In Place of Strife

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In Place of Strife (Cmnd 3888) was a British Government White paper, written in 1969. It was a proposed act to curb the power of British Unions, but was never passed into law. It was proposed by the then Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, Barbara Castle, and amongst its numerous proposals there were plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held, and an Industrial Board would be established to enforce settlements in industrial disputes. The Labour Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister Harold Wilson, was divided over the issue, however, and the opposition, led by the Home Secretary James Callaghan, prevailed.

The White Paper never became law, although some elements of it could be recognised in the more far-reaching union legislation later enacted by the government of Margaret Thatcher. Some commentators view the rejection of the White Paper as the moment when the Labour Party began its gradual decline towards its 18 years in the political wilderness from 1979 to 1997. Whether this is true or not, it certainly played a role in the escalation of union disputes and strike action that would bring the British economy to its knees in the 1970s.

The title of the paper was a reworking of the title of Nye Bevan's book "In Place of Fear".