James
Ramsay MacDonald, the illegitimate son of Ann Ramsay, a maidservant,
was born in Lossiemouth, Morayshire, on 12th October, 1866. He was
brought up in his grandmother's cottage and was a student at the local
school from 1875 until 1881. An intelligent boy he became a pupil-teacher
and at nineteen found work in Bristol.
In 1886 MacDonald moved to London where
he was employed as a clerk for the Cyclists' Touring Club. In his
spare-time he studied for a science scholarship but as a result of
a near-starvation diet his health declined and was forced to abandon
his idea of an academic career.
After he recovered his health, MacDonald was employed as a clerk by
Thomas Lough, a member of the House of Commons.
MacDonald had a growing interest in politics and joined the Fabian
Society where he met socialists such as George
Bernard Shaw, Annie Besant, Walter
Crane, Sidney Webb and Beatrice
Webb.
In 1893 a group of socialist including James
Keir Hardie, Robert Smillie, Tom
Mann, John Bruce Glasier, Ben
Tillett, and Philip Snowden formed
a new national working class party called the Independent
Labour Party. MacDonald joined in 1894 and the following year
was the ILP candidate for Southampton
in the 1895 General Election. MacDonald,
along with the other twenty-seven ILP candidates, was defeated and
overall, the party won only 44,325 votes.
During the campaign in Southampton
MacDonald met Margaret Gladstone, the daughter of the wealthy John
Hall Gladstone. Margaret, a Christian Socialist,
was impressed with MacDonald and despite their very different backgrounds
they became engaged. After they married in 1897, Margaret was able
to finance her husband's political career from her private income.
The couple travelled a great deal in the late 1890s and this gave
MacDonald the opportunity to meet socialist leaders in other countries
and helped him develop an good understanding of foreign affairs.
Keir Hardie, the leader of the Independent
Labour Party and George Bernard Shaw of
the Fabian Society, believed that for socialists
to win seats in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to
form a new party made up of various left-wing groups.
On 27th February 1900, representatives of all the socialist groups
in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the
Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian
Society, met with trade union leaders at the Memorial Hall in
Farringdon Street, London. After a debate the 129 delegates decided
to pass Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group
in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their
policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party
which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in
the direct interests of labour." To make this possible the Conference
established a Labour Representation Committee
(LRC). This committee included two members from the Independent
Labour Party, two from the Social Democratic
Federation, one member of the Fabian Society,
and seven trade unionists.
Ramsay MacDonald was chosen as the secretary
of the LRC. One reason for this was as he was financed by his wealthy
wife, he did not have to be paid a salary. The LRC put up fifteen
candidates in the 1900 General Election and between them they won
62,698 votes. Two of the candidates, Keir Hardie
and Richard Bell won seats in the House
of Commons.
The LRC did much better in the 1906 General Election
with twenty nine successful candidates winning their seats. MacDonald
became the MP for Leicester and other
winners included James Keir Hardie (Merthyr
Tydfil), Philip Snowden (Blackburn), Arthur
Henderson (Barnard Castle), Will Thorne
(West Ham) and Fred Jowett (Bradford).
At a meeting on 12th February, 1906, the group of MPs decided to change
from the LRC to the Labour Party. Hardie was elected chairman and
MacDonald was selected to be the party's secretary.
At first
Hardie was leader of the party in the House
of Commons, but was not very good with dealing with internal rivalries
within the party, and in 1908 resigned from the post. Arthur
Henderson became leader until 1910 when he was replaced by George
Barnes. The following year, MacDonald was elected leader of the
Labour Party group.
Annie
Ramsay holds the MacDonald's first
child. Margaret MacDonald died in 1911.
Like many
socialists, MacDonald was a pacifist and was unwilling to support
Britain's involvement in the First World War.
Others in the party such as Arthur Henderson,
Will Thorne and Ben
Tillett believed that the Labour Party
should give total support to the war effort. As he was in a minority,
MacDonald decided to resign his post and Henderson became the leader
of the party.
In the nationalist fervour that followed the end of the First
World War, and in the 1918 General Election,
MacDonald, and other opponents of the war such as Philip
Snowden, George Lansbury and Fred
Jowett, lost their seats.
MacDonald had been forgiven for his pacifism by the time of the 1922
General Election and was elected to represent Aberavon. The Labour
Party won 142 seats, making it the second largest political group
in the House of Commons after the Conservative
Party. MacDonald was elected leader of the party and over the
next couple of years he attempted to help improve the organisation
of the party.
