Crowded workhouses and public protests against hunger and poverty were synonymous with the lean years of 1919 to 1924 in Britain.
The Great Slump - also known as the Turbulent Twenties, the Troubled Twenties, and the Great Upheaval - was a period of political coarsening, economic decline and popular unrest in the United Kingdom, as well as the rest of the British Empire and Commonwealth realms. The period of economic decline ultimately culminated in the breakout of the British Revolution and the greater collapse of the British Empire following the fallout from the civil war of 1925.
The period derived its most popular name from the "economic slump" which emerged in Britain after the end of the Great War. Britain struggled to adjust to demobilisation, domestic political troubles and the new post-war world in which British exports had drastically fallen and would never truly recover. Unemployment became a chronic issue in the pre-Revolution years, as ex-serviceman struggled to reintegrate into the civilian workforce and staple industries suffered from a collapse in demand and competition with foreign exports. The emergence of competition in German industry and the rise of the Mitteleuropean economic project further damaged Britain's already suffering export economy. The economic downturn contributed to unrest in the political sphere, already exacerbated by the Irish War of Independence, with British trade unions and the labour movement as a whole became increasingly militant in response to an unresponsive political system and an increasingly radicalised right-wing. Conservative-controlled governments dominated the period and controversially attempted to use several unpopular, authoritarian wartime measures past the initial demobilisation in order to curtail the threat of revolution. Inspired by the success of the French Revolution, both the far-left and and far-right became increasingly bold and proactive, as a wave of unprecedented strikes and political violence polarised the nation.
Political History[]
David Lloyd George, 53rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Instability & Polarisation: 1919 - 1920[]
The "New" Democracy[]
Following the disastrous ‘Last Offensive’ of the French Generals, by August of 1919 France requested British support for signing an Armistice with the Central Powers due to its own mutinies and strikes. This was not initially perceived as an overall end to the conflict, with French leadership hoping for a temporary relief from the ongoing political and military quagmire that could potentially lead to a turnaround on the war front. The Armistice of Chantilly soon took effect, but with the French domestic situation showing no signs of recovery and increasing calls to end the war at home, Britain exerted tremendous pressure on their French allies to sign the Treaty of Versailles, ending the war once and for all. Britain now feared continuous warfare on the continent would weaken its own economic and geopolitical influence alongside further bankrupting the Empire. Britain thus also refused to back the Empire of Japan’s claim to seize the presently occupied German concession of Tsingtao, causing the Japanese delegation to leave Versailles after the British diplomat, Philip Kerr, was reportedly overheard disparaging Japan’s contributions to the war in a conversation with British delegate, Lord Summer. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Versailles was signed and the British government deemed this as a "Peace with Honour" - a term proposed by German delegate, Johannes Bell, to Lord Cunliffe, as a deliberate reference to the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. Cunliffe would go on to popularise the term among the British establishment and aristocracy.
Andrew Bonar Law, 55th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
At home, political tensions were brewing amid widespread criticism of Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, and his Liberal-Tory coalition government. Now derided as the "Man Who Lost the War” - Lloyd George's once great firebrand reputation was in tatters. Faced with the possibility of a vote of no confidence in the government, Lloyd George opted to call elections for the end of the year and resigned with immediate effect. Not seeking to harm its own reputation, the Conservative Party took immediate steps to distance themselves from Lloyd-George and his ill-fated government, with Conservative aligned newspapers publishing misleading allegations their ministers had been locked out of major decision making by the Coalition Liberals. Lloyd George and some of his allies had initially mooted the possibility of the "Coalition Liberals" forming some kind of continuity coalition with the Conservatives as a means of maintaining political stability and fending off an upsurge in support for the Labour Party. Though these hopes were dashed when the little-known Conservative MP, Stanley Baldwin, publicly attacked Lloyd George in the Commons, referring to the man as a "conniving wastrel" who had allowed corruption in Parliament to become deep-rooted and sabotage the war effort. Already looking for an excuse to abandon his erstwhile partners, Law confirmed the Conservatives would rule out any further coalitions with any party for the foreseeable future. Following Lloyd George's resignation, he was quickly replaced by Arthur Balfour of the Conservatives who agreed to lead a brief caretaker government until the elections could be held. Parliament was dissolved on the 24th of November, with elections held on the 13th of December.
Composition of the House of Commons, 1919
The 1919 General Election saw the beginning of major political instability in British politics amid growing radicalism and polarisation among the public, but also among the most enlarged electorate to date. The Representation of the People Act 1918 had extended the franchise to cover all women over the age of 30, and all men over the age of 21, giving the vote to the working classes. Military veterans and a scarred public had become bitter and angered by Britain's failure in the Great War and the humiliating Peace with Honour; many sought to vent their frustrations in the electoral process. Labour saw an immediate groundswell in support with other left-wing ventures such as the National Socialist Party, British Socialist Party and National Democratic Party all returning candidates to Parliament. Likewise, the Conservatives were able to make an electoral breakthrough in securing 320 seats, a slim but workable majority with increasing backing from an insurgent far-right, taking the form of the breakaway and Germanophobic National Party. Much of this came at the expense of the Liberals who saw their vote share implode to one of its worst electoral results in the Party's history though it remained the second largest party in Parliament by a razor margin and as such was granted the position of the official opposition. Andrew Bonar Law was consequently appointed Prime Minister, forming the Law Ministry on the 14th of December.
Lord French, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
Law had inherited leadership of a nation that was becoming increasingly polarised and in the midst of a war in Ireland. Sinn Féin had launched an insurrection the previous year following a landslide victory in the Irish Parliamentary Elections with its members meeting to convene in the revolutionary Dáil Éirreann. Fighting had now been ongoing for just over a year and British authority in Ireland had all but broken down with the Royal Irish Constabulary haemorrhaging members, courts unable to reliably hand down or enforce judgements and the Dublin Castle administration all but losing its grip on the island. A Dáil-backed quasi-state was gradually taking shape to supplant its British counterpart with Sinn Féin controlled councils levying taxation among sympathetic citizens and Dáil backed courts handing out judgements, to be enforced by an Irish Republican police force. Of Ulster-Scots descent and a close ally to the Irish Unionist political leader, Sir Edward Carson, Law was deeply opposed to the proposals of Irish Home Rule and like his contemporaries, fiercely opposed to the notion of an independent Ireland. The Prime Minister instructed the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Edward Turnour, the Lord Winterton, and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Viscount French, to intensify counter-insurgency activities but still refused to fully commit towards the use of the military. Martial law was used intermittently across the island, though it was only ever consistently used and applied within Munster. Neither Winterton or French believed British authority was sufficiently threatened and to actively use troops would acknowledge a state of war in Ireland. Law agreed that this would be disastrous - not least because IRA prisoners would have to be treated as prisoners of war - and instead called on his Irish ministers to intensify the use of special policing units to supplement the RIC. The loathed "Temporary Constables" - the Black & Tans - and the "Auxiliary Division" of the RUC - the Auxiliaries or 'Auxies' - had been created on the suggestion of the prior Liberal Secretary for War, Winston Churchill, and had since garnered a reputation for brutal conduct. Nonetheless, their usage was now being seriously expanded to increasing outrage in Ireland and sections of British society.
Red Flags & Silver Badges[]
At home, early political unrest was characteristic of the labour movement, with socialist forces riding a wave of popular discontent at the humiliating conclusion of the war. Protests were common in major cities and regional strikes sporadically occurred as workers became fearful of an influx of demobilised men depressing wages. Their fears were well-founded, as the increasingly worsening domestic economic environment combined with industries stepping back from a war footing created a prospect of mass unemployment. Workers were already being laid off and sudden return of men from the front lines swelled unemployment figures. Only the shipping industry reported a short-lived boom to recoup lost shipping capacity but this quickly led to a glut of oversupply and the industry was soon caught in the recession. This was felt particularly hard in the Scottish city of Glasgow, where shipbuilding on the Clyde was a staple industry. The city was no stranger to political radicalism and had already seen the rise of the "Red Clydeside" period, a term used to denote the growing left-wing radicalism among Scottish workers along the Clyde banks. Strikes in the area had been ongoing since 1911 and morphed into anti-war activism at the outbreak of the Great War before seeing the emergence of women-led rent strikes in 1915. Amid the demobilisation in late 1919, the Scottish TUC and Clyde Workers' Committee (CWC) sought to increase the availability of jobs open to demobilised soldiers by reducing the working week from a newly-agreed 47 hours to 40 hours along with general improvements to working conditions.
David Kirkwood and Willie Gallacher being detained by City of Glasgow Police at the City Chambers, c. 1919
Strikes had began on boxing day and as many as 40,000 workers, and many discharged serviceman from the Glasgow shipbuilding and engineering yards had joined, along with solidarity strikes which broke out among local power station workers and miners from the nearby Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire pits. A delegation of the strike leaders met with the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Sir James Stewart, to discuss the matter. Stewart informed the strikers he would telegram the government for further instructions and the strikers declared they would reconvene the following Monday. The Sheriff of Lanarkshire, Alastair Mackenzie, had already telegraphed the government to request military assistance should the protest get out of hand. The Russian Revolution was in recent memory and civil war was ongoing in France amid unrest in Germany, with Law's cabinet fearing events in Scotland could spiral in a similar manner. Instructions were sent to Scottish Command informing of the situation and to be prepared to deploy government troops if requested, to act on behalf of the civil authorities.
On the 29th December, the strikers returned in a massive rally organised by trade unions, taking place in George Square at Glasgow's city centre. As many as 30,000 people were present and Red Flags were flown among the crowd. While initially peaceful and present to hear the response from the Lord Provost, the gathering quickly descended into a riot as the police launched a baton charge in the early afternoon prompting the workers to retaliate. Mackenzie was present, and attempted to read the Riot Act, but it was snatched out of his hands before he could finish. Within the Glasgow Corporation Chambers (the City Hall), the CWC leaders of David Kirkwood, Manny Shinwell and Willie Gallacher were heading an official strike deputation but opted to leave upon hearing the news and unrest outside. Upon leaving, the men were attacked with Kirkwood being knocked to the ground by a police baton. In retaliation, Gallacher rushed back up the steps, where Chief Constable James V. Stevenson was watching the baton charge from, and punched him in the face. The three men were promptly arrested and charged with "instigating and inciting large crowds of persons to form part of a riotous mob", though Kirkwood was later acquitted. After the baton charge, the outnumbered police retreated from George Square though fighting between the strikers and police, some mounted, spread into the surrounding streets and continued into the night. The Secretary for Scotland, Lord Clyde, was keeping abreast of the events and informed the cabinet he had reason to believe a "Bolshevist uprising" had broken out in Glasgow. Fearing an army mutiny, troops from the local Maryhill barracks were not deployed because it was feared that men there might have sided with their neighbours. Instead, units from the North of England were deployed, while the Maryhill barracks were locked with the soldiers inside. General Sir Charles Harington, the Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff informed the meeting that 6 tanks supported by 100 lorries were "going north that evening". It was stated that up to 12,000 troops could be deployed.
Manny Shinwell
The first troops arrived on Monday evening, with their numbers increasing over the next few days. The six Medium Mark C tanks, of the Royal Tank Regiment arrived from Bovington, the following week. A military presence descended on the city centre with troop patrols established, and most controversially, machine gun nests were placed in George Square. The Observer newspaper reported that "The city chambers is like an armed camp. 'The quadrangle is full of troops and equipment, including machine guns." Sandbags and military fortifications were erected around the City Chambers and other important municipal locations with military garrisons established. Future Scottish Chairman, Campbell Stephen, described it as like "witnessing the city under siege by some foreign invader." Despite its stated purpose, the military arrived after the rioting was over and they played no active role in dispersing any protesters. Instead, the troops guarded locations of importance to the civil authorities throughout the period of the strike, which lasted until January 9. The troops and tanks then remained in Glasgow and its surrounding areas until January 18. In the aftermath, of the rioting, the strike eventually failed with the workers forced to accept the 47-hour work week. While regarded as an immediate failure, Manny Shinwell commented that it greatly increased revolutionary awareness among the Glaswegian populace and substantially strengthened worker solidarity in the face of state repression.
While this early unrest is often characterised as the realm of an increasingly militant labour movement, much of the growing agitation came from disgruntled ex-serviceman and the unions that had formed to represent them out of the Great War. By 1919, these had largely coalesced around four groups: the National Association of Discharged Soldiers & Sailors, the National Federation of Discharged & Demobilised Soldiers & Sailors, the Comrades of the Great War and the much maligned, National Union of Ex-Serviceman. The first three groups had formed across 1917, each with differing political affiliations, and attitudes towards the government. The NADSS, formed by James Howell, was born out of the trade union movement and maintained close connections to the Labour Party whereas the NFDDSS was formed by the left-liberal MPs, James Hogge and William Pringle, with assistance from veterans' campaigner, F.A. Rumsey, and was tenuously aligned with the Liberal Party. The Comrades were the final group to be formed and one done-so with tacit government backing, as it had been formed by the Secretary-of-State for War, Lord Derby, in response to the NFDDSS running against his son in a by-election. Nominally apolitical, the Comrades were informally allied with the Conservatives and most popular in the rural South of the country. While the NADSS and NFDDSS enjoyed warm relations, both were more hostile to the Comrades, as they did not pressure for statutory support and bribed potential recruits with food and beer, a practice Hogge particularly despised. Despite their left-ward tendencies, the NADSS and the NFDDSS were explicitly aligned with the established British political system and the monarchy, though their membership was often-times more radical. This disunity with the leadership in the NFDDSS - which had now overshadowed the NADSS - led to the formation of the National Union of Ex-Servicemen (NUX) in the middle of 1919, as an explicitly socialist organisation and one formally affiliated to the Labour Party and ILP. Unlike the other groups, the NUX was more politically active and militant, seeking to organise ex-serviceman to unite to improve society as a whole rather than campaign solely on veterans' issues.
The eponymous 'Silver Badge'
While the NFDDSS were nominally open to the labour movement, the dominant association's leadership had soon grown suspicious of its openly left-wing counterpart, and its socialist aspirations. Hogge described it as a "bitter and brooding group" and one of Marxist persuasion, while the high-profile member and former NFDDSS parliamentary candidate, Frederick Lister, regarded it with a degree of suspicion, believing it agitated returning serviceman for cynical political ends rather than satisfying their imminent needs. The distrust of the NFDDSS was not purely out of concern for ex-serviceman being used politically, but Hogge and Pringle feared that the NUX was actively undercutting it. While the executive committee was dominated by a mixture of Asquithian and New Liberals, of one mind on the matter of veterans' welfare, the membership was described by Ernest Thurtle, a NUX executive committee member, as "distinctly proletarian" with a brooding sense of radicalism. Disagreements between head office and district branches were common, particularly as local branches (especially in London) organised joint ventures with their NUX-counterparts such as the opening of soup kitchens for the needy and public demonstrations on behalf of the veterans' movement. To counter the rising influence of the NUX, Hogge proposed the formation of a unified political force, a veterans' party, to contest the 1919 elections. While no formal political party was established, the NFDDSS and the NADSS agreed to run candidates with the sponsorship of their selective organisations under a unified label, adopting the recognisable Silver War Badge, rendered to men who had been discharged for services rendered, for this purpose. In the run-up to the election, 30 Silver Badge Party candidates were endorsed, 4 from the NADSS and 26 from the NFDDSS, with only 5 of the NFDDSS candidates being put forward by the Executive Committee with the rest being selected by local branches. Of these, only 3 of the NFDDSS candidates and 1 one of the NADSS candidates managed to be elected. The sole NADSS MP, Robert Hewitt Barker, had been elected with unofficial Unionist support after local political feuding and opted to sit as an Independent Conservative, repudiating the Silver Badge label shortly after taking his seat. What remained over the movement quickly became the political wing of the NFDDSS, and in Parliament it began to align itself broadly with the Liberals and to a lesser extent Labour. Nominally, moderately left-wing, the Silver Badge endorsements ran the gauntlet of the political spectrum radical leftists such as the future Labour politician and republican, Ernest Thurtle, but also the far-right with future Loyalist dissident, Hamilton Beamish, securing an endorsement. While no whip was enforced, it largely followed the Liberals and at times Labour. Facing pressure over its dire finances and poor success, Howell resigned as NADSS President following the election, being replaced with the more right-wing Arthur Jackson. The new leadership severed its ties to the trade union movement and began to push the organisation in an increasingly right-wing direction.
Peace Day Parade, London
Tensions between ex-serviceman and the government would soon be inflamed following the announcement that the 19th December was to marked as "Peace Day" and made a national holiday. In lieu of victory parades, "Peace Marches" were to be celebrated and held all across Britain to mark the end of the Great War and celebrate the return to peace on the Continent. While formulated with good intentions, the celebration was regarded as a mockery by ex-serviceman and calls were by both the NUX and NFDDSS to call it off in favour of a more general remembrance day to honour the war dead. These calls were ignored though the government promised that it would "be both a day of solemn remembrance for those who sacrificed their lives so that today we may celebrate this hard-fought peace." Nevertheless, a range of local NFDDSS branches repudiated the government's declaration and planned to hold "memorial marches" with or without the approval of head office. The NUX soon followed, and in a statement authored by the young Labour councillor, John Beckett, declared that local branches were given the autonomy to "decide whether to conduct joint marches with fellow societies upholding the interests of ex-servicemen." Fearful of violence, additional police were posted in major cities, with the NFDDSS and NUX organising marches, public gatherings and protests in all major cities. The Comrades of the Great War organised counter "marches of remembrance" though these were smaller and rarely interacted with their counterparts. Small-scale skirmishes with the authorities broke out across towns and cities in the North but these were quickly overshadowed by events in the South. The Comrades of the Great War, were more prominent across the South of England though in London and nearby industrial towns, the NUX and NFDDSS were more dominant. Within London, the Woolwich branch of the NFDDSS announced its intentions to organise a march on Parliament Square to demand for better conditions for soldiers, serving and former, though Hogge warned them this would not be tolerated and demanded they call off the march. The branch executive refused and continued regardless, leading to a baton charge by the police as they attempted to enter Parliament St. where the Peace Day Parades were being held near the Temporary Cenotaph. With the marches beaten back. events in Westminster quickly turned into a riot as other NFDDSS branches and the NUX learned of what was happening and sought to intervene to support their comrades. The police were successful in suppressing the marchers for long enough that they were able to push events away from Parliament, leading to the bloody Battle of Victoria Street. The Parade continued as expected though supplementary speeches were cut short with attending crowds swiftly dispersed. The Woolwich branch was officially expelled, and promptly defected en masse to the NUX.
