Waging the War of Ideas: The Institute of Economic Affairs and Neoliberalism in Post-War Britain 1945-1979

This blog post by Joseph Moore (University of Manchester) introduces research supported by the Economic History Society’s Research Fund for Graduate Students

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For historians of neoliberalism in Britain, think tanks have been an important object of study, particularly the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) (Cockett, 1994; Muller, 1996; Denham and Garnett, 1999; Jackson, 2012). The IEA was founded in 1955 by a businessman named Antony Fisher. After graduating from Eton and Cambridge, Fisher demonstrated an astute talent for business, founding one of the UK’s first car hire companies before his commercial career was interrupted by the Second World War (Cockett, 1994). It was during the war that his attitude to freedom was profoundly shaped by the death of his brother Basil, an RAF fighter pilot who had been killed in action. Fisher felt that the sacrifice of those, like his brother, who had given their lives in defence of freedom had been betrayed by what he saw as a trend towards collectivism in British politics (Frost, 2002).

Fisher’s convictions were only compounded when he read an abridged version of Friedrich Hayek’s, The Road to Serfdom in the Readers Digest which warned of the political dangers of central economic planning. Enamoured by what he had read, Fisher went to visit Hayek where he taught at the London School of Economics in 1947 (Cockett, 1994). Originally, Fisher had planned to go into politics to echo the message in The Road to Serfdom in parliament, but the meeting with Hayek would prove decisive in changing the course of his life (Fisher, 1974). Instead, Hayek persuaded Fisher that he needed to fight the war of ideas outside of party politics, at least initially. The key to success was to win support for their ideas among those Hayek called the second-hand dealers in ideas, which primarily constituted of journalists, academics and policymakers (Fisher, 1974). Only once they had the support of these groups would the public and the politicians follow suit. Thus, it was necessary to create an institution that could produce the research that had the power to give their ideas the intellectual credibility they needed.

In 1952 Fisher travelled to the US to visit the Foundation for Economic Education, a think tank that offered him a potential model for the institution he had discussed with Hayek. This transatlantic trip provided him with more than just the blueprint for the IEA. While in the US, Fisher was introduced to mass poultry farming, a technique which he brought back to the UK and implemented at his company Buxted Chickens, which allowed him to finance the creation of the IEA (Cockett, 1994).

The IEA played an important part in the development of neoliberalism in Britain. So much so that Margaret Thatcher would later write to the institute’s director Ralph Harris, “It was primarily your foundation [sic] work which enabled us to rebuild the philosophy upon which our Party succeeded in the past. The debt we owe you is immense and I am very grateful” (Thatcher, 1979).

Yet, despite the important role played by the IEA in the rise of neoliberalism in Britain, the distance of the archive from the IEA’s country of origin has presented a challenge for historians in Britain wishing to study it in any great depth and as a result, only a small number of historians have been able to thoroughly investigate its extensive archive (Cockett, 1994; Jackson, 2012). Thanks to an incredibly generous grant from the Economic History Society, I will be travelling to the IEA archive in San Francisco to explore its role in the rise of neoliberalism in Britain.

This work will build on the excellent historiographical foundations that already exist with regard to the IEA. Both Richard Cockett and Ben Jackson have produced detailed works based on the IEA’s archival holdings that have analysed the institute’s work, impact, funding sources and its relationship to neoliberalism (Cockett, 1994; Jackson, 2012). My work seeks to build on the avenues of enquiry opened up by the existing historiography by probing the extensive archival collections.

The work will also explore other issues, such as, the extent to which the IEA was a central node in the post war network of neoliberal activism and how this helps us to understand neoliberalism more comprehensively. The IEA was a powerful and important body in its own right, but its archive also offers a window into the broader politics of neoliberalism. This is because the IEA was part of a much wider network of organisations that were active in the promotion of neoliberal ideas during the post-war period. Many of these organisations such as, the Freedom Association or the Industrial Policy Group have left almost no archival trace. However, their interactions with the IEA presents a lens through which to study not just the IEA’s role in the politics of post-war neoliberalism, but also these similarly suited organisations as well as their relationship to the IEA.

To contact the author:

Joseph Moore

joseph.moore-2@postgrad.machester.ac.uk

@joedcrmoore

References:

Cockett, Richard, Thinking the Unthinkable, Think Tanks and the Economic Counter Revolution 1931-1983 (London: Harper Collins, 1994).

Denham Andrew and Garnett, Mark, ‘Influence Without Responsibility? Think-Tanks in Britain’, Parliamentary Affairs, 52 (1999) pp.46–57.

Fisher, Antony, Must History Repeat Itself? (London: Churchill Press, 1974).

Frost Gerald, Antony Fisher: Champion of Liberty (London: Profile Books, 2002).

Jackson, Ben, ‘The Think-Tank Archipelago: Thatcherism and Neo-Liberalism’ In Making Thatcher’s Britain, edited by Ben Jackson and Robert Saunders (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) pp.43–61.

Margaret Thatcher, Letter to Ralph Harris, 18^th May 1979, Margaret Thatcher Papers THCR2/1/4/54 f185 (Cambridge: Churchill Archives) https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/151791

Muller Christopher, ‘The Institute of Economic Affairs: Undermining the Post‐War Consensus’, Contemporary British History, 10 (1996) pp.88-110.