Argues that although the collective struggles of the oppressed over welfare provision and welfare settlement have been ignored, such struggles punctuate recent British history. By presenting a series of case-studies of episodes of collective action from the field of social policy and social welfare, this text aims to rediscover this hidden history . Organized chronologically, it covers important welfare struggles from the early 19th century. Some of the issues covered are: the growth of capitalism; the development of the poor laws and the anti-poor law movement; working class self-help welfare in the 19th century; rent-strikes on the Clyde in 1920s; the squatters movement in the 1950s; the struggle for abortion rights; an analysis of the urban riots in the 1980s; the great poll tax rebellion. Class Struggle and Social Welfare should be of interest for those studying social policy, sociology, politics and history. welfare provision and welfare settlement.