This attitude was constantly challenged and forced to modify itself by the Labour party and Britain's workers. They made their goals clear with strikes early on, but lack of organization, and the necessity of working, due to hard times, gave them little to bargain with. Despite the absence of broad gains, the Labour party's pressure did push the Conservative government to institute social programs, and steps were taken early on toward the construction of a social safety net, most notably with the passage of the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1920. Labour continued to grow stronger as it grew more and more dissatisfied with Conservative policies, and even got a chance at governmental control in 1924, working toward greater government spending on social programs, especially regarding the problem of housing. The Labour Party again got a chance to govern between 1929 and 1931, but got little accomplished with a small majority.

The left failed to become a significant force in British politics for a number of reasons. The early strikes demonstrated that while the spirit of socialism was in the air, the leftists themselves were hopelessly divided among themselves based upon differing degrees ofleftism, ranging from moderate socialism to communism, and devoted much of their energy to internecine quarrels. In 1921, the Communist Party in Britain contained only 5,000 members, and hardly posed a threat to the establishment. By 1929, the leftist forces had combined their strength in a more organized fashion, and had long abandoned radical socialism and decided to work within the capitalist system to regulate and control it. However, the Labour government was far too cautious, fearing it would be ousted by the only slightly overmatched (in parliamentary seats) Conservatives. Such a cautious government was incapable of tackling the problem of mounting unemployment. In fact, Labour Prime Minister MacDonald tried to avoid the issue by repeating the socialist argument that the capitalist system was the problem, and that as such, he could not be expected to do anything about unemployment within the capitalist system. This statement was followed not long after by the dissolution of the Labour government, and the beginning of the long years of the depression.

Focusing on its own problems, Britain had attempted to stay relatively removed from European power politics during the inter-war years, a project which enjoyed fair success until Nazi Germany began to rear it's ugly head. Chamberlain, who proved throughout his time in office that international relations were not his forte, agreed to sign the Munich Pact in 1938, granting Hitler the Czech Sudetenland in an attempt to appease the ambitious dictator. The move was a failure, and Hitler soon demonstrated his desire for total European domination, to which the British responded with a declaration of war. Though Chamberlain's policies in office were questionable, he did prove that he had learned one thing from the interwar years. He accepted his rival, Winston Churchill, as his successor, preparing his party for the transition, thereby avoiding the internecine divisions that had doomed previous transitions of power and caused drastic political realignments.

Popular pages: The Interwar Years (1919-1938)