In the 1923 General Election, the Labour
Party won 191 seats. Although the Conservatives
had 258, MacDonald agreed to head a minority government, and therefore
became the first member of the party to become Prime Minister. MacDonald
had the problem of forming a Cabinet with colleagues who had little,
or no administrative experience. As MacDonald had to reply on the
support of the Liberal Party, he was unable
to get any socialist legislation passed by the House
of Commons. The only significant measure was the Wheatley
Housing Act which began a building programme of 500,000 homes
for rent to working-class families.
In October 1924 the MI5 intercepted a letter written by Grigory
Zinoviev, chairman of the Comintern in the Soviet Union. The Zinoviev
Letter urged British communists to promote revolution through
acts of sedition. Vernon Kell, head of MI5
and Sir Basil Thomson head of Special
Branch, told MacDonald that they were convinced that the letter was
genuine.
It was agreed that the letter should be kept secret but someone leaked
news of the letter to the Times and
the Daily Mail. The letter was published
in these newspapers four days before the 1924
General Election and contributed to the defeat of MacDonald. The
Conservatives won 412 seats and formed
the next government. With his 151 Labour
MPs, MacDonald became leader of the opposition in the House
of Commons.
MacDonald
continued with his policy of presenting the Labour
Party as a moderate force in politics and refused to support the
1926 General Strike. MacDonald argued
that strikes should not be used as a political weapon and that the
best way to obtain social reform was through parliamentary elections.
MacDonald's moderate image was popular with the voters and in the
1929 General Election the Labour Party won
288 seats, making it the largest party in the House
of Commons. MacDonald became Prime Minister again, but as before,
he still had to rely on the support of the Liberals
to hold onto power.
The election of the Labour Government coincided
with an economic depression and MacDonald was faced with the problem
of growing unemployment. MacDonald asked Sir George May, to form a
committee to look into Britain's economic problem. When the May Committee
produced its report in July, 1931, it suggested that the government
should reduce its expenditure by £97,000,000, including a £67,000,000
cut in unemployment benefits. MacDonald, and his Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Philip Snowden, accepted the
report but when the matter was discussed by the Cabinet, the majority
voted against the measures suggested by Sir George May.
MacDonald was angry that his Cabinet had voted against him and decided
to resign. When he saw George V that night,
he was persuaded to head a new coalition government that would include
Conservative and Liberal
leaders as well as Labour ministers. Most
of the Labour Cabinet totally rejected the idea and only three, Philip
Snowden, Jimmy Thomas and John
Sankey agreed to join the new government.
MacDonald was determined to continue and his National Government introduced
the measures that had been rejected by the previous Labour Cabinet.
Labour MPs were furious with what had happened and MacDonald was expelled
from the Labour Party.
In October, MacDonald called an election. The 1931
General Election was a disaster for the Labour
Party with only 46 members winning their seats. MacDonald, now
had 556 pro-National Government MPs and had no difficulty pursuing
the policies suggested by Sir George May. However, disowned by his
own party, he was now a prisoner of the Conservative
Party, and in 1935 he was gently eased from power.
In the 1935 General Election MacDonald was
defeated by Emmanuel Shinwell, a popular
figure in the Labour Party. The following
year he was elected to represent the Scottish Universities and joined
Stanley Baldwin's Conservative Cabinet. James Ramsay MacDonald died
on a cruise in the Atlantic on 5th November, 1937.
(1)
Bruce Glasier, diary entry (June 1911)
I noticed that Ramsay MacDonald in speaking of the appeal we should
send out for capital used the word 'Democratic' rather than 'Labour'
or 'Socialist' as describing the character of the paper. I rebulked
him flatly and said we would have no 'democratic' paper but a Socialist
and Labour one - boldly proclaimed. Why does MacDonald always seem
to try and shirk the word Socialism except when he is writing critical
books about the subject.
(2)
Fenner Brockway, Towards Tomorrow
(1977)
Ramsay MacDonald was a born leader,
with a commanding personality and a magnificent presence; the most
handsome man in public life. He was a great orator who deep, resonant
voice and sweeping gestures added to the force of his words. He received
great help from his wife, a Socialist in the truest sense. Margaret,
although of the Gladstone family, contrasted with Ramsay's aristocratic
appearance and demeanour. She cared nothing for dress and might have
passed for a working-class woman in the days before Marls & Spencer
cheap mass-produced clothes. Margaret Bondfield once told me how horrified
she was when the wife of the Labour leader turned up with a deputation
to 10 Downing Street wearing her blouse back to front.