Rioters storm Luton Town Hall
Outside of London, the violence was replicated in Luton following a bureaucratic clash between local veterans and the town council. The local NFDDSS branch had requested that it be allowed to hold a drumhead mass in Wardown Park. The request was denied by the town council and the NFDDSS were not permitted to send formal delegates to the parade in the town centre or a private banquet to be hosted by the Mayor to follow afterwards. In a letter to local newspapers, Deputy Mayor C. Dillingham, further inflamed the situation by quoting Henry Wilson, and in a letter to the local papers, claiming that "the constant demands for more, more, more by the local branch of the Discharged Serviceman's Federation [sic] should not at all be seen as indicative of those who fought for King and Country. Of those men who cannot help themselves, their needs are amply provided for by very generous charities. A man who asks for anything else is not asking for help, but just another dole." Local veterans and serviceman were allowed to attend informally, and the NFDDSS encouraged its members to attend anyway despite fears of a "riotous atmosphere among the rank-and-file." This atmosphere would only worsen when the lavish parade (with the mayor pulled in a gold-covered horse drawn carriage) was heckled and booed by attendees. The riot started when the Luton Town Mayor, Arthur Bennett Attwood, was interrupted during his reading of the Peace Proclamation and attendees began to violently clash with the police. Officers were diverted to fight back against the crowd but the police cordon was broken through and the rioters stormed the town hall, eventually setting it alight. Order was restored by midnight but by now the fire brigade were unable to save what remained of the building and by the next morning only rubble and a burnt façade remained. The ruin of the building was demolished the next year and a new town hall was built on the site of the old in 1931.
Economic Downturn & the NUR Strike[]
Upon taking power, Law and his Ministers sought to overturn the "draconian" state of affairs that had arisen to meet the demands of the period. Wartime regulations such as state direction of industry, price controls, the control of raw materials and foreign trade were abolished, and trade unions resurrected practices that had since been restricted. However, food rationing remained until early 1922 amid struggling imports. Prices increased twice as fast during 1920 than they had during the war and succeeding wage increases worsened the growing recession. Despite promises to bring down government expenditure and slash taxation, these policies were not immediately forthcoming and amid pressure to make good on the Coalition's promises of "Homes Fit for Heroes", the government was forced to agree to a plan of house-building. The President of the Local Government Board, Auckland Geddes, was tasked with drawing up plans and a programme of limited subsidies for private house-builders was launched to moderate approval by the public. Following Geddes leave of the cabinet, the plans were taken over by the Viscount Astor. The plans did little to alleviate the shortage for returning veterans and the programme served to only inflame the public mood. Under foreign pressure, the government submitted to a renewed Dreadnought Race which did see a fall in unemployment in the shipping industry though wages did not necessarily keep up and poverty was still immense.
NLB Marchers, April 1920
Widespread poverty, already an issue, was exacerbated by the post-war malaise and was particularly visible among returning veterans. Small-scale protests were common but soon attracted national attention with the National League of the Blind organised the so-called "March of the Blind" in April. The NLB had been calling for better provisions for the visually impaired since the 1890s and organised its first strike in 1912, efforts which had seen little success. During the Great War, the NLB's services had been stretched due to an influx of men who had been blinded by poison gas or shells, with as many as 20,000 of the 35,000 blind people in the country living in poverty. At the initiative of the NLB, on the 5th of April, Easter Monday, 104 blind men began marching from Manchester, Leeds and Newport to London. By the time they had reached London, their numbers had swelled to 600. The march was led by Ben Purse, the NLB General-Secretary; David Lawley, the NLB North West organiser; and Patrick Neary, the Dublin branch secretary. The marchers were ill-equipped, instructed to carry only their white canes and with no change of clothes or provisions. Any members that had served in the armed forces were asked not to wear any distinguishing medals or uniforms, so as not to illicit "misguided patriotic sympathy". The men marched arm in arm and four abreast or else held onto a rope to avoid getting separated with sighted guides marching with them to direct them on the path. In some municipalities, the local police provided an escort for the marchers or supplied buses for transport. Accommodation was provided by trade unions and cooperative societies and in some instances, the marchers were allowed to sleep in police cells. The marchers arrived in London on the 25th April and the NLB leaders were invited to meet the Prime Minister. Bonar Law declared he was deeply sympathetic to the NLB's aims and declared "something must be done" but made no pledges to meet their demands of better education, more work opportunities and a financial grant to all blind persons. Taking pity on the marchers, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Austen Chamberlain offered to pay for their rail fares home.
The situation in 1920 was further complicated by the presence of the Coal Industry Commission, popularly known as the Sankey Commission, and the publishing of its findings in Summer. The royal commission, led by John Sankey, was called to examine the future of the mining industry with its membership being drawn from leading businessmen, mine owners, trade unionists and leading economists. Members included: Mr Justice Sankey, Chair of the Commission; Frank Hodges, Herbert Smith and Robert Smilie, trade unionists; Leo Chiozza Money, R.H. Tawney and Sidney Webb, economists; Sir Adam Nimmo, Sir Alan Smith, Sir Evan Williams and Sir Arthur Duckham, businessman; R.W. Cooper, a journalist and Arthur Balfour, the Lord President of the Council. All three of the economists were affiliated to the Labour Party (though Chiozza Money had only recently defected) and they, along with the trade unionists and Sankey, supported nationalisation. However, while Sankey had proposed this with compensation, the rest had proposed it without, an unacceptable possibility for the colliery owners. Balfour had led the opposition, arguing that instead of nationalising the industry, all coal mined would be nationalised instead and purchased by the government at a fixed rate, to be handled by a new Coal Commission. Duckham was the sole dissenter of both plans, proposing Balfour's approach be adopted but the CMB should be a joint-stock company in private ownership as opposed to a public corporation. Despite objections from the left-orientated members of the board, Balfour convinced Law and Chamberlain to adopt the reorganisation proposal and it passed through parliament in July. Nimmo was made the Chairman of the newly-formed Coal Commission, shortly after its creation with Sir Ernest Gowers as controller.
Trade union militancy was also on the rise, with a notable flashpoint occurring on the 13th of May when London dockers refused to load armaments bound for service in Russia, onto the SS Jolly George. Agitation from the Hands Off Russia Movement, and its organiser Harry Pollitt, gained the backing of the transport unions, who threatened to call a dock strike if the workers were forced to load the offending cargo. Ultimately, the police and owners backed down, and the SS Jolly George sailed without the weaponry. Likewise, the issue of privatisation and wages became a major issue for the government with Law having promised that nationalisation of industries would end. For the course of the war, the railways and mines had been nationalised and while this had previously been seen as a temporary measure, calls to keep the nationalisations in place were beginning to rise. The issue of privatisation of these industries was particularly tricky and much negotiation with mine owners and labour leaders was necessary to avert major incidents. Despite party calls for an immediate and swift "divorce of state and industry," the Triple Alliance - an alliance of the largest Railway, Mining and Transport unions - threatened a general strike if this was done and Law's Chancellor, Austen Chamberlain, sought to calm labour leaders with promises to discuss continuity of wages in place of nationalisation. Likewise, the Minister of Labour, Robert Horne, felt that a mass privatisation immediately would cause mass outrage from the trade unions and so proposed that a staggered timetable be adopted. Henceforth the government proposed that of the two main industries under nationalised control - the railways and the mines - the railways be privatised first in 1920 and the mines a year later in 1921. Despite dismay from the trade unions, much of their leadership were still prepared to enter talks with the government about the future of their industries. However, inflation was also another long-term cause of the strike. The closing days of 1919 saw a brief post-war industrial optimism as men who had been serving at the Front were quickly absorbed into what few employment opportunities were available but this in turn led to the displacement of women who had worked in industry during the war. By 1920 alone, fewer women were working in industry than there had been in 1913. The sudden and rapid shift in the labour force, coupled with chronic unemployment and government policy of lifting wartime controls on prices, profits and wages led to dramatic inflation and increases in the cost of living for the working class.
Jimmy Thomas
Initial talks were forthcoming, with the government pledging to pass legislation to prevent wage cuts. The railways were relinquished into private ownership over the summer but tensions immediately broke out due to the railway industry's leadership reporting that rapidly rising maintenance costs (made worse by a long-term lack of maintenance and investment) and a fall in revenues meant that, in September, they would initiate wage cuts in contravention of the government's promises. While Horne had hoped to uphold the wartime rates, Conservative backbenchers rejected this compromise and the government was forced to announce it would not stand in the way of the proposed cuts. In retaliation, the National Union of Railwayman (NUR) - a member of the Triple Alliance - and the smaller, Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) announced plans for strike action in response. The sharp and unexpected reduction in wages had been met with equally rapid strike action but the railwayman's response caused a split response across British society. Political forces on the left were broadly supportive, with the Labour Party's executive coming out in support of the NUR and ASLEF but warning against further intervention by the Triple Alliance, a point the NUR General Secretary, Jimmy Thomas, conceded to. The Silver Badge Party was more cautiously supportive and ultimately split over the issue however with the more sympathetic NFDDSS coming out in support of the strike (at least publicly) and the now increasingly right-wing NADSS' leader, Arthur Jackson, calling on the government to "not bend to labour tyranny." The NADSS officially abandoned the Silver Badge label, making it the political arm of the NFDDSS. Likewise, the National Democratic Party found itself crumbling in the first test of its identity. While the party's informal leader, Clement Edwards, was somewhat supportive of the strikers and called for compromise, one of the NDP's founders and major figures, Victor Fisher, led an internal opposition in publicly opposing the strike and declared in Parliament that "a small but wicked cabal of Bolshevist infiltrators seek to capture the working men of Great Britain for their perverse machinations." His words were echoed more famously by David Lloyd George in his first post-war public engagement, declaring that "a small but active body of men has wrought tirelessly and insidiously to exploit the labour organisations of this country for subversive ends."
On the right, the strike was widely opposed with the only real division being on whether to back Horne's compromise or instead crush the strikers outright, though the National Party experienced a brief crisis of its own. While representing the far-right of British politics, the Nationals were still at this time committed to anti-sectarianism and nominally held sympathies for the labour force even it called for strikes to be banned. The party leadership under Croft was deeply opposed to the strike and made repeated calls to "make an example of the Bolshevist upstarts" in the NUR, but the reaction among the public was more mixed. At a National Party rally in London amidst the strike, Croft and his co-speaker, The Lord Ampthill, were booed by a crowd when Ampthill warned that "if this abuse of privilege continues then we will have no choice but to take them away again" in regards to the right to strike. The Party's official policy later moved to a more lukewarm condemnation of the NUR, and called on the government to "resolve the matter justly and equitably." Commentators have argued that this early "upset" would lead to the party's aristocratic backers eventually opting into supporting Rotha Lintorn-Orman's rival political ventures over fears that the Nationals were too "soft" on the issue of labour disputes.
Ministry of Food Lorry loaded with beef at Smithfield Market, London, during the 1920 Rail Strike,
From midnight on the night of the 26th of September until the 6th of October, NUR and ASLEF affiliated workers officially went on strike bringing much of the nation's rail transport to a grinding halt. Attempts to bus in blackleg labour was blocked when the NUX veteran's group provided ex-serviceman as anti-strikebreakers and stewards for picket lines. Disruption was immediate with the Bowes Park Weekly News reporting, ‘Wood Green people have become proficient in the ancient and almost forgotten art of walking’. Across the country, coal carts were utilised, cycling re-entered vogue, and horse riding became common. The people of Muswell Hill organised a two-horse wagonette service to the City and tram and bus queues became long. In further drastic measures, London Councils sent round notices that vigorous rationing would be enforced and only six ounces of sugar and four of margarine were allowed per head a week. Public recreation was inevitably disrupted, with the Alexandra Park Racecourse stewards deciding to abandon the following Saturday’s race meeting. Nevertheless, spirits among the public remained high and supportive of the strikers. As a gesture of goodwill, many employers opted to shorten the working day rather than organise private transport, causing even more disruption to the economy. In a shock twist, the MFGB announced its intentions to ballot miners on conducting their own strike on the 1st of October, partially in solidarity with the railwaymen and partially to upend any potential future plans to cut their own wages. Balloting had commenced quickly and returned a narrow majority of 56% in favour of action, with striking soon beginning on the 4th October, causing further disruption. Unlike the rail strikes, those of the miners' strikes were less enforced and more sporadic, though the government was fearful that the "half-penny strike", as it was termed, could soon snowball.
After the 10-day period, the government conceded and the rail strikes were called off amid a victory for the railwaymen. It was announced that the government would enforce the provision of the wartime pay rates for another year with the NUR securing further legislation guaranteeing and standardising an 8-hour workday for all railway workers. The government had taken a bruising and talks began to float in Conservative circles about replacing Law, with the much smaller Miners' Strike still ongoing. While the MFGB's own action was losing the little steam it had to begin with, Law now felt ready to take a hard line and sought to pass the Emergency Act of 1920 - coalescing provisions of the Defence of the Realm Act and other wartime legislation into one, single document that could be used in peace as well as war. Fearful of the potential repercussions of the new legislation, morale among the miners was lacking and on the 10th of October, a snap poll to continue the strike resulted in a ballot of only 24% approval for continuing. The strike came to a halt though the government did not cease continuing with the Emergency Act, which was passed into law in December. The new Act allowed the government to declare a state of emergency and use the military in peacetime roles. While particularly useful in crushing and blocking potential strikes, it was also seen as a potential boon for shoring up Britain's position in the ongoing Irish affair. While the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920 - passed in August - had granted British forces more draconian powers such as replacing trial by jury with courts-martial, there were hopes the provisions of the Emergency Act could help supplement the pre-existing powers though a state of emergency was never declared.
Revolution Too Close to Home: 1921 - 1922[]
Escalation in Ireland[]
During the latter period of 1920 and throughout 1921, the violence in Ireland began to rapidly escalate out of control with martial law proclaimed in Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary in Munster during the Autumn. In January 1921 martial law was extended to the rest of Munster in Counties Clare and Waterford, as well as counties Kilkenny and Wexford in Leinster. All coroners' courts were suspended and replaced with "military courts of enquiry". The powers of military courts-martial were extended to cover the whole population and were empowered to use the death penalty and internment without trial; Government payments to local governments in Sinn Féin hands were suspended. Privately, Law made clear his continuing commitment to putting down the rebellion in Ireland by force of arms rather than negotiate with the republican leadership. As a result, violence escalated sharply after November 1920 until the summer of 1921. It was in this period that a mutiny broke out among the Connaught Rangers, stationed in India. Two were killed whilst trying to storm an armoury and one was later executed. At home, events that dramatically escalated the conflict unfolded with the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, dying on hunger strike in Brixton Prison in London in October, while two other IRA prisoners on hunger strike, Joe Murphy and Michael Fitzgerald, died in Cork Jail.
Aftermath of the burning of Cork City
Sunday, 21 November 1920, was a day of dramatic bloodshed in Dublin that became known as Bloody Sunday. In the early morning, "the Squad" under Michael Collins, attempted to wipe out leading British intelligence operatives in the capital, in particular the so-called Cairo Gang, killing 16 men and wounding 5 others, rapidly damaging British intelligence in the city. In response, RIC men of the Black and Tans drove in trucks into Croke Park (Dublin's GAA football and hurling ground) during a football match, shooting into the crowd. Fourteen civilians were killed, including one of the players, Michael Hogan, and a further 65 people were wounded. Later that day two republican prisoners, Dick McKee, Peadar Clancy and an unassociated friend, Conor Clune who had been arrested with them, were killed in Dublin Castle. The official account was that the three men were shot "while trying to escape", which was rejected by Irish nationalists, who were certain the men had been tortured then murdered. IRA ambushes increased in intensity and in response, the government sanctioned "official reprisals" that amounted to house burnings. In December, the centre of Cork City was burnt out by the Black and Tans, responding to an ambush that had killed one of their own and wounded several others. Firefighters trying to tackle the blaze, and civilians who protected them, were shot at by the auxiliary forces. Lurid news of the atrocities shocked the liberal and left-wing sections of British society, with the Liberals and Labour both furiously attacking government conduct. When questioned in 1921 by the dissident Tory MP, Oswald Mosley, the Attorney-General for Ireland, Denis Henry, admitted before Parliament that he was informed by Commander-in-Chief Nevil Macready that 191 houses were destroyed in official reprisals in the area under Martial Law since January of that year. Buckling under pressure, Law agreed to open talks for a truce in late December of 1920 but these were soon scuppered when he and Lord Winterton declared the IRA must surrender their weapons first.
Until the Truce of November in 1921, there was a spiralling of the death toll in the conflict, with 1,000 people including the RIC police, army, IRA volunteers and civilians, being killed in the months between January and July 1921 alone, representing approximately 70% of the total casualties for the entire conflict. In addition, 4,500 IRA personnel (or suspected sympathisers) were interned in this time. In the middle of this violence, the Dáil Éireann acknowledged the state of war with Britain in March 1921 - it was not met with a response by the British government. This period of 1921 saw one of the worse escalations in the violence but in turn the IRA was gradually losing the material ability to continue the independence campaign with its Dublin forces seeing five men die and over eighty captured after their occupation of the Customs House. By July, IRA units on the ground were now chronically short of the necessary supplies to continue fighting and carrying out ambushes. IRA leader Richard Mulcahy commented that even when properly armed and supplied they could "only take over a sizeable police barracks" and actual military operations were out of the question. Nevertheless, the island itself remained in chaos from the IRA's successful guerrilla campaign and British authorities on the island acknowledged that defeating the IRA militarily was becoming increasingly infeasible. In response, the IRA opted to switch tactics and began targeting mainland Britain with Michael Collins wagering that the British government would not attempt to implement martial law at home and that even if it tried, the British public (and Opposition) would not tolerate it. While plans were drawn up, only two attacks were ever carried out; an unsuccessful prisoner rescue of IRA soldier, Frank J Carty, from Glasgow and the bombing of the Liverpool Dockyards. In both cases, IRA agents were shielded by local Irish and Catholic populations, sympathetic to the nationalist cause.
