wonders what they think of the present majority. Strauss denounced the activities of the steelmasters: “This is not a question of a number of people individually and independently coming to a decision that they do not want to serve on the Corporation. This is concerted action by a number of people for the specific purpose of sabotaging an Act of Parliament.” A board was finally chosen with S. L. Hardie, head of the giant monopoly, British Oxygen, as its chairman, Sir John Green, a director of a Sheffield steel firm, as its vicechairman and assorted soldiers and career diplomats as the members. To the vast annoyance of the Tory press one trade unionist sneaked on to the board. The steel industry was finally nationalised on the 15th of February, 1951, five years after the first plans had been discussed. The steel workers showed little excitement. Ross comments: “There were no signs outside factories claiming these ‘Steelworks Belongs to the People’. In fact nothing much really had changed. If the ‘Nation’ owned the steelworks, the worker saw only that his own bosses were the same after, as before, nationalisation.” The Tories won the General Election on the 25th of October, 1951, and had effectively annulled the nationalisation of steel by the 13th of November. Three weeks of resolute action was enough to destroy five years of Fabian caution. George Ross has written a topical and disturbing book that has to be read by all of the left.
Julian Atkinson
* “The Nationalisation of Steel”, by George W. Ross, 30/- MacGibbon and Kee.
March 17, 1965 — THE WEEK