Origins of the Welfare State: Voluntary action

The aim of this collection is to restore to circulation a number of key texts from the debate about the future of welfare that took place in Britain between the Great Depression and the end of the period during which the welfare state was established. The set will be divided into four sections. The first covers the period during which the country felt the full impact of the world depression and a number of solutions were put forward to address the issues arising and in particular the consequences of mass unemployment. These cover a range of different approaches from orthodox Marxism and idiosyncratic variations on it through social democracy to modified conservatism and 'middle opinion'. A key feature of this debate was the concept of planning as a device to enable governments to cope with economic and social problems. A wide range of views was expressed on this issue, ranging from the profoundly hostile to the widely enthusiastic. That debate was cut short by the outbreak of war: the general perception then developed that the lessons of the unsuccessful conduct of the war could then be applied to the problems of peace.