Finally buckling to growing pressure, the government and IRA finally signed a truce on the 14th of July, going into effect on the following day, to later be known as the "Assumption Truce". Negotiations were frantic and initially not forthcoming with Conservative politician, Austen Chamberlain, commenting that if the government was seen as attempting to negotiate before "a Republican dismissal" they would be able to improve their standing. Law himself was not keen on the negotiations and was under the impression that the Republicans themselves would quickly withdraw giving his government a pretext for a reconquest of Ireland but by now both sides were wary of the war and at a breaking point. The Irish were rapidly running out of military material and now struggling to amount effective offensive operations whereas in Britain, the constant and lurid newsfeed of horrendous atrocities and bloody conduct shocked and outraged much of society, with the prospect of a "War in England" terrifying the rest. Law privately vented to his ministers that he felt "his hand had been forced into making this wicked deal with the Irish Devils" but Chancellor Austen Chamberlain claimed that Law was "at least relieved to be rid of this Irish escapade." On November 10th, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed amid much controversy in both Great Britain and Ireland. Law was only able to narrowly fend off a confidence vote from the Conservatives despite hostility from so-called "Diehards" within the party who felt Law had betrayed the Empire. The territories that had formally constituted "Southern Ireland" were now an independent republic, in association with and nominally allied, to the Commonwealth, while those territories that constituted "Northern Ireland" had been officially split off to form a devolved territory within the United Kingdom and the Northern MPs took their seats. Minor IRA campaigns continued in the North but the Irish chapter had, at last, been closed.
Austerity & Recession[]
'Making the Empire Christmas pudding', artwork by F C Harrison
While the events of the Irish war dominated the headlines, the economic situation in Great Britain continued to decline with the Ministry of Labour reporting that unemployment had officially hit 1,000,000 in early February. This number would peak in June, with over 2,500,000 reported as unemployed, over 24% of the workforce and the highest it had ever been since records began. Minor protectionist tariffs had been levied in 1920 though these were aimed nearly exclusively at the Mitteleuropa economic bloc and were largely punitive in nature; as such they did little to alleviate the general economic situation and Law faced increased calls from the Tariff Reformers of the Conservatives to either levy higher (and more widespread tariffs) or, more preferably, finally embrace the cause of tariff reform. Law was suspicious of both proposals and felt that he lacked a popular mandate to do so, particularly in light of the ongoing crisis in Ireland. On the suggestion of First Lord of the Admiralty and arch-tariff reformer, Leo Amery, Law endeavoured to establish the Empire Marketing Board as a substitute for further tariffs. To Law this was an ideal compromise: he himself was not a proponent of protectionism, rather he sided more with Lord Derby, though he felt it could appease the ardent supporters of Imperial Preference and Tariff Reform; for Amery it was just the beginning of a wider programme of protectionism as he wagered the projected success of the Board would soon make an "indisputable case" for Tariff Reform. The Board did not have the ability to introduce, propose or enforce tariffs but rather promoted intra-Empire trade via advertising and propaganda campaigns with the goal of persuading consumers to 'Buy Empire' alongside supporting scientific research towards improving imperial food production. The Marketing Board quickly garnered the support of the pro-Imperial Preference press barons, Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere, who believed this was simply the beginning of a wider and more interconnected Imperial economy.
Sir Eric Geddes
Rothermere quickly folded support of the Marketing Board into his other, recently established, political campaign: the Anti-Waste League. Earlier in the year, Rotheremere publicly attacked the government's economic record amid the Depression and claimed that "government waste" was to blame for the lagging fortunes of British finances. A manifesto was quickly published under the auspices of the Anti-Waste League, attacking the retention of high income taxes and calling for radically decreased government expenditure at the national and local levels. "Slothful civil servants" and "penny-pinching Ministers" were condemned for their mishandling of the economy, particularly President of the Local Government Board, Lord Astor and the Homes Fit for Heroes Scheme. Despite promises of 500,000 homes being built in a three-year period, less than 100,000 had been built with pessimistic predictions unable to see even half the target being met by the end of the scheme's timeline. The creation of the Coal Commission also caught the League's ire as it was repeatedly publicised that savings in its first year had been negligible. The League quickly fought in multiple by-elections and allied with Horatio Bottomley's Independent Parliamentary Group. Nevertheless, the group was quickly mired by crisis when, during the 1921 Westminster Abbey by-election, all three candidates purported to be anti-waste, despite only one Anti-Waste candidate being endorsed. Brigadier-General Nicholson, theoretically the official Unionist nominee, described himself as 'Constitutional and Independent Conservative Anti-Waste', as opposed to Lieutenant R.V.K. Applin, Anti-Waste's official candidate, and Sir Arnold Lupton, a former Liberal MP who stood as an 'Independent Liberal and Anti-Waste'. Nicholson won and took the government whip, with junior minister Stanley Baldwin describing it as a "glorious victory against Bottomleyite crankery." It was followed by another bizarre contest in West Lewisham of London where Sir Philip Dawson, Conservative and Anti-Waste, defeated Lieutenant-Commander Windham, the Anti-Waste candidate, by just 747 votes. Despite little electoral success (though they did elect some Independent Conservatives) the government opted to nip the issue in the bud and formed the Committee for National Expenditure, led by Eric Geddes, with the aim of cutting spending on the advice of leading businessmen. Though it did not publish its findings until late 1922 and was wound up by MacDonald, it was recalled in 1924 by the National Government of Austen Chamberlain.
Likewise, the government was fearful of developments on the Continent with the victory of Communard France in the French Civil War and started to take a hard-line anti-Socialist stance in 1921. Britain's allies in the Republic had now been forced to flee the mainland and establish themselves in the North African city of Algiers, though the government remained publicly committed to supporting their French allies. Law and his ministers were deeply fearful of Communard interference over the channel, particularly amid rising industrial unrest by the miners and talks of the domestic socialist movement, still split between various outfits and ideological tendencies, apparently preparing to organise following assistance from Communard handlers. Furthermore, Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon was forced to privately allay the fears of his French counterpart, Alexandre Millerand, when the latter raised objections to the negotiations of an Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, between Britain and the nascent RSFSR, the prior year. Millerand asked if the British would do the same for Red France; Curzon claimed that it was a "domestic matter" and necessary to curtail the influence of the Hands Off Russia movement - a thinly-veiled socialist campaign opposed to British intervention in the Russian Civil War - though Millerand was not convinced and accosted Curzon for his "English duplicity." Curzon responded by referring to Millerand as a "stinking toad".
Strike Season[]
- Main article: 1922 Miners Strike
Despite wartime era forecasts by the Board of Trade, hopes of a post-war boom in the coal industry failed to materialise and it was the largest industry to experience its exports declining in both value and volume. Already caught up in the ongoing recession, the coal industry was particularly hard hit with unemployment and prices fluctuating. The industry continued to be under temporary state control and the government was set to surrender all wartime controls on the expiration of the present contracts, on March 31st. The plans for industry reorganisation prescribed by the Sankey Commission were still partially underway; the Coal Commission's bureaucracy was not entirely assembled and so far it had proven ineffective. Prices on the market for coal did not keep up with the Commission's estimates and it announced that it would be forced to lower the rate it would purchase coal at, in line with general austerity. In response, mine owners announced they would have no choice but to introduce wage cuts to make the mines profitable (the government had agreed to maintain the wartime wage levels for fear of a general strike) leading to a hostile reaction from the miners' unions and calls for a general strike. On April 1st, any miners who refused to accept the reductions were locked out of employment.
Frank Hodges
Following the imposition of the reductions, it was widely expected that the transport and rail unions would strike in support of the miners with Herbert Smith, President of the MFGB calling upon the Triple Alliance to begin strike action. The government took immediate preparations in declaring a state of emergency by invoking the Emergency Act - its first ever use - and beginning the rationing of coal. However, on 15th April, the executives of the NTWF and NUR announced that they would not recommend or endorse strike action. The day was hereafter known as Black Friday and regarded as a deep betrayal by the miners. In his defence, Jimmy Thomas of the NUR cited comments made by MFGB General-Secretary, Frank Hodges; Hodges had, in talks with the government, admitted that the miners were "prepared to consider a temporary settlement of wages, encompassing a living wage" as opposed to their earlier demands of a "National Pool" to keep wages uniform across pits. This had not been accepted among the miners themselves, let alone the Triple Alliance and the three unions were soon mired in internal dispute and dissent. The railway and transport union leaders felt Hodges - and to a lesser extent, the miners altogether - would readily accept "Tory Gold" without consulting their comrades but yet expected their unconditional support in repeated industrial disputes. Union loyalty had become brittle and union leaders doubted they had the unity to force a national strike.
Despite the decision against fully-fledged strike action, the miners nevertheless went on strike for some three months, with transport and rail workers ordered not to handle imported coal by their unions. Many workers were unhappy with this limited action, however, and unofficial strikes broke out across the country. In Glasgow, for example, the Scottish Union of Dock Labourers broke with the policy of the Transport Workers' Federation and called its members out on strike on 7 May. On the same day, wage reductions were imposed on merchant seamen, leading to a well-supported general strike at the docks which lasted for over a month. Transport and rail leaders were widely criticised for their actions, with Thomas of the NUR and Robert Williams of the NTWF being singled out for particular criticism. Thomas again came to his own defence by claiming that during a time of high unemployment, it could not be expected that workers should jeopardise their livelihoods for "ephemeral paypackets" and that ultimately, there was simply little sympathy among the rank-and-file. Following the events of Black Friday, the Triple Alliance was severely weakened and all but destroyed. Solidarity between the three unions seemed more theoretical than real and following the events of the spring, relations were cold. Hodges had effectively destroyed his career and was widely regarded as a "Judas" by his colleagues for their betrayal. Austen Chamberlain commented that the "miners needed a sacrificial lamb and Hodges was particularly woolly." In the Autumn of 1921, Hodges resigned facing the possibility of being forcibly ousted, no longer having the backing of his nominal superior in Smith. To replace Hodges, the Welsh militant and syndicalist sympathiser, A. J. Cook was elected as the new General-Secretary the next February. Cook would seek to rebuild relations between the Triple Alliance, making an unlikely - and uneasy - ally in Ernest Bevin, who sought to do the same. Nevertheless, in the absence of three-way solidarity, the General Council of the Trade Unions Congress had taken precedence in the handling of intra-trade union relations. Bevin was deeply suspicious of the Council's "radicalism" though Cook later commented it was, "this solidarity of working men, of all the jobs and all the trades, that delivered the goods in our hour of need."
In a rare victory for the government, mass strike action had been averted and the miners had been thoroughly humbled, taking on even worse conditions than they had been offered in the initial cuts. Anger filled the pits and collieries and while it would not fully bubble over into the new year, it would see growing political developments on both the right and left. Shortly after Black Friday, reactionary activist, Rotha Lintorn-Orman claimed that she had a "most enlightening epiphany" and sought to stop an alleged socialist infiltration of the nation. Out of these fears, and a growing desire to fight back against the tide of socialism, she formed the paramilitary organisation and political party, the British Legion. The Legion quickly garnered interest among the societal elite and was able to siphon off support from the crumbling National Party, though it would not come to major prominence until its participation in labour clashes later on in 1922. To complement the disparate organisation of the far-right, the far-left too had been organising with talks of forming a "united communist party" beginning as early as mid-1921. The British Socialist Party, the largest of the far-left parties and the only one with representation in parliament (counting three MPs after Cecil L'Estrange Malone crossed the floor) functioned as a proto-communist party but it was increasingly rivaled by the De Leonist Socialist Labour Party. The leadership of both parties agreed to a tripartite merger with the South Wales Socialist Society to form the Syndicalist Party of Great Britain. The party was fraught with internal factionalism and division at first, particularly over leadership. Albert Inkpin of the Leninist British Socialist Party made a bid for leadership but was defeated by the SLP organiser, Tom Bell, who was declared General-Secretary. Bell had Arthur MacManus appointed Chairman and offered Inkpin the position of Treasurer, which he accepted. Unity had prevailed and a policy campaign of revolutionary syndicalism, internationalism, pacifism and "cooperation of opportunity" towards the Labour Party was agreed on. All three BSP MPs switched to the SPGB and the party quickly absorbed the "Guild Communist" faction of the National Guilds League, assorted shop stewards' and workers' committees, socialist clubs and many former branches of the Hands Off Russia campaign. Numerous branches of Independent Labour Party also affiliated with the growing party. Sylvia Pankhurst's Communist Party (British Section of the Third International), and Willie Gallacher's Scottish Syndicalist Party were absorbed over the summer. However, "left-communists" within the party led by Sylvia Pankhurst had grown discontent at the policy direction of the SPGB - particularly its intention to stand parliamentary candidates - and so she and a group of her supporters splintered to found the British Communist Party as a more orthodox Marxist rival to the SPGB, albeit one that never surpassed 1,000 members.
George Lansbury, Mayor of Poplar
While the Autumn and Winter had brought a slight lull in industrial unrest, with the miners now begrudgingly accepting the new rates, Law's administration was beset by another political cause célèbre during the Poplar Rates Rebellion. Poplar Borough was one of the poorest in London and as such, it had to collect increasingly high rates from its residents (as they were calculated against rents) to match the same payments that more affluent boroughs could receive. The Labour Mayor of Poplar and future revolutionary leader, George Lansbury, had overseen a policy of charging high rates to provide direly needed municipal services for Poplar's residents. Nevertheless, the Council was still expected to pay precepts for cross-London services such as London County Council such and the Metropolitan Police. Facing further rate increases crippling an already impoverished borough, Lansbury - with the backing of 30 Poplar Councillors - refused to pay the precepts. The County Council sued in the High Court and the council's response was to organise a procession of 2,000 supporters from Bow in a march to the Strand, as led by Lansbury. Lansbury and the councilors were swiftly arrested for being held in contempt of court. The issue rapidly spiraled out of control when it emerged that one of the councilors, Nellie Cressall, was pregnant. The Home Secretary, the Viscount Cave, took much of the brunt of the ensuing outrage with John Wheatley, a Labour councilor in Glasgow calling for the Home Secretary to "hang his head in shame at this rank injustice." Imprisoning a heavily pregnant woman became a political embarrassment with the councilors gaining much sympathy. Lord Cave intervened and Cressall was offered release on compassionate grounds though she refused until her colleagues were also released. Cressal was only convinced by Labour leader in London, Harry Gosling and her colleagues were released after public pressure some weeks later. The "Rebellion" and the advent of "Poplarism" inspired similar protests across the country by left-wing councils. Law remarked to Chamberlain, "I fear this year is just the beginning of some Hellish gauntlet to come."
Indeed, the next year would bring about more industrial unrest with the formation of the Transport and General Workers Union in January. The formation of the TGWU saw the amalgamation of 14 separate trade unions across its respective areas. By membership itwas one of the largest trade unions in both Britain and the world. A power struggle for leadership emerged but was quickly won out by radical labourite, Ben Tillett. A powerful figure in the dockers' unions, Tillett had become notable for his leadership in the London dock strike of 1889 and had been critical of the dockers' refusal to support the miners. Having placed his deputy, Ernest Bevin, in charge of rebuilding relations with the Triple Alliance, the path to leadership of the TGWU laid open and Tillett was elected on a campaign described as "loud-mouthed demagoguery and furious inferno dressed up as radicalism and righteous outrage," by Clement Attlee. Tillett was not a syndicalist himself - he nominally belonged to the Labour Party - but he held close ties to the party on account of his deep friendship with Tom Mann, who reportedly tried to convince him to take membership. Control of one of the most powerful unions in the hands of an SPGB member was a terrifying prospect for Law's cabinet but they would not have to wait long for it to be made reality. Just over a month later in the middle of February, Arthur Cook, a man described as a "raving communist", had been installed as the MFGB General-Secretary.
Striking workers in Wales, c. 1922
Fears of industrial action became more widespread when Cook announced in the Spring that he would be seeking a "new settlement" regarding the state of mining in the country. Preparations for coal rationing were debated and eventually implemented by April with the Coal Commission announcing its plans to stockpile some 2.5 million tonnes of coal by the end of the Summer. However, despite relative quiet from the miners, disaster would strike on the 18th of May when a pit explosion was reported at the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery in Barnsley, West Yorkshire. Over 120 men died in the initial incident and a further 12 men died across multiple rescue attempts in what would become the worst mining disaster in Yorkshire history. By the end of the month, over 1,000 miners in Barnsley had signed on for unemployment and an outpouring of public support swept the nation. The Mayor of Barnsley on behalf of the YMA, Sam Jones; the Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding, Henry Lascelles and the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Edward Moore, all set up relief funds that alone raised £500,000 in aid, with smaller private schemes being setup. The Prince of Wales was publicly outspoken in favour of the miners and made a private donation to the relief fund. A highly controversial and emotive inquiry was established at the West Riding Police Court at Barnsley though it was ultimately judged that the cause of the explosions was inconclusive and no wrongdoing could be proven by the courts.
Even during the inquiry, sympathy strikes (and some lockouts) had erupted across Yorkshire but following the results that cleared the mine owners of wrongdoing, industrial tensions flared. Herbert Smith, President of the MFGB immediately attacked the inquiry for perceived bias and aiding in a cover-up by the mine owners. Balloting of the YMA was swift and returned an 87% majority in favour of strike action. Fearful of nation-wide strike action, or worse - a general strike - Law announced that coal would enter a state of limited rationing. Secretary for the Mines, William Bridgeman, assured Law that "large-scale strike action is not likely," and that "the incident in Yorkshire is but a small outburst and a purely provincial problem." On this advice, the government held off from full-scale rationing or invoking the Emergency Act though it did open secret talks with Canada and Norway to ensure that coal imports could keep the nation afloat. The situation quickly turned dire when by the mid-summer, strike action had quickly spread out from Yorkshire to the North of England with sympathy strikes in Wales and Scotland soon becoming full-blown strike action. By mid-August, a ballot in favour of nation-wide strike action by the MFGB received a majority of 72% in favour. The Miners Strike had now begun in earnest.