(3)
David
Kirkwood met Ramsay MacDonald
for the first time at a meeting of the Union
of Democratic Control in Glasgow.
He wrote about MacDonald in his autobiography, My Life of Revolt
(1935)
Ramsay
MacDonald fascinated me. His head was a thing of beauty. Black hair
waved and rolled over a fine brow, one curl almost touching his straight,
strong eyebrows, from under which his eyes glowed. His voice was rugged,
but soft, and, as he spoke, there came into it a throb. It was the
natural instrument of an orator. Standing upright, he was a splendid
figure of a man, and his appearance of height and strength was increased
by his habit of rising on his toes and throwing back his head. He
was the first man of culture I had met.
(3)
Emanuel Shinwell,
Conflict Without Malice (1955)
To dismiss MacDonald as a traitor to Labour is nonsense. His
contribution in the early years was of incalculable value. His qualities
as a protagonist of Socialism were of a rare standard. There has probably
never been an orator with such natural magnetism combined with impeccable
technique in speaking in the party's history. Before the First World
War his reputation in international Labour circles brooked no comparison.
Keir Hardie, idolized by the theorists in the movement, did not have
the appeal to European and American Socialists that MacDonald had.
There is no doubt that his international prestige equalled that of
such men as Jaures and Adler. Among his people in Scotland he could
exert almost mesmeric influence.
No one
has ever completely explained the magnetism of MacDonald as a young
man. He was the most handsome man
I have ever known, and his face and bearing can best be described
by the conventional term "princely." Partly this was due
to the spiritual qualities which are so often found in the real Northern
Scottish strain, with its admixture of Celtic and Norse blood. Some
of it probably came from the paternal ancestry which gave him aristocratic
characteristics and marked him as a leader of men. Lesser men might
despise this suggestion of heredity; the people who loved him in those
early days recognized it as an inborn quality. It also put him in
Parliament. Leicester was intrigued about this Labour candidate who
was the sole opponent of the Tory in 1906. If he had been an uncouth
firebrand it is unlikely that he would have found much favour. The
immense Liberal vote was his from the start. The Liberals and sentimentalists
were utterly charmed by this handsome idealist whose musical voice
wove gently round their spell-bound hearts. He won that election by
emotionalism rather than intellect - as others before and since have
won elections.
(4)
In his diary, Bruce Glasier recorded the
death of Margaret MacDonald's death (September 1911)
Margaret MacDonald might easily have been taken for the nursemaid
in a small middle-class family. Her naivete, simplicity, unselfishness
and amazing capacity for organisation and helpful work made her one
of the best liked women I have known. There was little in her to attract
men, as men, but everything to attract women and men who had enthusiasm
for public work. What her loss to her husband, one dares not think.
Sir Thomas Barlow came to see her two days before the end, and after
examining her called MacDonald into another room. Tears were in his
eyes. "The game is up my boy", he said, putting his hand
kindly on MacDonald's shoulders. He said he had not the heart to to
go back and bid her goodbye.
On MacDonald returning to the bedroom, she asked why Sir Thomas had
not returned to say goodbye", she said quietly, then after a
moment's thought she looked MacDonald calmly in the eyes: "You
must tell me quite truthfully what Sir Thomas said." When she
heard that she was doomed, she was silent, and said with a slight
tremble in her voice, "I am very sorry to leave you - you and
the children - alone." She never wept - never to the end. She
asked if the children could be brought to see her. When the boys were
brought to her, she spoke to each one separately. To the boys she
said, "I wish you only to remember one wish of your mother's
- never marry except for love".
(5)
Ramsay MacDonald, speech in the House of Commons
on why he was opposed to Britain's involvement in the First World
War (3rd August, 1914)
There has been no crime committed by statesmen of this character without
those statesman appealing to the nations' honour. We fought the Crimean
War because of our honour. We rushed to South Africa because of out
honour. The Right Hon. Gentleman (Sir Edward Grey) is appealing to
us today because of our honour. What is the use of talking about coming
to the aid of Belgium, when, as a matter of fact, you are engaging
in a whole European War which is now going to leave the map of Europe
in the position it is in now?
