British Housewives' League - Post War 1946 Bread Rationing & Nationalisation

Post War 1946 Bread Rationing & Nationalisation

At its peak the League claimed over 100,000 members, and their collective voice was felt in many rallies against post war bread rationing. Food rationing had been established early on during World War Two. After six long years, this frustration with austerity and state control became a very political issue, particularly among women who, fed up with rationing, longed for some purchasing power and freedom of choice. Meat, bacon, butter, sugar, eggs, tea, cheese, milk, sweets, clothes, petrol were all still restricted.

In February 1946, new cuts were made on poultry and eggs. During the war, bread had never been rationed, it was however introduced in 1946, for two years, to help prevent starvation in Asia and Germany. Bread rationing caused an outcry, particularly from housewives, as post-war historian Peter Hennessy, writes: ‘the celebrated British Housewives’ League was already becoming a thorn in ministerial flesh’. By the summer of 1946 over half a million signatures had been collected by the League, under the banner 'Bread: No Ration' petition. The Daily Sketch 3 July 1946 reported one of the League's larger provincial protest march in Cheltenham.

It was this fallout with the Labour (Attlee) Government that led to political change, since many women turned to the Conservative party. Their subsequent election victory in 1951 became for many a statement of discontent with Labour. As one woman expressed it, ‘the last election was lost mainly in the queue at the butcher’s or the grocer’s’

During the spring and summer of 1946 intense opposition to bread rationing was led by the Conservative Party (UK), which doubted that the policy was really necessary and that substantial savings in wheat could be made. The Party leadership deplored the added burden placed on consumers and alleged that the government had mismanaged the supply situation. The Conservatives were backed by the right-wing press, which highlighted opposition to bread rationing among bakers as well as the British Housewives’ League. This episode was the first concerted campaign against the Labour government on a major policy issue and marked the beginning of the debate about postwar food policy.”

As the war ended domestic politics returned to normal. The landslide election victory of the Labour (Attlee) Government in 1945, led the private sector into a series of propaganda campaigns about the threat of nationalisation. These included the so-called Mr Cube Campaign (Tate and Lyle) of 1949/50, against the possibility of the nationalisation of the sugar industry. The 'Aims of Industry', an anti-socialist pressure group formed in 1942 by a group of well-known British industrialists, with representatives from Fords, English Electric, Austin, Rank, British Aircraft, Macdougall's and Firestone Tyres. There were also smaller campaigns by the Cement Makers Federation, the Iron and Steel Federation and by the insurance companies represented by the British Insurance Association. The Road Haulage Association sponsored the anti-nationalisation campaigns by the British Housewives' League, led by Dorothy Crisp.