In retaliation, the government invoked the Emergency Act and the military was deployed to striking areas to reinforce police activities. Coal rationing was implemented in full and employers began to cut the hours of work available to their staff. Initially, the TUC had not mandated strike-action for other unions - the miners had not requested it - and the other members of the Triple Alliance initially remained outside of the strike. However, by the end of the summer, MFGB Secretary Cook had managed to deftly negotiate both the dockers and railwaymen into joining the strike. The General Council of the TUC did not endorse a General Strike of all workers but gave its support to those members of the Triple Alliance that announced their intentions to strike, TUC General Secretary, C. W. Bowerman and TUC President, Robert Walker both giving their 'utmost support to the plight of the miners.' Bowerman, while suspicious of "syndicalist interference" and the motivations of Cook, called on the government to host a new inquiry after the fallout of the first. Those railwaymen and dockers involved initially led a period of collective picketing known as the Week of Discontent in which essential services were halted. Law's government had prepared rationing for a miners' strike but had not expected wider industrial action leading to economic disruption. Following the Triple Alliance strike, fears of a wider general strike did not materialise and it was agreed that the railwaymen and dockers would - rather than picketing - refuse to handle imported coal, forcing the government to rely exclusively on the Coal Commission's stockpiles. The Commission announced further rationing measures and less coal was made available to the market. The strike came to a halt at the end of the year amid a truce in which the government offered to establish a commission to investigate the conditions of the mines on what became known as Red Friday. Cook had wished to continue the strike in an attempt to secure better wages as well, but this was an unpopular proposal and it was agreed the miners would take time to regroup.
Stanley Baldwin
Despite the end of this crisis, the Law government, already on shaky ground, finally collapsed in the winter of 1922. Amid rumours of further strike action planned for after the winter, now for better pay, Law called a snap election for January in an attempt to catch the miners off guard. While the miners had courted much sympathy, Conservative HQ contemplated that public solidarity would have declined over the course of a harsh winter and by campaigning on a platform of "ending trade union tyranny to end public strife" would serve as a mandate for curbing the miners' power. Initial predictions were optimistic for the Conservatives, with even Labour and trade union officials worrying this could turn into a "black election" that would go far beyond the crushing defeat of Black Friday. Beatrice Webb wrote in her diary that it was an example of "wicked strategy" and worried that the Conservatives would increase their slim majority. But in a shock upturn of events, just weeks before the election - scheduled for the 4th January 1923 - the President of the Board of Trade, Stanley Baldwin returned to Great Britain from America. Baldwin had headed to Washington in November, returning on the 12th of December, to negotiate the repayment of Britain’s war debts and also, more informally, attempt to rebuild relations with the Americans. Owing to a multitude of factors such as the Franco-Italian financial situation vis-a-vis debt repayments; the war with Ireland and the rebuilding of the Royal Navy, the government estimated that annual repayments of around £16 million a year were possible at most, provided Russia serviced her debts properly.
However, Baldwin was at this stage a relatively inexperienced Trade minister who had already blundered through recovering from recent aftershocks of the strike. His inexperience already doing him no favours, he is reported to have "taken a harsh approach at first and offended the American hosts" before eventually being talked into increasing payments to appease them. By the end of the negotiations, Baldwin had been persuaded to agree to £40 million a year instead by the American delegation. The cabinet had not been informed of this sudden upswing in projected payments nor been consulted on it before it was signed; senior ministers learned alongside the public at large when Baldwin announced the deal to the press on the docks at Southampton and was quickly skewered in the press for his naivety and further damaging of British finances. Upon learning of the new terms, the cabinet was horrified and Law reportedly took Baldwin to one side and informed him that "with regret" Baldwin's already lacking career had come to an abrupt end. Law did not even have the ability to sack Baldwin owing to the incoming election and privately informed top cabinet officials he intended to resign immediately. He was only narrowly talked down and convinced not to follow in the footsteps of Lloyd-George, but he made it clear in no uncertain terms this election would be his last. Law's only recompense in the Baldwin debacle came in the form of a series of anonymous letters written to the Times in which he chastised Baldwin from the perspective of a "concerned citizen." Already suffering from rapidly deteriorating health and now expecting a battering in the elections, the Prime Minister had all but lost the fight and prepared for the final humiliation of his career.
The MacDonald Government: 1923[]
Discontent & Crisis[]
- Main article: Curzon Crisis
Lord Curzon
The 1923 British General Election was held on the 4th of January, 1923, resulting in a hung parliament. The Conservatives won 240 seats while Labour won 191 and polled the highest popular vote. Neither party could form a majority and as per convention, Law was briefly allowed to continue his Premiership but his government collapsed on the 10th of January following the Liberals and Labour voting together to reject the Conservative-prepared King's Speech. Law announced his intention to resign but caused the so-called "King's Dilemma" when he was unwilling and unable to provide advice on who his successor would be. The leading man in the Commons, Chancellor Austen Chamberlain, would be an unacceptable candidate to the Liberals on account of being the leader of the quasi-protectionist, Tariff Reform movement, making the choice all the more difficult. Speculation emerged that Lord Curzon, long believed to be the most likely candidate, was now slated for the Premiership. Curzon - a member of the House of Lords - had previously served as the Viceroy of India and was the current Foreign Secretary, though despite his administrative talents he was widely disliked for his arrogant personality. Furthermore, it remained unclear (and was regarded as unsensible) if a Lord could become Prime Minister. While his name had been acknowledged by Law, Balfour - who was also advising the King - warned against him and the King shared Balfour's personal prejudices against the man. Fearful of the lack of a suitable alternative 'binding the King's hands', an anonymous figure in the Conservative Party leaked correspondences relating to the affair in the so-called 'Cato Letters' warning against the appointment of a Lord to the Premiership. In the aftermath, a week of public outrage followed with a latent republican and anti-establishment sentiment coming to the surface. Protests against Curzon, the Peerage and the state of the nation filled major cities as the public vented their discontent with the Tory government and the political establishment.
Amid the constitutional crisis, Asquith and the Liberals had been leading quiet negotiations with Labour about the possibility of forming a government. Labour, now the official opposition, was tipped to lead and found its support swelling from discontented workers and radical agitators, both eager for change. Believing that Labour would stumble in office and prove its policy programme unworkable, Asquith committed the Liberals to supporting a Labour government on the basis of a confidence-and-supply agreement. All other bills would be handled on a case-by-case basis though these were terms amicable to MacDonald who was eager and willing to form an administration. Unemployment continued to rise and the nation was still recovering from the immense disruption of the 1922 Miners Strike; to Labour this was now ample time to prove their programme and reverse the economic downturn. MacDonald himself was cautiously worried about Labour's chances at passing meaningful reform but nevertheless felt ready to take the opportunity. After some negotiation, the Liberals informed the King they were prepared to support a Labour government and urged him to send for MacDonald. The first Labour government was formed on the 6th of February, 1923 and Ramsay MacDonald was formally appointed Prime Minister. At this time, Law continued as the de jure leader of the Conservative Party and so took the position of Leader of the Opposition in the interim though he was ultimately succeeded by Balfour's protégé and leader of the tariff reform campaign, Austen Chamberlain.
Despite jubilation throughout much of the Labour Party, the political left was also marked by discontent at MacDonald's appointment. Robert Smillie, the Labour MP for Morpeth, believed that MacDonald had made a serious mistake in forming a government: "At last we had a Labour Government! I have to tell you that I did not share in that jubilation. In fact, had I had a voice in the matter which, as a mere back-bencher I did not, I would have strongly advised MacDonald not to touch the seals of office with the proverbial bargepole. Indeed, I was very doubtful indeed about the wisdom of forming a Government. Given the arithmetic of the situation, we could not possibly embark on a proper Socialist programme." G.D.H. Cole pointed out that MacDonald was in a difficult position. If he refused to form a government "it would have been widely misrepresented as showing Labour's fears of its own capacity, and it would have meant leaving the unemployed to their plight." Left-wing members of the Labour Party, such as James Maxton and Smilie, suggested that MacDonald should accept office and then immediately invite defeat by putting forward an openly socialist programmeme that would antagonise not only the Conservatives but their Liberal partners. The proposal was declared impossible on the basis that the party could not financially afford another election and would be able to stand few candidates. MacDonald caused further dismay among the increasingly militant ranks of Labour when he arrived at his first meeting with the King in full court dress. The Private Secretary to the Sovereign, Lord Stamdfordham, commented that it posed a humorous situation in which the King, believing he would cause offense to MacDonald, opted to dress in less formal clothing. After a stunted start, the two men received each other cordially and MacDonald was formally requested to form a government by the King.
Labour in Downing Street[]
Ramsay MacDonald, 56th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The MacDonald Ministry was announced shortly after his appointment, though the Prime Minister was faced with the immediate challenges of running a government on unstable ground; benches that lacked the necessary ministerial experience to make up a cabinet and the growing outburst of radicalism among Labour's left which was exacerbating factional tensions. MacDonald would be forced to tread carefully, not wishing to cause a civil war in his government or antagonise his Liberal backers. Furthermore, the government had only three Lords (though some more were created upon taking office) which led to speculation that a future showdown between the government and the Lords would erupt, as had done in 1911. While MacDonald was sympathetic to the egalitarian policy of ridding Parliament of the Lords, he predicted this would never be permitted by the Liberals and that instead, Labour should show the nation it was 'fit to govern'. This was not necessarily in the form of concrete policy-making but allaying fears that Labour were preparing to dismantle the country and install a Communard regime. To the dismay of the Labour left, acting 'respectably' meant that policies such as nationalisation and the capital levy tax were ignored while programmes for public works were downplayed so as to garner Liberal support. Rather than indulge in sweeping changes that ran the risk of inviting political turmoil and a backlash against Labour, MacDonald sought to use more incremental reforms to ease the tremendous plight of the working class but not antagonise the nation, paving the way for more ambitious plans in the future.
Despite lacking a parliamentary majority, the First Labour Government was able to introduce a number of measures which made life more tolerable for working people. Provisions for the unemployed and sick were increased with unemployment benefit payments increased from 15 shillings (75p) to 18 shillings (90p) a week for men, and from 12 shillings (60p) to 15 shillings (75p) for women, while the children's allowance was doubled to two shillings. Means testing on households and the "gap" between when one could be on benefits were both abolished, with the time permitted to be on benefits extended. However, a clause was added enforcing those receiving the benefits to be "genuinely seeking work" which drew critique from within Labour. The restrictions which prevented people from other countries, short-time workers, married women, and single persons residing with relatives from claiming uncovenanted benefits were abolished. Increases were made in both old-age pensions and the pensions of ex-servicemen and their widows and children. Small incomes from savings were now disregarded in calculating pensions and as a result of this change, 60,000 elderly people, whose meagre savings had previously reduced their pension entitlement, received the full state pension. Eligibility for the state pension was also extended so that it covered 70% of the over-seventies, and 150,000 elderly people who had never received pensions before were now entitled to them. Furthermore, the Old Age Pensions Act 1923 guaranteed a weekly pension of ten shillings (50p) to people over the age of seventy who earned under 15 shillings (75p) a week. For the first time, Miner's silicosis was included in the provisions for workmen's compensation and the entitlement of sickness allowances to war widows and orphans was extended. Higher spending on education and health was carried out, while sickness grants (which had been abolished under Law's administration) were restored. For war pensioners, new pensions were provided "in deserving cases at the rate of over three hundred a week" and military pay was increased. The Boards for Agriculture and Local Government both became full Ministries, for Agriculture and Health respectively.
Labour poster, c. 1923
Likewise, the government endeavoured to extend educational opportunities for children, and adults via a major overhaul under the oversight of President of Education, Charles Philips Trevelyan. Local authorities were empowered, on their own accord, to raise the school-leaving age to 15; the adult education grant was tripled; maintenance allowances for young people in secondary schools were increased; state scholarships (which had previously been in suspense) were restored; the proportion of free places in secondary schools was increased; approval was given to forty new secondary schools and a survey was carried out to provide for the replacement of insanitary and obsolete schools. Later in the year, forty pupils was set as the maximum class size in elementary & primary schooling. Restrictions on education spending imposed by the previous government were removed, while local authorities were encouraged to increase the number of free secondary school places. In addition, the Education Act 1923 was passed which created an English secondary school system between the ages of 11–14. The restriction on maintenance allowances given by Local Authorities was removed; the previous rule was that 20% of the expenditure was given as a grant by the Board to the Local Authorities, and this law raised it to 50%. In addition, restrictions on grants for providing meals for children were removed. Spending on adult education was increased, with the grant-in-aid increased from £20,600 to £30,500 pounds. Furthermore, a 5% reduction on admissions to training colleges (imposed in 1922) was withdrawn.
The restrictions imposed by the previous government on spending by the Poplar Board of Guardians were removed, while the National Health Insurance (Cost of Medical Benefit) Bill revised the capitation fee paid to doctors. Restrictions introduced by the previous government on state grants to the principal public health grant earning services (including maternity and child welfare, tuberculosis, and venereal disease) were removed. This was followed by a circular issued to local authorities to this effect and enabling them "to carry out more effectively their public health powers under the law." Child welfare and maternity services were extended, while ex-service patients who had been treated as "pauper lunatics" under former Governments were removed from being treated in that way. As a result of this change, they were now paid for out of public funds. A circular was issued that removed restrictions on grants for health services, an action which led to the extension of welfare schemes for childhood and maternity. 70 new infant welfare centres were opened; more health visitors had been appointed; many more beds had been provided in homes for mothers and babies; and the milk supply was extended in 16 cases. As a result of the circular, for TB, about 1,500 new beds had been arranged by the local authorities. The new Scottish Board of Health also withdrew the restrictions imposed under the previous Conservative government upon the expenditure to be incurred in the public health services, and consequently there were developments affecting port sanitation, tuberculosis, the welfare of the blind, and maternity and child welfare. The Board also extended grants to local authorities for the purpose of slum clearance.
Addressing the issue of unemployment was a major project of the government, though particular focus was placed on the fall of wages for those still employed. Minimum wages for agricultural workers were restored and county committees were established with the power to fix wages, and together with a central wages board to supervise the county awards. The act helped bring about a substantial improvement over most of the country, with agricultural wages being quickly increased to 30 shillings a week (a higher level in certain counties) under the wage committees. Conservative plans to attenuate trade board powers were dropped and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden oversaw cuts to both direct and indirect taxation via lifting duties on foodstuffs though he never pursued a capital levy. Snowden described the programme as representing "the greatest step ever taken towards the Radical idea of the free breakfast table." Free trade became a central policy of the government and, to fight unemployment, subsidies were given to agricultural cultivation and municipal works while schemes for roads and bridges, land reclamation and drainage, and afforestation in rural areas were extended. A scheme for beautifying St. James’ Park was carried out with a large measure of success, while additional areas of parkland were allocated for games in Bushey Park, Richmond Park, and Regent's Park. Lawn-tennis courts were opened in Bushey Park, while two more playgrounds were provided for children in Regent's Park and one in Greenwich Park. To the dismay of more pacifist-inclined members of the cabinet, the government opted to continue the Dreadnought Race as a means of keeping unemployment under control. Unfortunately, Snowden and Jowett's schemes did little to alleviate the problem, with unemployment dropping less than 2% by 1924.
John Wheatley, Minister of Health
Ultimately, the main achievement of the government was the 1923 Wheatley Housing Act, which MacDonald dubbed 'our most important legislative item'. This measure went some way towards rectifying the problem of the housing shortage, caused by the disruption of the building trade during the Great War and the inability of working-class tenants to rent decent, affordable housing. Wheatley, the President of the Local Government Board and then Minister of Health, scrapped the Geddes-Astor programme of limited subsidies for private house-builders and shifted towards a policy of providing public housing to council tenants and general slum clearances in the urban centres. The act was repealed the next year but re-instituted in 1926 by the Union of Britain and estimated to have overseen the construction of over 550,000 rented homes at controlled rents by 1933, when the Act was amended. Furthermore, Wheatley saw laws introduced which modified the right of a landlord to obtain possession of a house for his own family's use, where unnecessary hardship would be caused to the tenant. The Protection from Eviction Act of 1923 provided some degree of protection to tenants "in the face of landlords seeking vacant possession and rent rises." This legislation protected tenants from eviction by landlords who attempted to obtain "decontrolled" status for their properties to raise rents. In addition, government funds were allocated for the repair and modernisation of 60,000 government built houses.
MacDonald's Downfall[]
The downfall of the Labour government can ultimately be blamed on red-baiting and fears of interference by Communard Paris. Even prior to MacDonald's ascension to office, Lord Rothermere and the Daily Mail ran political pieces urging the King not to appoint a Labour government lest he wish to put himself in peril. MacDonald's appointment promptly caused dismay among the political right and much of the hardliners of the Conservative Party who distrusted MacDonald and his cabinet, believing they were in the thrall of Paris to varying degrees. The National Party formally abandoned any notion that it would work with Labour and formally pegged itself to the Conservative Party via the creation of the National Constitutional Association, a right-wing pressure group within the Conservatives, that allowed National Party members to hold dual membership. The far-right British Legion was openly hostile to the concept of a Labour government and its leadership spoke out against MacDonald, notably at a rally in Kensington Gardens in the spring of 1923. Despite this, during the dockers strike of the summer, Rotha Lintorn-Orman and R.B.D. Blakeney penned a joint letter to Arthur Henderson, the Home Secretary, offering him the services of the Legion in suppressing the strike. Henderson did not respond and the strike ended before Legion involvement.
Southend tram staff on strike
One of the often invoked attacks against MacDonald was his alleged passivity against strikes. With the trade unions sympathetic to his administration, and many of their own now in government, there were no major strikes and among those minor ones that did break out, they were quickly ended, usually by giving into the strikers demands. MacDonald was tempted to use the Emergency Act during the Southend Tram Strike, in May. One of the conductors, a Mr. L. Loyd, was struck off for allegedly allowing passengers to ride without paying despite evidence he had attempted to stop them. Angered at such a trivial matter, and already bitter over poor wages, the tram drivers declared a strike bringing public transport in the area to a grinding halt. Initial talks collapsed and to prevent the strike from spreading to other public transport workers - as well as train drivers - the government weighed in to ensure Mr. Loyd was returned to work. While the incident was minor, MacDonald was lambasted in the press for his "surrender to trade union tyranny" and allegations emerged of Loyd being a member of the Syndicalist Party. Despite being a trivial matter, the event invited attacks on the London Traffic Act 1923 - which regulated privately owned public transport in the city - and it survived a near defeat in the Lords, passing after Lord Parmoor convinced the opposition to abstain rather than vote it down.
