Racism in Britain

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Racism in Britain

Britain emerged from the Second World War with a labour shortage. In

1944 a Royal Commission was established to assess the population of

Great Britain. The commission returned its findings in 1949

recommending that extra labour was needed. The "European Volunteer

Workers Scheme" was introduced. Its aim was to entice workers from

Europe to come to Britain. Between 1947 and 1948 17,000 workers came

to Britain under the scheme. However the Irish were the largest ethnic

group the time, followed by continental Europeans. Blacks only made up

5% of the 17,000 who came, although they were more conspicuous by the

colour of their skin and also the language and cultural differences.

Yet still there was tension amongst the population with race riots. In

Notting Hill in 1958 race riots went on for five nights over an August

bank holiday weekend. There were also severe riots in Nottingham in

the same year.

In the 1950s Britain had used informal immigration control methods as

the government was desperate to maintain good relations with

Commonwealth countries. These informal methods were not sufficient to

quell the growing public disquiet and legislation was necessary. In

October 1961 the Conservative government announced the Commonwealth

Bill. It was designed to halt black immigration due to the inability

of British Society to assimilate immigrants of different races. The

Labour opposition accused the Government of being a crude response to

racist pressure but the Bill was passed regardless in 1962. The most

notable part of this Bill was that it was aimed specifically at

blacks. It stated that only blacks with employment pa...

... middle of paper ...

... Publishing Ltd., 1996

* Jackson, Peter. Race and Racism; Unwin Hyman Ltd., 1987

* Owusu, Kwesi, Black British Culture and Society; Routledge, 2000

* Shamit Saggar, Race and Politics in Britain; Campus 400, 1992

* Smith, Susan J., The Politics of "Race" and Residency; Polity

Press , 1989

* Solomos, John, Race and Racism in Britain; Macmillan Press Ltd.,

1994

* Solomos, John, Race and Social Change; Routledge, 1995

* "The Rise of the European Right". Online 15th April 2003.

Available http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/1944157.stm

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[1] Shamit Saggar, Race and Politics in Britain, Campus 400; 1992,

P111

[2] John Solomos & Les Blacks - Race, Politics and Social Change;

Routledge; 1995, P61

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