(1) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

There is one outstanding lesson I have learned is that wealth can only be acquired at the expense of others. I say this with the absolute assurance that it is an indisputable statement of fact. Also, that all of us, no matter how skilled we are, or however much ability we possess, do in fact depend on our daily bread, our comforts, and material pleasures on the toil and labour of the masses who often live unrequited lives of toil and hardship.

 

(2) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

Campbell-Bannerman was kindness itself. I often wonder what the developments in English politics would have been had this genial, kindly Scotsman lived. There might have been no war in 1914; the course of the Labour Movement might have been different - for this man believed in peace and was not afraid of the word Socialism, and did believe unemployment was a national problem and the unemployed the care of the State.

 

(3) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

The Jew, whether British or foreign, wherever he was born and whatever his colour or creed, was for me even when I was a boy "one of God's children". There are certain distinctions between all of us, and there are distinctions between races too, though these latter seem less marked when we investigate closely.

Jews do seem to have a facility for the quick acquisition of wealth which the Gentiles would be only too glad to imitate. When times are bad they never seem to suffer quite so badly as others; they stand together and by one another. They care for their parents, and their children are really loved. In the poorest parts mothers carry their little ones to school wrapped up from the rain.

When trade unionism among the casual labourers and unskilled workers was at a very low ebb - indeed, it was almost non-existent - it was Jewish agitators who, by persistent propaganda, helped to bring them into the British trade unions.

Some Jews are good Tories, others are Liberals, Communists and Socialists, Trade Unionists and Co-operators. In the main, the best description of them is that they are good citizens. I have known thousands of them of all ages intimately and have received great kindness from many of them. As I consider the change in East London's population I am convinced that it is nonsense to pretend we have been injured by the huge Jewish immigration. I think we have become better.

 

(4) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

I was a great admirer of Henry George and believed firmly in the taxation of land values. During the years 1886 to 1892 I came more and more under the influence of William Morris and H. H. Hyndman, Will Thorne, Tom Mann, Ben Tillet, and decided to join the Social Democrats.

 

(5) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

I have heard some remarkable women orators. Some of them stand head and shoulders above all others. There was Catherine Booth, mother of the Salvation Army, who was one of the simplest exponents of the gospel of love I have ever heard. I think her speeches, sermons and appeals on behalf of the weak and the fallen were among the finest pieces of simple arresting oratory I have ever heard.

Her theology was rather hard and narrow, and very dogmatic. Later on she threw her energy into work on behalf of young girls and illegitimate babies. Her whole soul and spirit was poured out in an unceasing effort to make men realize their responsibility. In politics, she demanded legislation to raise the age of consent and provision for the maintenance of these unfortunate victims of our lack of individual and social responsibility.

 

(6) George Lansbury, Looking Backwards and Forwards (1935)

Another very gentle and lovable woman was Mrs. Josephine Butler. Once, in the big St. Mary's schoolroom in Whitechapel, I listened to her with tears running down my cheeks as she told of the cruel and barbarous workings of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Mrs. Butler left a comfortable rectory to fight this fight on behalf of womanhood. She had to face tremendous opposition, gross distortion and misrepresentation. There was at the beginning no organisation, either of women or men, to stand with her. Nor did her own sex support her. But the unremitting toil of this fine Christian woman, not overblessed with physical strength, and not an orator in the accepted sense, at last won her victory, and the "C.D." Acts were repealed.

 

(7) Margaret Cole worked closely with George Lansbury during the First World War.

George Lansbury was not yet the Mayor of Poplar and leader of the movement to make the rich districts of London contribute to the upkeep of the poor ones, not yet chief of the Labour Party or even in Parliament, was nevertheless set to become father-confessor and Santa Claus to all the most "ornery" spirits of the Left; he was a strong pacifist on Christian grounds, and was occasionally worried by the eagerness with which his Socialist contributors greeted mild outbreaks of violence in industrial disputes. (His daughter Daisy married my brother Ray.)

 

(8) Henry Hamilton Fyfe became editor of the Daily Herald in 1922.

The Daily Herald had never emerged entirely from the first stage of its existence as a daily strike sheet a year or two before the war. While the war was on, it became a weekly with a bite to it. In 1919 it resumed appearance as a daily with so much of the old bite left that it gained ground slowly. Most supporters of Labour have Tory tastes. They dislike actual changes, however loudly they may demand future reforms. They were used to a certain type of daily newspaper; the Herald did not conform to type. Also it attacked most of the leaders whom Labour people had been taught to revere. Those leaders hated Lansbury, the founder of the paper, who had, with immense energy, collected funds for its rebirth. They did more to hinder than to help it on.

 

(9) Clement Attlee, As It Happened (1954)

Lansbury was by nature an evangelist rather than a Parliamentary tactician. Yet during those years in which he led the small Party in the House he showed great skill and powers of everyday leadership. A leading Conservative once replied to a Labour Member who said that he thought George Lansbury was one of the best men he had ever known - The best! Is that all? He's the ablest Opposition Leader that I have ever known." It was, of course, a great source of strength to him that he commanded the personal affection of his followers. He had also a wise tolerance - an attribute which is not so common in the enthusiast.

 

(10) Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit, Very Little Luggage (2009)

The Labour opposition was led by George Lansbury who, as a sincere and devout churchman, did not hesitate to invoke Christian principles in his search for a solution to the problem of poverty. This led to the Tory riposte that "there is nothing in the Bible about a seven-and-a-half hour day." To the rising growth of left wing feeling, the Government replied in a way that failed to satisfy those who were worst hit - notably the unemployed who were soon to number three million. The problems arising from the international economic crisis touched every consumer in the country - some very cruelly. The middle and upper classes became troubled by the social unrest amongst the working-class unemployed, and many were finding it harder and harder to see the working-class reaction as altogether blameworthy. I was becoming aware that the world was subject to forces that hitherto had not been brought to my attention but which I could no longer ignore. I did in fact have one last try at doing so during the coming university long-vacation.

 

(11) William Patterson, The Man Who Cried Genocide (1971)

In my quest for a room, I had become acquainted with the London Daily Herald, organ of the British Labour Party. I was attracted by its editorial policy and its approach to events, including comments on the war just concluded and the Civil War in Russia. I decided I would like to talk to Robert Lansbury, whose byline was prominent in the paper. He was its editor and publisher, as well as being one of the leading figures of the British Labour Party. I went boldly to the paper, asked for Mr. Lansbury and had no trouble getting into his offices. The dingy offices on Fleet Street were in what Americans would call a loft building. I found Mr. Lansbury in a sort of cubbyhole, behind a desk piled high with papers and surrounded by newsmen. He quickly dismissed everybody and we started to talk.

He was anxious to find out about conditions in the United States, especially those faced by the Negro. Finally he invited me to do an article on the Negro's problems for the Herald. When I told him of the limitations of my experience, he still insisted. So I wrote an article, which was published while I was still in London, describing the development of the struggles of the Negro in the United States as I saw them. I drew heavily on my reading of the Messenger and the Crisis.

In our talks, Lansbury probed into my reasons for wanting to go to Africa. When I explained, he said, "Well, you're running away from struggle. You tell me that you want to fight for human rights and dignity, yet you are trying to get away from the main fight. Why don't you return to the States? Your country is going to be a great center of struggle for human rights and liberty. What will the position of the Negro be as the struggle develops?" I had no answer to his questions.