The month would also see the Labour government face its first major crisis following a diplomatic fiasco involving the two French governments. The previous Conservative government had upheld the Entente Cordial and continued to recognise the French Government-in-Exile, the Algiers Government over its Communard rival in Paris. Nevertheless, Anglo-French relations remained cold between the two allies and the Algiers regime remained suspicious of their British counterparts, particularly over the handling of relations with the defunct Soviet Union. The Labour Party held little sympathy for Algiers, which had grown increasingly unstable and reactionary in nature, despite the veneer of remaining a democratic republic. Foreign Secretary E.D. Morel, a French-born but naturalised British citizen, held a particular hostility for Algiers and encouraged MacDonald to instead switch British diplomatic allegiance to the Communards. Privately, Morel's interests were personally and racially motivated, but he justified his proposal on the basis that Algiers was becoming an increasing liability for British interests and its revanchist character would see Britain dragged into a chaotic international war. The government informed Parliament of its plans to negotiate two treaties pertaining to Anglo-Communard trade and the possibility of regaining compensation for British property that had been nationalised. Both the Conservatives and Liberals were hostile to the proposed treaties, with the Conservative MP, William Joynson-Hicks, leading angry rebuttals against MacDonald's "stab in the back" of British allies. The Algiers government openly condemned MacDonald and the treaties were abandoned in June.
J.R. Campbell
The government was further shook by the events of the Campbell Case in early August. On 25th July 1923, the Workers' Weekly, the official SPGB newspaper, published an "Open Letter to the Fighting Forces" that had been written anonymously by Harry Pollitt. The article called on soldiers to "let it be known that, neither in the class war nor in a military war, will you turn your guns on your fellow workers, but instead will line up with your fellow workers in an attack upon the exploiters and capitalists and will use your arms on the side of your own class." After consultations with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General, Sir Patrick Hastings, MacDonald reluctantly decided to arrest and charge, John Ross Campbell, the editor of the newspaper, with incitement to mutiny. The following day, Hastings had to answer questions in the House of Commons on the case. However, after investigating Campbell in more detail, Hastings discovered that Campbell was only acting editor at the time the article was published; Hastings began to have doubts about the success and fairness of a prosecution, warning MacDonald that even if it did pass through the courts, it would be a "grave legal injustice."
The matter was further complicated when, some days later, the ILP notable and left-wing MP, James Maxton, informed Hastings about Campbell's war record. In the Great War, Campbell was posted to the Clydeside section of the Royal Naval division and served throughout the war. Wounded at Gallipoli, he was permanently disabled at the battle of the Somme, where he was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery. Hastings was now deeply troubled about the possible reaction to the idea of a war hero being prosecuted for an article published in a small circulation newspaper and decided that he had no stomach to carry out a potentially spurious prosecution or face the potential backlash. At a meeting on the morning of the 6th of August, Hastings told MacDonald that he thought that "the whole matter could be dropped". MacDonald agreed that the issue was "certainly overblown" but replied that prosecutions, once entered into, should not be dropped under political pressure. At a Cabinet meeting that evening, Hastings revealed that he had a letter from Campbell confirming his temporary editorship. Hastings also added that the case should be withdrawn on the grounds that the article merely commented on the use of troops in industrial disputes. MacDonald agreed with this assessment and agreed the prosecution could now be safely dropped.
On 13th August, the case was quietly withdrawn by the Attorney-General's office but the matter was quickly picked upon by the right-wing Liberal MP, John Simon who brought its attention to parliament. Simon and Joynson-Hicks joined together to issue a stinging condemnation against the government for being soft on syndicalism and refusing to prosecute "open mutineers and purveyors of seditious material." MacDonald, who had a history of being on the left of the ILP but had since moved more right-ward, told King George, "you have never seen me as a Minister without making me feel that you were also seeing me as a friend. I ask you now to trust my judgement, for honesty compels me to tell you I am no syndicalist." The King weighed in and attempted to afford his support, calling for calmness and for the opposition to allow MacDonald to handle the affair but the the damage had been done and MacDonald was painted in the press as a syndicalist sympathiser. The Workers' Weekly and Campbell publicly gave their thanks to MacDonald for stopping the prosecution, but this simply made the situation worse as Conservative MPs took this as a sign that MacDonald was in league with the SPGB. Edward Stanley, the Earl of Derby, attacked MacDonald in parliament and asked, if forced to speak under oath, would MacDonald declare his loyalty to London or France.
The final, and most serious crisis occurred in the latter half of the year when, on the 20th October 1923, MI5 received a copy of a letter, dated the 15th of September, allegedly sent by Marcel Cachin, a high-ranking politician in France, to Arthur McManus, the British representative to the Third International. In the letter British syndicalists were asked to take all possible action to ensure the ratification of the Anglo-Communard Treaties and to ensure that MacDonald 'continued to support the extradition of White French émigrés' within Britain. It then went on to advocate preparation for military insurrection in working-class areas of Britain by stockpiling arms, for subverting allegiance in the army and navy as part of this insurrection and the seeking of the aid of the Labour Party in the insurrection. The alleged letter set off political storm in the intelligence community - already hostile to MacDonald - and the details were leaked by the Conservative MP, Reginald Hall, to the Daily Mail. The newspaper printed details of the letter under the salacious headline: "Civil War Plot by Socialists Masters". It argued: "Paris issues orders to the British Communists... the British Communists in turn give orders to the Socialist Government, which it tamely and gladly obeys... Now we can see why Mr MacDonald has done obeisance throughout the campaign to the Red Flag with its associations of murder and crime. He is a stalking horse for the Reds as Kerensky was in Russia... Everything is to be made ready for a great outbreak of the abominable class war which is civil war of the most savage kind."
MacDonald shot back suggested he was a victim of a political conspiracy: "I am also informed that the Conservative Headquarters had been spreading abroad for some days that... a mine was going to be sprung under our feet, and that the name of Cachin was to be associated with mine. Another Guy Fawkes - a new Gunpowder Plot... The letter might have originated anywhere. The staff of the Foreign Office up to the end of the week thought it was authentic... I have not seen the evidence yet. All I say is this, that it is a most suspicious circumstance that a certain newspaper and the headquarters of the Conservative Association seem to have had copies of it at the same time as the Foreign Office, and if that is true how can I avoid the suspicion - I will not say the conclusion - that the whole thing is a political plot?" The matter was further complicated when SPGB member and future spymaster, Bob Stewart, weighed in to give his support to MacDonald and publicly claimed that the letter had to be forgery. He argued that from the perspective of a syndicalist, the letter included several mistakes that made it clear it was a forgery and 'not of Paris but obviously the West End of London'. This included saying that Marcel Cachin was a 'syndicalist' and 'of the French foreign office' - Cachin was neither a syndicalist nor in government at this time. It also described the organisation as the "Third Syndicalist International" whereas it was always simply called "Third International". Stewart argued that these "were such infantile mistakes that even a cursory examination would have shown the document to be a blatant forgery." By the end of the month he published a pamphlet with SPGB backing listing each mistake in immense detail and invited the reader to make up their own mind as to its authenticity. While no doubt intending to help MacDonald, this simply furthered the ordeal and led to both the Conservatives and Liberals turning on the government when, in early September, it emerged that MacDonald had wished to restart the Anglo-Communard negotiations.
Punch, The Essence of Parliament (1923)
By December, Labour now faced fresh allegations of Communard interference, and Joynson-Hicks made a public call for a re-examination into the handling of the Campbell Case, citing alleged syndicalist influence on the Labour Party leadership. Conservative MP, Robert Horne, declared he would put forward a motion of no confidence in the government but H. H. Asquith, the Leader of the Liberal Party, called for the appointment of a committee of enquiry, as this would allow Labour time to survive the scandal, but MacDonald would not allow it. He said that if MPs voted in favour of the enquiry, then the government would resign. Asquith wished to negotiate with the government but Liberal MP, John Simon, put forward a motion for the enquiry anyway. Parliament consequently voted for the enquiry with a large majority, with only Labour and some Liberals opposed . MacDonald announced that the Labour government would officially resign, after only ten months in office. The first - and only - Labour government of the United Kingdom had fallen.
The Road to War: 1924[]
King's Gambit[]
The 1924 British General Election was held on January 2nd, 1924, little under a year since the last elections. A Conservative victory was predicted after the fall of the Labour government (and indeed supported by much of the press) but another hung parliament was returned. The Conservatives had increased their seat count and vote share but were narrowly denied a majority in the Commons and would need to form a coalition. The only contender, the Liberals, were not eager to work with a Conservative Party under the leadership of Austen Chamberlain, leader of the tariff reform wing, especially as Asquith had led the last two Liberal campaigns on a policy of maintaining free trade. Alternatively, it was now infeasible for the Liberals to continue supporting the Labour government following the confidence vote. With no workable coalition likely to form, the King would be left with no choice but to reappoint MacDonald to lead a minority Labour government though this in itself was a dangerous notion, for the Conservatives would simply reject the King's Speech prepared by Labour (the same indignity they had suffered) and the government would fall again, inviting new elections. Both Labour and the Liberals would not have the funds to contest a second election so soon, a situation that would only worsen the already tumultuous political scene and growing polarisation. In an attempt to solve the crisis, the King summoned the leaders of the three major parties to the Palace to discuss the possibility of a coalition and put forward his proposals for a "government of the whole nation" that would include each of the major parties. While Chamberlain was curious, there was more disquiet from Labour and the Liberals. Elsewhere, news of the election was met with anger and frustration across the nation; in response to the results disenchanted sailors at the Chatham Dockyard in Kent declared a mutiny and refused to follow any further orders.
Rear-Admiral Percy Royds
While nominally sparked by the electoral results and Labour's defeat, the sailors' mutiny was more so caused by their recent defeat in a labour challenge with the Admiralty. Unionisation of the armed forces was illegal per the King's Regulations, as was striking by members of the armed forces, but in an attempt to protect sailors' fortunes during a period of rampant pay cuts and financial uncertainty, various informal "Local Joint Committees" had formed in each of the home ports. These were not trade unions but informal and semi-officialised boards of the sailors themselves, formed out of benefit societies among the lower decks. The Chatham Dockyard's Committee had become embroiled in a minor dispute between a midshipman and an officer that had since attracted the attention of the Admiralty. Having already used the Directorate of Naval Intelligence to stamp out the Committees in other ports, Chatham experienced the same fate when the Admiral-Superintendent, Rear-Admiral Percy Royds, suspended negotiations with the Committee members. Per Admiralty tactics, Royds had offered de facto limited recognition of the Committee if an agent representing himself or the DNI was present at all meetings and had access to all correspondence, minutes and other information pertaining to the Committee. When it refused to abide by the demands, Royds requested the assistance of the DNI and the Committee was forcibly broken up with those members that refused to accept the banning receiving official punishment for their transgression. Royds had only recently taken leadership of Chatham and now proved deeply unpopular amongst the lower decks and sympathetic officers. News of the election (and the new probability of the reversal of Labour's pay increases for the armed forces) sparked a general revolt against the Admiralty's actions the past December and Royd's "tyrannical" leadership of the Dockyards with his replacement being a noted demand of the mutineers.
King George attempted to force a unity government but Labour refused to participate.
With no workable government ready to take shape and the Chatham Mutiny in full swing, the King and incumbent government were warned by Robert Kindersley, a Director of the Bank of England, that a run on the Pound was imminent and a currency crisis would most certainly follow. Fresh elections would bankrupt the Liberals and Labour, assuming they could even afford to run, creating the political catastrophe of two of the major parties financially collapsing. Likewise, the already fragile economic situation - which was still showing no signs of recovery - would be plunged into a deep and perhaps inescapable hole if the Pound were to collapse in value and a currency crisis spurred. With time of the essence, the King informed the three leaders and ordered them to reach a settlement lest a Pandora's Box be opened. Chamberlain remained interested in the proposals (though many in the Conservatives were suspicious to a degree) and now, when pressed, Asquith was open to Liberal participation. Not all in his party were enthusiastic and immediate suspicion arose at Chamberlain's background, though he assured Asquith the Conservatives would not push for tariff reform without the backing of the coalition members. Asquith was satisfied but MacDonald refused to buckle and continuously rejected taking Labour into any hypothetical coalition. MacDonald was sceptical of how effective such a coalition could be and was told by Chamberlain that austerity measures the Conservatives wished to pursue were not negotiable. Fearing the backlash against Labour, and potentially splitting the party, if it supported such measures, he firmly ruled out Labour's participation despite the personal pleas of the King. MacDonald wrote back in response, "To me, you have always treated me as a friend, not just a minister, a feeling I hope to have imparted in kind. But today, despite all the pains in my body, to reject your understandable pleas, I cannot bring myself to support Mr. Chamberlain or his government."
Despite MacDonald's own refusal to participate, elements of the right-wing of Labour disagreed with MacDonald and contemplated the formation of a breakaway party that could represent the labour movement in the coalition. Informally led by Philip Snowden, these individuals had proposed forming a "National Labour" party under Snowden's leadership but the plan quickly evaporated when put into practice. Snowden began secret talks with Chamberlain while the outline of the coalition was being formed and Chamberlain was not enthused, saying he wished to negotiate only with MacDonald. Snowden was further offended when Chamberlain was insistent that no National Labour Party could be formed but stipulated only a National Labour Organisation that would be heavily limited in what policies or proposals it could pursue, if any, independent of the National Government. Chamberlain did not regard Snowden, or the National Labourites, as equals in the negotiations and regarded any National Labour as akin to those "National" candidates that joined the government: nominal independents who in this case represented a minor faction. Fearful that the breakaway would become a wing of the Conservative Party, and informed he would not be given a Great Office of State, Snowden officially abandoned the idea when he was informed by Godfrey Elton that Chamberlain would likely seek to endorse a policy of protectionist tariffs. While the Liberals were still opposed, Asquith was now talking of a "Doctor's Mandate" to do whatever necessary to fix the economy and end the issue of chronic unemployment. Snowden abandoned any pretences that he was planning to support the coalition. After a week of negotiation, and without Labour backing, the First National Government was formed under the Premiership of Austen Chamberlain on the 11th January 1924.
The National Government[]
Austen Chamberlain, 57th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
After ascending to office, Chamberlain formed a mixed cabinet dominated by the Conservatives but with a heavy Liberal presence and made Asquith his de facto Deputy Prime Minister with other Liberals receiving high office, Reginald McKenna being made the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir John Simon, the Home Secretary. Elsewhere, the former minister, Winston Churchill, had stood as a "Constitutionalist" and being strong supporter of the coalition, could expect to be rewaded. Despite being dominated by the Conservatives, Chamberlain made a great effort to give it a more multi-polar appearance and rarely referred to it as a "coalition" but most often as a "National Government" of the whole country. Usage of the term "National" or "Coalition" became an indicator of political sympathies with Labour and those in opposition to the government referring to it as the "Conservative Coalition" as a disparaging moniker at the government's true direction. Nevertheless, the National Government entered into the common lexicon and was accepted by a weary populace. On the contrary, "National" was used by its supporters as a means of advocating unity over division in trying times. Of those Independents that switched to support the government, they promptly sat as "National MPs" and some Tories contemplated a full-blown merger with the Liberals to form a "grand party of the centre", though these plans never went beyond hypotheticals and discussions.
The King's Speech issued shortly after Chamberlain's ascent largely echoed his electoral campaign of "safety first" - a return to political normalcy; fiscal responsibility to balance the budget and a swift curbing of the growing radical current. Those proposals outlined in the speech marked the end of Labour's experiment with economic interventionism and a return to more conventional methods: the implementation of an austerity budget; combating unemployment via strengthening the private sector; an end to "wasteful spending" and the toughening of regulations against trade unions so that the nation would "no longer be held hostage by radical workers". The question of continuing free trade was not addressed, to the belated relief of the Liberals, though some speculated an increased focus on the Imperial economy was a means of introducing Tariff Reform by stealth. Chamberlain did not outright attack free trade but did propose that the government would place far more interest and spending into the beleaguered Empire Marketing Board as a means of boosting British industries at home. The President of the Board of Trade, Robert Horne, was a close Chamberlain ally and announced he wished to see an end to the "adverse trade policy that has ravaged British business" but the Liberal Chancellor, Reginald McKenna was steadfast in his (and by extension, the Government's support) for maintaining free trade. The issue was left alone for much of the National Government but it remained a constant point of contention, though Chamberlain and his allies were hopeful the Marketing Board would serve as a suitable compromise for all factions. While its stated goal of improving Imperial trade largely floundered, it did oversee major expansions in the sciences and technological industries.
Reginald McKenna, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Upon taking office, the new Chancellor, Reginald McKenna, was faced with handling the growing currency crisis. While the formation of the National Government had returned some confidence to investors, the value of the Pound continued to slip. The Bank of England began calling for Britain to return to the Gold Standard as a means of stabilising the currency, and while McKenna agreed in principle, he did not wish to do so prematurely. McKenna invited some of the nation's top economists to the The Savoy in London for a private dinner to discuss the matter. Arthur Cecil Pigou, John Maynard Keynes, Sir John Bradbury and Sir Otto Niemeyer were in attendance and tasked with outlining the merits, or otherwise, of Britain returning to the Gold Standard. Pigou, Bradbury and Niemeyer were broadly in favour of the move, arguing it would give much needed confidence to investors and tie the Pound to a tangible resource. Only Keynes was opposed, citing deflationary dangers. McKenna was something of an economic expert himself owing to his career in merchant banking and prior experience as Chancellor, but found himself hesitant on both proposals. McKenna was eventually swayed by Pigou, and agreed that the current crisis created the necessary conditions to warrant a resumption. The Gold Standard Act 1924 was passed on the 3rd of March, and both introduced the gold bullion standard while simultaneously repealing the gold specie standard. The new standard ended the circulation of gold specie coins. Instead, the law compelled the authorities to sell gold bullion on demand at a fixed price, but "only in the form of bars containing approximately four hundred ounces troy (12kg) of fine gold". The resumption of the Gold Standard succeeded in its main goal of stabilising the currency, with the resumption of the pre-war exchange rate of $4.86 (USD) per £1.00 (GBP), but almost immediately this had the unintended issues of severe economic consequences. The resulting sharp deflation only worsened the issue of widespread unemployment with British exports becoming too expensive for foreign markets and manufacturers being badly hit. The mining industry, already seeing declining exports, was utterly devastated by the new Sterling rates and exports took an immediate hit. The mine owners reacted by announcing a national lock-out from 31 June unless the miners accepted a substantial wage reduction before the deadline. Arthur Cook, speaking on behalf of the MFGB, rejected the proposal and strike action began on the 1st of April after a nationwide ballot approved the motion at 78%.
