Immigrants in British society: problems of reception and integration in 1945–1951

The Bulletin of Kemerovo State University. 2015. №3 (63). Vol. 2. pp. 145–150.

E.V. Khakhalkina

Drawing on British archival documents, the paper presents the main challenges the UK faced after the WWII in the conduct of the colonial policy. One of them was the phenomenon of race discrimination present both on the territories of the British Empire and inside the country itself. The creation of the United Nations Organization (UN) drew metropolis’s close attention to this issue making London reconsider the relations developed within multi-racial societies in its colonies. Another challenge for the Labour leadership was the immigration flow from less-developed colonies of the British Empire which increased after the war and made the conduct of both domestic and external policies of the country more difficult.

The paper reveals the decision-making process within Attlee’s Labour Cabinet with regard to the above-mentioned issues, including the reasons for adopting the British Nationality Act 1948 and proposals by British officials to limit the number of people coming from the colonies of the Caribbean and Africa which in fact led to the denial to further comply with the adopted law.

The author conclusions reconsider some of the established in both Russian and foreign historiography views of the reasons and numbers of the then growing immigration and give an idea of the origins of UK and EU contemporary migration problems.