology. JOHN WILLIAMS Aberystwyth BROADCASTING AND THE BBC IN WALES. By John Davies. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1994. Pp. 445. £ 15.95. In that remarkable process whereby Wales reinvented itself in the twentieth century, broadcasting played a significant part. In every decade since the 1920s there were a small number of Welsh-speakers who clearly
Jump to page
This text was generated automatically from the scanned page and has not been checked. Typical character accuracy is in excess of 99%, but this leaves one error per 100 characters.
The National Library of Wales has created and published this digital version of the journal under a licence granted by the publisher. The material it contains may be used for all purposes while respecting the moral rights of the creators.