Following the passing of the Gold Standard Act, McKenna was praised for putting an end to the currency crisis and warding off a potential far worse crisis. Much speculation surrounded the heavily anticipated Spring Budget, though as expected, a raft of austerity measures were to be introduced. The Committee on National Expenditure, chaired by Sir Eric Geddes, had published its findings at the end of 1922 and proposed economies totalling £87 million. The Committee was wound up by MacDonald but as part of his budget McKenna announced his intention to recall the Committee and take on some of its recommendations, amounting to savings of £62 million. The unemployment benefit of 18 shillings a week for men, 15 shillings for women, was dropped to 16 and 13 shillings respectively. Means testing was reintroduced and old-age pensions were reduced to 9 shillings from the previous 10 though the rates for over-75s were left untouched. Social spending (education, health, housing, pensions, unemployment) and support for public programmes fell from £185.1 million under the MacDonald government to £174.5 million in the McKenna budget. Defence spending suffered even more drastic cuts, going from £188.4 million to £117.6 million after Geddes' recommendations had been implemented. Circulars issued to government departments announced further cuts to budgets and numerous civil servants were made redundant to make savings. The Coal Commission saw 20% of its staff dismissed in the savings drive and its operations were largely reduced in a bit to make it more efficient. Public work programmes started under Labour were closed and grants to Local Authorities were reduced by 30%. However, the government did announce some measures to help alleviate the slump directly via the Special Areas Act 1924. Local Authorities in "distressed" or "special areas" were given £1 million in aid and concessions on taxes and rents were introduced, as a means to encourage businesses to set up works in these areas. These were designated as South Wales, Tyneside, Cumberland and Lowland Scotland though by the time of fighting in the Autumn, it had been reported that only marginal improvements had been made, with Tyneside seeing a drop of 3% in unemployment. Wheatley's housing policy was also to be scrapped, with the focus to return to subsidies for private house builders, though the necessary legislation was never tabled.
One of the more contentious aspects of the National Government's agenda was its attempt to clamp down on the growing tide of political radicalism and left-wing militancy. The Home Secretary, John Simon, was an avowed anti-socialist and openly discussed his intentions to to put an end to "socialist infiltration", a popular conspiracy theory concerning the Labour Party and its relations with the far-left. Simon attracted considerable controversy when the Labour MP and son-in-law of Labour leader George Lansbury, Ernest Thurtle, questioned the Home Secretary on what measures he and the government were taking in the wake of Ramsay MacDonald's assassination. Simon responded that he and the intelligence services did not feel it was necessary to surveil political groups that sought to achieve their goals via peaceful means and dismissed James Dell, MacDonald's assassin, as a "single madman" with no wider agenda. Simon was savaged in the left-wing press with even more liberal publications accusing him of downplaying a horrendous situation. Chamberlain himself was eager to put an end to "strike season", in reference to the near constant period of strike action that blighted, and ultimately, brought down Law's administration. Eager to avoid a second strike in the scale of 1922, punitive measures were taken against the trade unions and a bill drafted by Unionist MP, F. A. Macquisten, was given official government support. The Trade Unions Act 1924 abolished the ability for trade unions to have a mandatory political levy (wherein membership fees automatically contributed to a political party) and made it contract-in per a member's wishes. This was a direct assault on the Labour Party, which relied heavily on trade union fees, and saw its income drop 12% because of such. Furthermore, the bill proscribed civil service unions from seeking or participating in affiliation to the TUC and forbade them from having political objectives.
Sound & Fury[]
Despite the King's hopes, politics remained dangerously polarised and the situation would only worsen. Protests against Labour's exclusion and the inevitable raft of austerity measures, broke out across the cities. Arthur Henderson coined the term "Coalition of Capital" as a pejorative descriptor of Chamberlain's government. In response. red-baiting and accusations of Communard influence returned to the fore among the right-wing press with commentators accusing MacDonald of his own political exile in refusing to support the government. Likewise, the exclusion of MacDonald and Labour was welcomed in some circles as a necessary check and counter-balance of the alleged 'dangerous radicalism' of the MacDonald Ministry. MacDonald was personally hounded in the press for being an agent of Communard Paris - particularly after details of an ILP-sponsored trip to the newly formed federation in 1921 were revealed. With the atmosphere becoming increasingly poisonous, MacDonald was shot dead by a right-wing assassin, little over a week since the government's formation, while attending a London Labour Party function with his son, Malcolm. The assassination horrified the nation and sparked a public outcry, with Chamberlain's attempting to reconcile with Labour by offering a state funeral for MacDonald and his burial at Westminster Abbey, though his family declined the latter. Memorials and vigils took place across the country by local Labour Party and SPGB branches who both now found common cause in the slaying of one of their own.
British Legion members hand out pamphlets at the Birmingham Automobile Strike, 1924
Memorials soon turned to protests against the "rampant hostility" of the press against MacDonald, with allegations flying of the press barons' complicity in his murder. The Labour Party - now under the interim leadership of Arthur Henderson - made calls for a public enquiry into the conduct of the press and its relation to MacDonald's death though the John Simon, the Home Secretary, declared it "total nonsense" and shut down the matter. Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere were singled out for having published some of the most aggressive condemnations of the Labour government and MacDonald personally, before and after its fall. Both men denied the charges and Rothermere went on the offensive by having the Daily Mail publish a series of articles condemning his detractors as "Communard-enablers" and heaping praise on the British Legion for their "defence of British values" in the face of foreign interlopers. Beaverbrook was less aggressive in his rebukes but ordered the sacking of trade union affiliated men who worked his printing shops and publicly praised the car manufacturer, William Morris, for a donation of £500 to the British Legion, early in the year. Morris' intentions were not purely altruistic, and the donation was more an informal payment in exchange for protection by British Legion paramilitaries at a car plant he had recently established in the City of Birmingham. Morrison was politically anti-union and often boasted that he would allow no trade unions to interfere with him. By now he had plants in Oxford and Abingdon with a plan to build a fourth factory in Swindon after the completion of the Birmingham plant. Fearing that the Syndicalists would attempt to unionise the workforce of the Birmingham factory, Morris had informally "hired" members of the British Legion in what was being referred to as a "protection racket" by local trade unionists. The Birmingham Trades Council petitioned the General Council of the TUC for aid. The newly installed General Secretary, Alf Purcell, was eager for a showdown with Morrison and informed the President of the Birmingham Trades Council, H. G. Johnson, that he would be personally visiting the city as part of a TUC enquiry into the matter.
Purcell and a TUC delegation had planned to arrive in the city on the on the 15th March but their plans were disrupted when on the 11th March, many of the factories workers spontaneously walked out and picketed the premises. The British Legion's staff on Morrison's payroll were deployed to break up the strike but were beaten back by the workers, many of whom had come armed, and a second time when other workers came out to defend the strikers. Charles H. Smith of the Post Office Engineering Union and C.G. Spragg of the Amalgamated Society of Painters and Decorators both voiced their support for the workers in the dispute and promised assistance from their respective unions. The Birmingham Trades Council voted to endorse the strike and the Syndicalist Party of Great Britain dispatched experienced workers and party cadres to advise the strikers on how to proceed. Joe Cotter, better known as "Explosive Joe", of the Amalgamated Marine Workers' Union was sent to the city arriving on the 14th and spoke with the workers, becoming their de facto representative. The TUC delegation arrived a day later and Cotter met with Purcell to discuss conditions at the factory, with Cotter passing on claims of low pay, poor working conditions and abusive management as pushing the workers to strike action. Prior attempts to unionise at the factory had been shut down with violence and the workers had now reached their boiling point. Local Labour Party activists came out to support the strike, with local MPs Oswald and Cynthia Mosley helping organise a protest march from the factory in Soho to the Birmingham City Council House on the 20th of March. The marchers were harassed by strikebreakers but joined by local Labour Party and SPGB members along with other sympathetic workers. After arriving in the city centre, the Town Council refused to meet with Cotter and the workers opted to picket the offices instead. British Legion paramilitaries set upon the workers and a major brawl ensued which was only broken up following an intervention by the police. The strike was called off the following day and the workers returned.
Reactions to the strike, and its climactic end, were mixed. While much of the press (even some on the left) were critical of the strikers for "undemocratic and intimidatory tactics" in reference to the mass picketing and wildcat nature of the strike, the left-wing of politics felt increasingly under siege. The notion that an openly political organisation could, and would, hire itself out to serve as strikebreakers and "protection" for private corporations was an uncomfortable prospect for some and blatantly criminal to the labour movement. Tom Mann condemned the proposal in a speech to the NMM in which he referred to it as the final stage of capitalism in which "nakedly reactionary parties act as mercenaries in the war against the workers." The President of the British Legion, R.B.D. Blakeney, was questioned in Parliament, during which he claimed the Legion sought to pursue their aims peacefully and were "provoked" into attacking the strikers. He likewise claimed that the Legion's conduct was not an act of "private security" but that its members had volunteered to protect Morris' factory from "red violence". Further controversy emerged when Lord Rothermere personally authored an article in the Daily Mail titled "Hurrah for the Blueshirts!" in reference to the events in Birmingham. Further articles gave positive coverage to the Legion's, paramilitary "Q Division" after it had grown more bold in disrupting Labour and trade union meetings. Growing street violence saw the blue-shirt and black beret wearing enforcers of the Legion fighting the "Reds" - trade unionists, Labour organisers and SPGB members - on the streets and in minor industrial disputes. Despite the mishaps of its parent body, "Q Division" became popular, if unreliable, strikebreakers in British cities.
Lansbury at an NMM Trafalgar Square Rally, April 1924
Happening parallel to the strike in Birmingham, the Labour Party was at last making the selection for its new leader, wherein the veteran Christian Socialist activist, George Lansbury was elected. Openly a republican, and one who had spoken in favour of the SPGB, his ascension caused immediate controversy both within and outside of Labour but with the party growing increasingly radical, Lansbury proved a popular choice. Almost immediately after taking the leadership, Lansbury tabled a motion of the NEC to reverse MacDonald's ban on the Syndicalist Party affiliating, While the party's right-wing was not impressed the proposal, it was enthusiastically supported by figures on the left and the increasingly radical leadership of the TUC. Lansbury's own thoughts on the syndicalists was secretive, having shown public sympathies and taken funding from Communard France but also public derision, in once claiming the whole SPGB "couldn't run a whelk stall." In his public explanation, Lansbury contended that affiliation would be a means of securing a "popular front" against the growing tide of polarisation and conservative radicalisation. Both sides of politics were growing increasingly radical and Lansbury's election marked the growing mood among the Labour Party with republicanism becoming less of a taboo amongst the public and Lansbury heading up demands for radical change. Affiliation was granted to the SPGB, which they immediately took up, and the two parties officially allied. The National Minority Movement's mission changed from radicalising the trade unions to the whole of the Labour Party, with now-legitimised entryism used by SPGB branches to exert influence over their Labour counterparts. Comparatively "moderate" members of Labour found themselves sharing more grievances with the syndicalists as the British Legion swapped pamphlets for coshes and embraced violence more readily. With the bulk of the National Government more focused on the matter of unemployment and economic woes, and John Simon's antipathy to socialism colouring his vision, few real efforts were made to keep the peace and resentment at Chamberlain's coalition only grew.
Tensions continued to rise in April when the planned miners strike began and speculations of a major government announcement were beginning to enter the public sphere and public street fighting became a common sight in all major cities. Tensions finally came to a head on the 23rd April which had been designated as the year's Empire Day and was to act as the opening celebration the Empire Exhibition 1924, set to open early in May. The day was to be particularly special for the British Legion, who had planned for a march through London and then to host an open-air "public gala" in Kensington Gardens to celebrate the event. The party's leader, Rotha Lintorn-Orman had caused a minor controversy when she had informed the Royal Household the Legion intended to march past Buckingham Palace and as such, she requested the King and the King's Guard salute them. The Private Secretary to the Sovereign, Arthur Bigge, responded to Lintorn-Orman that the King would have to politely decline as it would be "irresponsible of the King to show favour to a private, political organisation." Lintorn-Orman responded back that the British Legion was not a "private, political organisation" and that the King would only be making a display of patriotism with the salute. Bigge did not respond a second time and the march past Buckingham Palace was cancelled, instead it would take place from Westminster Abbey. News of the delegation travelled fast and a Labour counter-protest was planned to take place in Hyde Park. It was the largest ever demonstration held by the British Legion, totalling 12,000 members present.
BCP demonstrators outside Hyde Park
The initial march progressed relatively peacefully with a minor disrupt by dockers unions being dispersed by Q-Division guardsmen before arriving to setup in the park. Across the waterway in Hyde Park, the British Communist Party had setup its own spontaneous demonstration led by Sylvia Pankhurst and Willie Gallacher. Initially the two sides did not interact and maintained their distance though a police presence immediately took shape to keep the two sides apart. Despite the expectations of the Legion's speakers (and the police), no Labour or SPGB presence had yet appeared beyond the BCP's own rally. The peace was soon broken however when a Legion speaker, Lord Glasgow, attempted to lead the demonstration in a singing of God Save the King in honour of the Royal Family. In response, the BCP members amassed on the Eastern edge of the Long Water and began to sing the Red Flag, drowning out the singing of the Legion. Both sides began to attempt to out-match the other before a detachment of Q-Division attempted to cross the Serpentine Bridge to physically silence the BCP members but were stopped by the police who had cordoned the area. Shortly after, the Labour delegation finally arrived with a separate Syndicalist demonstration, joined by marchers from the NUWM, arriving from the Northeast of the Park shortly after. The Labour speaker, James Wignall, urged attending workers to remain in the East of Hyde Park, where the Labour demonstration was to be setup but many of them disobeyed and joined with the Syndicalists to share in singing the Red Flag. Increasingly antagonised, British Legion members began launching missiles across the lake before storming the police cordons to break into Hyde Park and attack the left-wing protestors. A large-scale brawl ensued between the various demonstrators.
While initially the larger of the two forces, having over 12,000 marchers present, the Legionary demonstration was soon overtaken in size as Labourite reinforcements arrived and the British Legion's "Women's Unit" were ordered to flee the Park. Rotha Lintorn-Orman remained present and goaded on her followers but was forced to flee after being hit in the head by a thrown bottle. News had quickly spread of the fight and additional trade unionists and Labour sympathisers headed to Hyde Park to reinforce their comrades and came to total somewhere over 23,000 of the protestors present. While initially comprised of syndicalists, their numbers were quickly made up by Labour members and other trade unionists. In the ensuing carnage, around 30,000 protestors of both the left and right wing extremes clashed, many making use of rudimentary weapons and improvised coshes, causing around £500 of damages to the park. 5,000 police officers were required to quell the so-called "Battle of Hyde Park" and over 4,000 people were arrested for their participation in the battle. After some hours and having sustained heavy casualties during the brawl, the bulk of the British Legion's protestors fled the park, leaving the Labour and Syndicalist protestors to face off with the police proper. In the ensuing aftermath, Lansbury condemned the violence in both Parliament and public, though he attacked the Legion's Parliamentary Leader, General Blakeney, for having encouraged the violence in the first place in one of his speeches at the park and for the Legion members being the first to break the police cordon. Blakeney responded that Lansbury was a "poisonous liar" and accused him of "stirring the pot in the slums, filling the workers' ears with tales of uproar and outrage before stuffing their mouths with plundered gold." He likewise claimed that the British Legion had only acted in "self-defence" after the syndicalists had started a course of "outrageous chanting". Outrage broke out on the Parliamentary floor, with the British Legion and Labour MPs nearly coming to blows. After a war of words, John Wheatley and John Beckett were censured after refusing to apologise to Blakeney when both men referred to him as a "violent agitator and bare-faced liar", which the Speaker contended broke the house rules. Fearing further violence, John Simon bolstered the Metropolitan Police in anticipation of further violence on the upcoming May Day, with an additional 2,000 policeman being posted around the city.
By the end of Spring, it was becoming increasingly clear that British politics had passed a watershed moment. Trade unions were becoming increasingly militant; the far-right was mobilising under the banner of the British Legion and forces within the Conservative Party were calling for co-operation with such elements; the economy showed no signs of improvement and unemployment continued to rise as unrest within the military was reaching an unprecedented scale following the end of the Dreadnought Race and the delayed implementation of cuts to the armed forces. British historian, Godfrey Elton, commented that the Mayday Bombing in Manchester marked the definitive end of the Great Slump - "a period of misery and tension" - and the beginning of "Red Summer", the violent prelude and eventual beginning to the British Revolution.
Economic History[]
The Great Slump, per its name, was a period of economic decline in Britain and one marked by high unemployment and a depression in wages. The human and material losses of the Great War in Britain were enormous with over 745,000 servicemen and approximately 24,000 civilians killed, with over 1.7 million wounded. The total of lost shipping came to 8 million tons (much of it replaced by new construction), and £7,800 million in financial costs to the Empire. With Germany's victory, coveted reparations to pay off war debts and other expenses were relegated to fanciful dreaming, while Britain itself owed the U.S. billions in loan repayments. As Germany and its sphere experienced a post-war boom, hopes of a similar effect via pent-up investment, failed to materialise. Orders for new shipping to replace the millions of tons lost and the beginning of the Dreadnought Race did cause a minor lull in unemployment in the Summer in 1920 but by December, official statistics reported 9% unemployment, a figure set to rapidly rise in 1921. But as early as 1920, a serious depression was setting in (with it fully hitting the economy in 1921) as exports fell to half of their 1913 levels, and unemployment peaked at over 24% in 1922 and nearly returned to this level when unemployment hit 23% in 1924. Britain never regained its pre-1914 export volumes, and even following the Big Bang, 1930 exports were still only 72% of what they had been in 1913.
Commentary on Philip Snowden's 1923 Budget
Taxes rose sharply during the war and never returned to their old levels. A rich man paid 8% of his income in taxes before the war, and about a third afterward. Much of the money went towards unemployment benefits, which experienced a moderate rise during the brief MacDonald government. About 5% of the national income every year was transferred from the rich to the poor, though social programmes were never able to keep up with the spiralling cost of living and the issue of ever-rising unemployment. Despite calls from powerful press barons and sections of the far-right to reduce tax, cuts to the rates were rare and only MacDonald oversaw major tax cuts, largely indirect. Austen Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Law Ministry, pursued an expected programme of austerity which saw cuts to government spending and social services, alongside higher taxation on all sectors of society, though unemployment benefits were protected. Likewise, funds were allocated for naval spending, seeing the proliferation of the new Dreadnought Race which helped curb unemployment in the shipping and ancillary industries. Under the tenure of Philip Snowden, taxation increased to account for renewed social spending to benefit the unemployed, elderly and poorest workers. Despite market fears, Snowden proved remarkably restrained and a rigidly orthodox chancellor, despite his socialist rhetoric. Snowden believed that in order to transition towards a socialist society the capitalist British economy had to recover from the Great War first and therefore cut taxes and tariffs in order balance the national budget. Likewise he agreed to maintain the deflationary policies put forward by the Bank of England and continued to commit to the Bank's ambition to re-enter the gold standard by 1925. A firm believer in the balanced budget, Snowden refused to engage in deficit spending ensured "not a penny would be wasted." Stanley Baldwin commented that it would have "delighted the heart of Gladstone." Reginald McKenna, Chancellor to the National Government, largely continued the policies of his Conservative predecessor and implemented a new programme of austerity, taking recommendations from the Geddes Commission. The "Geddes Axe" saw sweeping cuts made to all sectors of the government and unemployment benefits were reduced from Snowden's rates. The military saw its funding drastically drop, forcing the demobilising of many soldiers and officers, while the Dreadnought Race was unilaterally brought to an end with no further ships ordered. McKenna's crowning achievement was the re-introduction of the Gold Standard ahead of schedule, in 1924. Despite being hailed for having brought back the pre-war parity with the dollar, modern critics of Mckenna have argued his deflationary policies harmed the economy in the long-run by ushering in some of the worst periods of unemployment and stagnation, with numerous industries devastated.
Only inflation showed positive news throughout the period and was kept consistently low. During the Great War, inflation had risen exponentially and reached a peak of 25% in 1916, though it began to rapidly drop as the war came to an end. Demobilisation and rising unemployment that followed saw inflation gradually lower though upon taking office, Chancellor Austen Chamberlain committed the government to taking a more active deflationary approach. This was endorsed by the Bank of England and it formally requested that the Gold Standard be re-adopted in 1925 as a means of attaining pre-war levels of parity with the Dollar. Chamberlain agreed to the proposal in principle and implemented policies aimed at gradually preparing the economy for re-adoption, though it was agreed that any future government would have to handle the matter in full. Following the victory for the Labour Party in 1923, it was presumed that the new Chancellor, Philip Snowden, would abandon this policy though in his Spring Budget he announced he intended to continue with deflationary measures and remained committed to re-adopting the Gold Standard in 1925. This eased concerns at the Bank of England and inflation continued to decrease throughout the year. Following the formation of the National Government in 1924, Reginald McKenna declared that reverting the pre-war parity with the Dollar of $4.86 was now not only feasible but increasingly desirable, as a means of boosting the economy. McKenna was of the belief that adoption of the Gold Standard should be done "only when the timing was right" and believed now posed an opportune time. In his Budget Speech, he warned of the possibility that waiting could leave time for "rot to set in" and that Britain might miss its opportunity. With the support of the Bank of England, the Gold Standard was formally re-introduced via the Gold Standard Act 1924, passed on the 3rd of March. As warned by John Maynard Keynes, rapid deflation was immediate, reaching a rate of -15%. While the value of the Pound soared, this seriously harmed exports, already struggling, which now became too expensive. Nevertheless, the stability of the Gold Standard did allow for the Pound to maintain its value in an already tumultuous period and provided a degree of security in the post-Revolution era.
Stagnation[]
Following the end of the Great War, Britain's industries entered a period of decline and stagnation. Numerous factors contributed to the decline, with deflationary policies pursued by the three pre-Revolution governments being one of the worst factors cited. Elsewhere, a factor relative to the decline of British industry during the 1920s was the loss of Britain's export markets, mostly in the Far East and Latin America. The diversion of shipping and production towards the war effort between 1914 and 1919 meant that regional producers like the United States in Latin America or Japan in the Far East usurped important markets for British goods. Furthermore, Germany's victory saw it establish an economic hegemony over much of Europe and the French Revolution saw much of the European market now turning away from British exports. Only Norway and Portugal saw exports maintain parity, with the later loss of Ireland proving to be a further loss as it sought to set an independent trade policy, away from the Commonwealth. Despite hopes among tariff reformers that the slump would see a rise in imperial trade (especially with the Empire Marketing Board) there was no coveted increase though domestic consumption of British products grew slightly.
Indeed, even if Britain was still relatively better off compared to a badly battered Continent, economic stagnation lasted the whole decade. Overall growth averaged 1.8% per annum during the pre-Revolution period, a rate slightly weaker but comparable to the United States. Slow growth was due in part to Britain's heavy dependence on exports, and world trade grew sluggishly through the 1920s as nations looked inwards. It was also overly dependent on so-called "staple" industries, those which had brought huge prosperity in the 19th century but by the 1920s were experiencing faltering demand and strong competition from abroad. In 1922, for example, the volume of cotton exports was only about half of what it had been in 1913, while coal exports were only one third of their 1913 levels. The most skilled craftsmen were especially hard hit, because there were few alternative uses for their specialised skills. In depressed areas the main social indicators such as poor health, bad housing, and long-term mass unemployment, pointed to terminal social and economic stagnation at best, or even a downward spiral. A heavy dependence on obsolescent methods of conducting heavy industry and mining was a central problem that plagued the Northern core, and no one was prepared to offer workable but cumbersome solutions. The despair reflected a widespread sense of hopelessness that prepared post-Revolution political leaders and the British public to accept a new orthodoxy of centralised government economic planning that came to define the post-Revolution era.
Coal mining had been a staple industry of Britain and an extensive employer nation-wide.
Coal was a sick industry; the best seams were being exhausted, raising the cost; demand fell as oil began replacing coal for fuel and British exports of coal began to drop following the end of the Great War. As prices dropped, mine owners cut wages and demanded longer hours to recoup their losses. The mining industry was one of the most unionised, and one of the most militant, and strikes were common. Each year from 1920 onward, with the exception of 1923, saw a strike in the mining industry, the largest of such being the 1922 Miners Strike, also known as the Little Strike, in reference to the General Strike. The necessity for reform was not lost on any of the leading parties of the period and in 1920, the Law government convened the Sankey Commission, under the leadership of the eponymous Justice John Sankey, to investigate methods of reorganising the coal industry for improved productivity and efficiency. Sankey and the left-wing members of the Commission supported nationalisation of the mines (albeit only Sankey supported compensation) whereas the more right-orientated members, led by Lord Balfour, supported reorganisation, in the form of the state purchasing all coal at a fixed rate and selling it via the new Coal Commission, with the industry remaining in private hands. Ultimately the Conservative Government backed the Balfour proposals and the Coal Commission was gradually established in the early 1920s. Despite hopes this would improve labour relations and improve productivity, the Coal Commission was unable to effectively profit on the coal it had acquired, creating a de facto subsidy for the industry. Under the pressures of austerity and diminishing returns, the Coal Commission would negotiate for lower prices, inevitably leading to wage cuts.
The miners themselves made repeat calls for nationalisation of the mines to provide for better working conditions, improved wages and a more comprehensive reorganisation of the industry. The Conservative government was emphatically opposed to such proposals and acknowledged that any nationalisation was infeasible due to a lack of funds to provide adequate compensation for dispossessed colliery owners. The Labour Party was nominally committed to a policy of nationalisation but after taking office, MacDonald made no efforts towards nationalisation and instead opted to raise the Coal Commission's purchasing rate to 8/- as a form of unofficial subsidy to maintain better wages. Historic mining towns became some of the worst victims of the stagnation and social decay of the era, with unemployment, sickness, hunger and poverty running rampant through traditional coal mining communities. A lack of government support bred resentment and radicalism, particularly in the fallout of the mining disasters of 1922, the cause of the year's mass strike, as the government was accused of being complicit in the covering-up of the cause of the disaster. The coal industry was further hampered by the deflationary policies of successive governments, each harming coal exports. It was devastated by the return to the Gold Standard which saw coal exports become too expensive and the industry consequently suffered further. Further planned wage cuts and lockouts ultimately led the miners to push for a nationwide strike, culminating in the dramatic events of 1924..
Labour[]
Unemployment was the dominant economic issue of British society during the pre-Revolution era and the number of unemployed men rarely dipped after 1919. Demobilisation of men after the Great War saw the labour market flooded with more men but structural weaknesses in the British economy meant a disproportionate number of jobs were in traditional industries that were now in decline. A combination of a lack of pre-war technological development and post-war competition damaged the economy and the new industries which emerged employed fewer people. At the same time, Britain began to lose its overseas markets due to strong foreign competition. Only the shipping industry experienced a boom, as businesses expanded rapidly in order to take advantage of the increase in demand. However, the boom was short-lived and this rapid expansion caused a slump from oversupply and worsened the unemployment issue. Unemployment peaked at 2.5 million men in June of 1920, over 24% of the workforce. It never returned below 1 million until after the Revolution and the end of the decade.
Trade unions became increasingly powerful during the pre-Revolution period and an increasingly major role in the economy, foreshadowing their eventual rise to power. During the war, trade unions had reached an accord with the government and as such, stigma surrounding them started to lift. Trade union membership grew from 4.1 million in 1914 to 6.5 million in 1918 and then 7.4 million in 1919. Membership was 8.3 million in 1920 and peaked at 10.2 million in 1922 before relapsing to 7.8 million by 1924. During the early 1920s strikes became increasingly common: in 1921 over 85 million working days had been lost to strikes, in 1922 the figure declined to 90 million and in 1923 it decreased to 75 million. Inspired by French syndicalism - and growing increasingly frustrated with an unresponsive political system - trade unions grew increasingly militant and ready to resort to strike action. This willingness to use more militant tactics culminated in repeat strikes, attempts to unionise workers at hostile factories and the eventual calling of the 1924 General Strike, a dramatic escalation in the British Revolution and the cause of the eventual civil war that encompassed it.
Shipping[]
RNS Nelson, one of the planned ships of the Dreadnought Race. She would not be completed until 1926 due to the British Revolution.
Following the end of the Great War, shipping had been devastated and pent-up investment saw a minor boom emerge, though it was constricted solely to the shipping sector and specialist ancillary industries. As all other sectors of the economy experienced redundancies and unemployment amid the looming depression, unemployment within shipping remained relatively low at first, though wages remained stagnant. This boom was brief, however, and came to an abrupt end in 1921 when demand for new merchant ships drastically fell amid a glut of over-supply and constantly dropping export rates. Shipyards went quiet as workers were laid off, with the only respite for military dockyards as the Law Government renewed the Dreadnought Race with Germany. Not wishing to be overtaken by the Kaiserliche Marine, the Admiralty recommended the construction of a new-line of battleships to replace the Revenge-class battleships that had been commissioned in 1917, as well as replace the cancelled Admiral-class battlecruisers, of which only the Hood, had survived. First Lord of the Admiralty, Walter Long, supported the proposals and petitioned the cabinet for support. Chancellor Austen Chamberlain was not comfortable at the proposals but nevertheless acquiesced under significant pressure from the military establishment and growing concerns regarding national security surrounding the victorious Germany. The Admiralty was given permission to order the construction of the Saints-class battleship and the Nelson-class battlecruisers, to begin construction across 1921 to 1923, starting in 1921 with HMS Nelson.
Following the victory of the Labour Party in the elections, there was speculation among the Establishment, and the Admiralty, that the new government would seek to end the naval build-up though the new Chancellor, Philip Snowden, had already accounted for the naval estimations in his budget and saw no reason to cancel the plans. Furthermore, the new ships provided much needed employment prospects for thousands of working-class men in the shipyards. In fact, it would be the Conservatives who would bring an end to the Dreadnought Race, following the formation of the National Government in 1924. Chamberlain, now Prime Minister, had long been sceptical of the naval estimations and publicly made clear his agreements with the Geddes' Commissions proposals to cut down on military expenditure. Future ship-building, deemed "frivolous" by the new Chancellor, Reginald McKenna, was one of the first sectors of military expenditure to be targeted for cuts. In his budget, McKenna formally announced that he would reject any further naval estimates that continued the Dreadnought Race and instead wished to have the Admiralty pivot towards reduced expenditure. This was the second time McKenna had made such calls, earning him immense enmity among the Admiralty, who had now clashed with McKenna for a second time. Winston Churchill commented it was "devilishly ironic" that McKenna, the man who began the First Dreadnought Race would "close the page on the Second." With no new major ships commissioned, unemployment spiked as the Shipping sector, inline with national trends.
Foreign Policy[]
After 1919, Britain was a "troubled giant" - it remained a Great Power, if humbled, but was less of a dominant diplomatic force in the 1920s than before and was now forced to contend with an unfamiliar post-war order, compounded by the growing hegemony of the victorious Germany. The Treaty of Versailles had seen British diplomats return with no meaningful gains or losses, effectively a white peace. The British delegation termed it a "Peace with Honour" on the urging of German diplomats - in a deliberate echo of Benjamin Disraeli's phrase following the Congress of Berlin - though it did not catch on outside of the patriotic press and sections of the upper class. The term later became one of derision and bitterness at Britain's defeat. While it had not suffered physical devastation itself, Britain's allies in France, Belgium and Russia were now unrecognisable. France had fallen to syndicalism after a brief civil war, and now a hostile and alien regime stared from across the channel. Much to the derision of the public, Belgian integrity had been "saved" though it was now being remodelled into a German client state, and a gun pointed at London. Civil war continued to rage on in Russia, eventually seeing a White victory and democratic republic emerge, albeit one that was more tied to the financial strings of Berlin. While much of the continent was being reshaped to suit Germany's design, stalwart allies remained in the wider Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Norway, which maintained close ties to Britain and was spared from what few protective tariffs were implemented.
Following the Conservative victory in the 1919 elections, Andrew Bonar Law became Prime Minister, and sought to adopt a more quieter foreign policy based on "retrenchment and withdrawal". Britain still had troops abroad - particularly in the Middle East - and Law wished to remove them, focusing more-so on consolidation of the Empire and strengthening ties with the Dominions. To this end, he clashed with his own Foreign Secretary, and de facto deputy, Lord Curzon. An expert in the Middle East, Curzon wished to take a more ambitious role now that it was unoccupied with affairs in Western Europe. Iran proved of particular interest to the Foreign Secretary, and he attempted to secure the Anglo-Persian Agreement, which would grant Britain a monopoly on Iranian oil reserves. The proposals sparked attacks against British garrisons occupying parts of the country, prompting the Prime Minister and Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Henry Wilson, to push for a withdrawal. Wilson wished for troops to be diverted to Ireland, Egypt and India, all of which were critical parts of the Empire and undergoing some form of rebellion. Curzon was emphatically opposed and overruled other figures on the matter. While Curzon was on holiday, Wilson persuaded the Cabinet to allow plans for an eventual withdrawal, but Curzon attempted to have the decision reversed on his return, although he was overruled by the Prime Minister, who gave permission to withdraw if it was deemed necessary. Britain's presence in Iran had been returned to the status-quo antebellum and Curzon's attempts at foreign adventurism had now badly stalled though he never abandoned his proposals. Curzon's reputation remained intact however, as he began to focus on tying up other loose ends in the Middle East and was instrumental in the signing of the Jerusalem Accords. Britain largely shifted away from foreign adventurism during this period and opted to focus on its own domestic issues, with matters pertaining to the Empire filling Foreign Office agendas, as opposed to interactions with the wider world.
Relations with the other Great Powers became increasingly cold as calls to attempt a reconciliation with Germany were ignored by the Foreign Office. Likewise, Britain's alliance with Japan came to a quiet end when the treaty provisions of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance lapsed in 1921. Both sides were now increasingly suspicious of the other as Britain had made demands intolerable to the Japanese during the Great War and Japan was seen as an unreliable ally after the Twenty-One Demands. Comments of British diplomats disparaging Japanese war contributions and refusing to support their contested claims in the Far East led to the delegation abandoning the conference. Relations with the United States were also poor, despite attempts to reconcile, as elements of the British establishment held a degree of resentment to its continued isolationism and support for Irish independence, while the issue of war debts stifling attempts at improving relations. Undergoing a slow decline of its own, America was eager for repayments to begin but Britain was in no position to make such payments and continuously deferred the matter. Negotiations were finally undertaken in 1922 by the inexperienced Stanley Baldwin, who was tricked by the Americans into accepting drastically higher loan repayments of £40 million (the British cabinet estimated a payment of £16 million was feasible). This deepened the rift between the two nations and saw Britain lose another potential ally.
France[]
Despite the loss of the Metropole, the legitimate French Republic - known as the "Blues" - had fled into exile across the Mediterranean, continuing to rule what remained of the French colonial empire from Algiers. Much of its possessions had been "sold" to Germany as a means of avoiding crippling reparations payments and the remaining French colonies outside of French Africa were put under the temporary administration of the British. While Britain formally continued its alliance with the French regime in Algiers, and never conferred recognition to the Communard government in Paris, relations remained cold with their nominal allies and the Franco-British relationship was one marked by mutual distrust. To a degree, France blamed Britain for their defeat in not contributing enough forces in the Great War, the British delegation pressuring France to accept such humiliating terms and its lack of assistance in the French civil war. The poor relations between the British and French diplomatic missions was only worsened by Lord Curzon's personal dislike of his French counterparts, a feeling they shared, and they struggled to work with each other. In one notable incident, Lord Curzon was, to his dismay, forced to privately allay the fears of his French counterpart, Alexandre Millerand, over French objections to the negotiations of an Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, between Britain and the nascent Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in 1920. The French were concerned at Britain's willingness to so quickly co-operate with a revolutionary government - a deliberate nod to fears the same may occur for the Communard government - though Curzon claimed that it was a "domestic matter" and refused to discuss the details with Millerand, as he did not feel it was the concern of the Algiers Government. In a heated discussion, Millerand accosted Curzon for his "English duplicity" and warned that France was becoming unable to rely on Britain. Knowing that the French were in no position to make demands, Curzon angrily responded by referring to Millerand as a "stinking toad". The two men avoided each other after and relied on their deputies to communicate.
Punch cartoon, 1923
The growing distrust between London and Algiers reached a nadir following the appointment of a Labour government in 1923. MacDonald, a socialist, was intolerable to the right-wing French government-in-exile and sparks of concern began to flare in Algiers over what policy the MacDonald government would take to it. The situation was worsened with the appointment of E.D. Morel, a French-born British activist and politician, to the Foreign Office. Morel despised the Algiers Regime out of political practicality rooted in his personal beliefs and racial misgivings. In the years prior he had authored numerous pamphlets and articles that blamed France and Tsarist Russia, not the Central Powers, for the origins of the war and was scathingly critical of French imperialism. Likewise, his writings attempted to draw attention to the "Black Horror of Algiers", making outrageous claims pertaining to the use of "primitive" black troops by the French Army in its colonial garrisons. Whenever news of the French government's suppression of its citizens reached Britain, Morel would inevitably reframe the narrative to focus on the "Black Scourge unleashing sexual horror on European women." The term "Black Horror of Algiers" became internationally famous and Morel speculated that it would eventually cause a civil war in exile government as Pieds-Noirs and white exiles would take up arms to defend their women from black incursions. Morel was very anti-French because of his opposition to French imperialism and the nature of France's mission civilisatrice ("civilizing mission") in Africa. Any African willing to embrace the French language and culture "became" French and, theoretically, the equal of whites, threatened to upend Morel's beliefs in the essential biological inferiority of blacks. Morel believed that the Africans were committing outrageous crimes against Europeans in North Africa because the French establishment had empowered them, at least theoretically, by making them into black Frenchmen.
Morel's racial hysteria immediately caused diplomatic chaos when he privately petitioned the French ambassador, Paul Cambon, to "at last address the shame of Senegal that haunts the cobbled streets of Algiers and Tunis." Cambon was incredulous at the request and ignored Morel. Unfortunately for MacDonald, tensions quickly flared again when Morel became increasingly insistent on pursuing relations with Communard France in favour of the Algiers Government, a motion supported by much of the Cabinet. While Morel's intentions were partially motivated by his Francophobia, his justification on the basis that Algiers, already an increasingly reactionary republic, was becoming an increasing liability for British interests and was, at best, an unreliable ally. Likely either to collapse or drag Britain into another international war, Morel wished to build off of Labour's tacit preference for the Communards and cited that much of the public had little sympathy for Algiers. MacDonald, who up to this point had maintained an outwardly cordial character to Algiers, agreed that it was "time to look to the future" and backed Morel. Diplomatic back-channels with the Communards had existed since the end of the civil war via informal chargé d'affaires and British expatriates in France, though these were now being put to use in opening secret talks with Paris on how to proceed. By the summer, the Labour government informed Parliament it planned to negotiate two treaties, the first pertaining to Anglo-Communard trade and the second regarding the possibility of regaining compensation for British property that had been nationalised after the revolution. When asked in Parliament if this was a conferrence of recognition, Morel denied it was but declared he could not profess to say what the future held. Political backlash at home was immediate as the government was accused of betraying British allies and in Algiers, condemnation was swift. French Prime Minister, Raymond Poincaré, immediately issued a denouncement of the treaties in the Algiers press and threatened consequences for the British government if it followed through. Ambassador Cambon attempted to table a meeting with Morel, who stubbornly refused, while in Algiers, Alexandre Millerand, the French Foreign Minister, demanded an urgent meeting with Lord Hardinge, the British Ambassador, for an explanation. Hardinge was unable to provide sufficient reasoning and simply informed the French that according to the details he had been provided, this was merely a pragmatic gesture to improve British trade. The French were not satisfied and Cambon was recalled from London as Millerand made his way to Britain to meet with Morel.
In London, Morel did not prove forthcoming and only reluctantly agreed to discuss the affair with Millerand, who was growing increasingly furious with the British. Dubbed the "Morel-Millerand Affair" in the press, the two men spent a week discussing the matter to little avail. Morel was adamant that the matter was purely a British affair and was of no concern to the French Foreign Ministry but Millerand, who by now had correctly predicted Morel's long-term plans to shift recognition and break the alliance, was unconvinced. He repeated prior condemnations of British "duplicity" and accused the Labour government of being in bed with the Communards, a charge Morel denied. Despite his constant threats of "consequences" for Britain's actions and implied threats to unilaterally break the Anglo-French Military Alliance, Morel was very aware that any such course of action would be disastrous for France, rather than Britain. Despite Morel often acknowledging that Millerand "did not speak from a position of strength", the Labour government would ultimately be forced to abandon its proposals after bowing to pressure, not from the French, but from Parliament. The Conservatives and the Liberals were both deeply hostile to the proposed treaties and any attempts to block them could be construed as a vote of no confidence. MacDonald opted to simply abandon the proposals, though Morel continued to privately advocate for closer relations with the Communards. While Franco-British relations would improve with the formation of the National Government and Chamberlain's attempt to pursue more conciliatory relations, Curzon would return to the Foreign Office and he remained as loathsome of his French counterparts than ever. Relations would only begin to truly improve after the end of the British Revolution.
Commonwealth & Empire[]
Canadian Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, in London, c. 1921
The Dominions[]
As part of its more inward-looking foreign policy, the Law Ministry sought to buttress its relations with the Dominions, all of whom had played a major part in the Great War. One of the most pressing issues of the day was the matter of Ireland, at this point now in open rebellion as the Sinn Féin controlled Dáil government began to inflict severe damage on Britain's forces. While it was still hoped by Law and his cabinet that it a reconquest of Ireland could be achieved, the matter was scheduled to be discussed at the upcoming Imperial Economic Conference of 1921. Taking place in June, the Conference saw delegates from each of the Dominions (and India) meet in London to discuss matters more broadly pertaining to the Empire, but more particularly towards the issues of the future of Irish Home Rule; the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty and the final ratification of the Treaty of Versailles by the Dominions. The conference was chaired by Bonar Law, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with the Premiers of each of the Dominions (the Secretary-of-State for India represented the Raj) attending to represent their nation, though the larger Dominions brought other government officials and ministers as delegates. The conference lasted from late June to early August though its success was limited. At the time, Britain was still in the midst of the Irish War of Independence, though no formal declaration of war had been made by either side. Talks of a truce and negotiations to end the conflict had started as early as the December of 1920 but were scuppered by forces in the Cabinet that demanded the IRA first surrender their weapons. By now, the war had dragged on and was becoming increasingly bloody with the government eager to seek a temporary respite at least. The mood across the Dominions was not necessarily favourable to the Irish but the proposal for some form of "Home Rule" for Ireland was agreed as inevitable. Jan Smuts, part of the South African delegation, was one of the most prominent voices in favour of Ireland receiving autonomy and during the conference, was privy to the negotiations with the Irish. Smuts proposed to the Dáil leadership that it receive dominionship outside of the United Kingdom, akin to Canada and South Africa. This was, however, not wholly acceptable to the Irish, nor to some of the British establishment, but it was nevertheless seen as a potential proposal, with James Craig, the Ulster Unionist politician, proposing that if Ireland were to be afforded dominionship, Northern Ireland should be constituted as its own dominion. The plans were mooted when the final negotiations later in the year saw the formation of an Irish Republic in association with the Commonwealth, effectively in the British sphere of influence.
Concerning the other issues raised at the conference, it was agreed that the Dominions would each ratify the Treaty of Versailles in their own parliaments, as a ceremonial measure to re-emphasise a degree of their autonomy in the bounds of responsible government. The other most pressing issue was the matter of Japan and the upcoming renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which was due to expire on 13 July 1921. Within Britain itself, the mood surrounding Japan had shifted following experiences in the Great War. The issuing of the Twenty-One Demands had affronted the British and they now no longer regarded the Japanese as reliable allies, even if the Japanese had dropped the most contentious of the demands. Furthermore, following the outbreak of rebellion in Ireland, Britain had demanded that Japan either afford deeper involvement in the Western Front or sell Britain war material at prices that would damage the Japanese economy. Both requests were rejected by an offended Japanese government and only a small naval task force was dispatched to the Mediterranean. Among the Dominions, the mood was more mixed as Prime Minister of Australia, Billy Hughes, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Bill Massey, both strongly favoured the treaty's renewal and reconciliation with Japan. Neither wanted their countries to be caught up in a war between the United States and Japan, and contrasted the comparatively generous assistance that Japan rendered during the Great War with the United States' own neutrality and refusal to enter the war. "The British Empire", declared Hughes, "must have a reliable friend in the Pacific". They were opposed by the Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King, on the grounds that the alliance would adversely affect the relationship with the United States, which Canada depended upon for its security. The British delegation were already sceptical of the Japanese and did not wish to further anger America in exchange for an already unreliable ally. As a result, no decision to renew was reached, and the alliance was allowed to expire.
A further Imperial Conference was organised for 1923, though in a surprise twist this would be the first conference to be hosted under the oversight of the Labour Party, which had won elections earlier in the year. Ramsay MacDonald became Chairman to the conference and Labour ministers headed up the British delegation. Where previous Imperial Conferences were held in public session, the 1923 conference was instead made in chambers, per the agreement of a resolution "that at meetings of this nature, where questions of high policy and of the greatest consequence to all parts of the British Commonwealth are surveyed and dealt with, it was of the first importance that the representatives present should feel able to speak among themselves with the utmost freedom and in a spirit of complete confidence." The most concerning issues related to the future of the Empire, particularly concerning Imperial trade and whether the Dominions should receive more autonomy or plans should be made to pursue an Imperial Federation. On the issue of trade, Australian prime minister Stanley Bruce lobbied hard and consistently for the conference to pass measures that would alter Great Britain's trading arrangements to give preference to Dominion products over imports from elsewhere, and vice versa, effectively a lighter form of tariff reform. Bruce argued for Empire-wide economic trading arrangements that would see domestic demands filled by production from member states before seeking supplemental imports from other countries and empires. MacDonald and Labour were committed to free trade, as were their Liberal benefactors, and shared the public concerns that such trade measures would see higher prices on food. This point was unacceptable to both MacDonald and the staunchly free trade Chancellor, Philip Snowden, so the point was effectively moot.
The matter of federalisation versus autonomy was also a matter to be discussed, with Australia and New Zealand wishing for a consensus on a more common foreign policy between Britain and the Dominions. While this had been supported by the British Conservative Party, Labour was more suspicious of the proposals and opted to side with Canada and South Africa that were demanding additional autonomy for the Dominion parliaments, particularly in the realm of foreign affairs. Canada was in the process of negotiating the Halibut Treaty, pertaining to North American fishing stocks and had undertaken this endeavour entirely independent of Great Britain, the first time a Dominion had taken such a course of action. King had been demanding that Canada be permitted to sign the Treaty alone, without a British counter-signature, and was prepared to threaten the sending of an independent Canadian diplomatic envoy to Washington, D.C. if necessary to force the matter. The Labour government was open to the proposal but mired in the notion that Canada's action (and proposed envoy) was, technically, illegal. It was agreed to defer the matter to the Imperial Conference wherein the MacDonald government agreed a measure of autonomy for the Dominions to manage their own foreign affairs. Such leniency frustrated the Conservatives in Parliament but little could be done and the Imperial Federation proposals had now been officially rejected by Labour. Topics of lesser urgency to South African border disputes with German Mittelafrika and funding for the newly established International Zone in Jerusalem. The Empire afforded its support to South Africa in the disputes and it was agreed there would be joint Dominion troop deployment to Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem by the Conference's conclusion.
Unrest in the East[]
Demonstration in Egypt as part of the Egyptian Revolution, c. 1919
The post-war years were also marked by disturbances in the Empire as low-level rebellions and civil unrest - those that would eventually culminate in the collapse of the British Empire - began to occur. The most pressing of these disturbances occurred in British India, against the Raj authorities, and the Sultanate of Egypt, a British protectorate since 1914, but unofficially much earlier. When the Great War had began, a short-lived "Sultanate of Egypt" had been established as a British protectorate, ending the legal fiction of nominal Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt though this was not internationally recognised, even by Britain's allies. Within Egypt, this had been interpreted by Egyptian nationalists that following the war's end, independence would be granted and the measure attained some degree of internal support. Nevertheless, British conduct caused widespread resentment among the Egyptian populace. Specifically, these included Britain's purchase of cotton stocks and requisitioning of animal fodder at below-market prices, the British conscription of about 500,000 Egyptian fellahin into the Egyptian Labour Corps and the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and its use of the country as a base and a garrison populated by British, Australian, and other Imperial troops. The Egyptian economy felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment, only worsening after the war, and Britain's position in Egypt became tenuous with its loss. While British control was reaffirmed following the Armistice, the hopes of the Egyptian nationalists were dashed when it became clear that Britain had no interest in offering independence and instead sought to maintain its protectorate via the Sultanate.
Egyptian nationalism and discontent with British rule had spread across all social classes during the Great War and the refusal of Britain to lend further autonomy worsened the situation. Tensions were truly ignited with the arrest and exile of the leaders of the Nationalist Wafd Party, alongside a refusal of Britain to lend Egypt a place in the Jerusalem Accord discussions. Protests and demonstrations within the cities and urban centres became increasingly common and radical while the Wafd Party ordered a boycott of British goods and a refusal to work with the Miler Commission, the official task force assigned to settle the matter of Egypt's political future and investigate what caused the disturbances in the prior years. Urban demonstrations turned to strikes across Egypt by students, elite, civil servants, merchants, peasants, workers, and religious leaders became such a daily occurrence that normal life was brought to a halt. This mass movement was characterised by the participation of both men and women, and by spanning the religious divide between Muslim and Christian Egyptians. The uprising in the Egyptian countryside was more violent, involving attacks on British military installations, civilian facilities and personnel. The Egyptian Expeditionary Force, the British army in the region, engaged in mass repression to restore order to little success, with excessive casualties among both the British security forces and Egyptian civilians.
Milner's commission eventually returned in 1920 to propose that some form of independence be given and a treaty of alliance be made. As a result, Curzon agreed to receive an Egyptian mission to discuss the proposals with an agreement concluding in August of that year. In 1921, the British Parliament approved the agreement and Egypt was asked to send another mission to London with full powers to conclude a definitive treaty. Adli Pasha led this mission, which arrived in June 1921. However, the Dominion delegates at the 1921 Imperial Conference had stressed the importance of maintaining control over the Suez Canal Zone and Curzon could not persuade his Cabinet colleagues to agree to any terms that Adli Pasha was prepared to accept. Martial law was re-implemented in Egypt as the situation became increasingly convoluted but in deference to the growing nationalism and at the suggestion of the High Commissioner, Lord Allenby, Britain recognized Egyptian independence in 1922, abolishing the protectorate, and converting the Sultanate of Egypt into the Kingdom of Egypt. British influence continued to dominate Egypt's political life and fostered fiscal, administrative, and governmental reforms. Britain retained control of the Canal Zone, Sudan and Egypt's external protection, the police, army, the railways and communications, the protection of foreign interests, minorities and Sudan pending a final agreement. Egypt would eventually break away during the 1924 Revolution.
Large-scale demonstrations were common during the period of Indian unrest.
The situation was also worsening in India and the British administration would not even entertain the notion of independence, real or fictitious as was the case in Egypt. India had contributed much manpower and resources to the Great War but there was to be no reward in the form of autonomy, with the even limited provisions of the Government of India bill for 1919, dying in Parliament. Tensions on the sub-continent were beginning to brew as early as 1920 owing to the repressive measures of the Rowlatt Act, officially the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1920 that had been forced through the Imperial Legislative Council, in Dehli. Emergency measures of preventive indefinite detention, imprisonment without trial and judicial review, stricter control of the press, arrests without warrant and a slew of other authoritarian measures brought about in the Defence of India Act 1915 were now made permanent. These were envisioned as a means of curbing the growing nationalist upsurge, as the provisions were theoretically targeted at political subversives and largely encompassed political crimes and terrorism. Muhammad Ali Jinnah resigned from his Bombay seat and Mahatma Gandhi, a charismatic advocate for independence, called for protests against the Act. Gandhi's calls received unprecedented nationwide support with protests and riots erupting across all of India. In the already tense province of Punjab, a peaceful protest was fired upon by British soldiers who gunned down protestors even as they attempted to flee culminating in the Amritsar Massacre. Its level of casual brutality, and the lack of any accountability, stunned the entire nation, resulting in a wrenching loss of faith of the general Indian public in the intentions of the United Kingdom. The attack was condemned by the Law cabinet, with the Prime Minister declaring it "unutterably monstrous", but the aftermath producing an ineffective inquiry caused outrage. Accolades awarded to Dye, together with his veneration in the community of serving and former Raj officials, fuelled great widespread anger against the British among the Indian populace, leading to the emergence non-cooperation movement of 1920–22. Some historians consider the episode a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India. The city of Gujranwala saw immense rioting only days later in response to the massacre and was victim to its own brutal suppression by British military forces.
Out of the Amritsar Massacre would form the All India Trade Union Congress and the Non-Cooperation Movement, The former was explicitly socialist and formed out of mass strikes that had occurred early in the year. As much as a headache at home, major industrial action was now taking place in India as well with the AITUC being made a fraternal organisation of Britain's own TUC. The Non-Cooperation Movement was more broad and nominally, non-violent, seeking to appeal to middle-class Indian intellectuals as well as the Indian lower classes on a broad scale. Under Gandhi's leadership, the NCM advocated for Indians to boycott British goods and the British government in India. Indians were encouraged to withdraw their children from British schools; picket liquor stores; adopt the use of local handicrafts; refuse co-operation or employment with the Raj police, military and courts; boycott public transportation and return any honours or titles bestowed by the British government. The NCM was a major success in breaking through with Indian nationalism and shocked the Raj authorities, who moved to suppress it. Strikes and protests continued throughout the period, with the Malabar rebellion and Prince of Wales riots rocking the subcontinent in 1921. By 1922, the NCM had given birth to the "Diarchy" - a dual system of rule in which more remote towns and villages were able to establish their own local governments, independent of British Rule. The INC supported such measures and it ultimately helped form the bedrock of practical resistance to British rule in the tumultuous year 1924. As the British Revolution began to enter into full-swing, and with it the Collapse of the British Empire, troops were diverted from India to suppress rebels elsewhere in the Empire or actively put down the rebellion at home. In India, growing unrest eventually followed the course of Great Britain itself and transpired into full-scale rebellion with the Indian Revolt of 1924. The already depleted Indian Army would be forced to face of with increasingly bold rebels and a populace that had long-grown sick of British Rule.