(6)
Wright Robinson interviewed Helen Wilkinson
about Ramsay MacDonald in November 1923
I asked her why she disliked Ramsay MacDonald. She said she loathed
him, that he was like a sultan always surrounded by women and she
did not want to be one of the flies in the jam.
(7)
David Low, Autobiography (1956)
The first Labour Government took on the job for the administrative
experience. They were dependent on the Liberals for a majority in
Parliament and they aimed at winning over Liberal votes to Labour
in the country. Some modifications of policies was expected. But what
was not expected was that when Labour Ministers achieved office they
should turn into quite different persons. They even changed in appearance.
The significant politics of MacDonald's first term as Prime Minister
were that he cut his hair, trimmed his moustache, assumed a tail-coat
and was even seen in a tall shiny hat, symbol for a generation past
of the hated capitalist. The change in Ramsay's dress had in reality
a deep symbolic significance. Continuity was to be observed. Sleep
soundly in your beds, O Middle Classes. The harbingers of change,
the party of revolution, might have defeated the aristos, but the
angle of approach to the future would remain unchanged.
(8)
Charles Trevelyan, letter of resignation
to Ramsay MacDonald (19th February, 1931)
For some
time I have realised that I am very much out of sympathy with the
general method of Government policy. In the present disastrous condition
of trade it seems to me that the crisis requires big Socialist measures.
We ought to be demonstrating to the country the alternatives to economy
and protection. Our value as a Government today should be to make
people realise that Socialism is that alternative.
(9)
Charles Trevelyan, speech to the Parliamentary
Labour Party (19th February, 1931)
I have
for some time been painfully aware that I am utterly dissatisfied
with the main strategy of the leaders of the party. But I thought
it my duty to hold on as long as I had a definite job in trying to
pass the Education Bill. I never expected a complete breakthrough
to Socialism in this Parliament. But I did expect it to prepare the
way by a Government which in spirit and vigour made such a contrast
with the Tories and Liberals that we should be sure of conclusive
victory next time.
But the first session was a bitter disappointment. Now we are plunged
into an exampled trade depression and suffering the appalling record
of unemployment. It is a crisis almost as terrible as war. The people
are in just the mood to accept a new and bold attempt to deal with
radical evils. But all we have got is a declaration of economy from
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We apparently have opted, almost
without discussion, the policy of economy. It implies a faith, a faith
that reduction of expenditure is the way to salvation. No comrades.
It is not good enough for a Socialist party to meet this crisis with
economy. The very root of our faith is the prosperity comes from the
high spending power of the people, and that public expenditure on
the social services is always remunerative.
Though I differ profoundly with the present leadership I have not
the slightest sympathy with the action of men like Mosley. The Labour
Party is going to be the power of the future however long it takes
to evolve leaders who know how to act. But it is as in an army. The
leaders for the time must settle the strategy. The officers who command
the battalions can retire, but they must not rebel. I have taken the
one step of protest open to me. I resign my position as an officer
and become a private soldier.
(10)
Ramsay MacDonald appointed
Clement Attlee as Postmaster General in
1929. He wrote about MacDonald's government in his autobiography,
As It Happened (1954)
In the old days I had looked up to MacDonald as a great leader. He
had a fine presence and great oratorical power. The unpopular line
which he took during the First World War seemed to mark him as a man
of character. Despite his mishandling of the Red Letter episode, I
had not appreciated his defects until he took office a second time.
I then realised his reluctance to take positive action and noted with
dismay his increasing vanity and snobbery, while his habit of telling
me, a junior Minister, the poor opinion he had of all his Cabinet
colleagues made an unpleasant impression. I had not, however, expected
that he would perpetrate the greatest betrayal in the political history
of this country. I had realised that Snowden had become a docile disciple
of orthodox finance, but I had not thought him capable of such virulent
hatred of those who had served him loyally. The shock to the Party
was very great, especially to the loyal workers of the rank-and-file
who had made great sacrifices for these men.
Many members
of the Government, of whom I was one, were seriously disturbed at
the lack of constructive policy displayed by the leaders of the Government.
We were also conscious of a growing estrangement between MacDonald
and the rest of the Party. He was increasingly mixing only with people
who did not share the Labour outlook. This opposition, however, did
not crystallise, because the one man who could have taken MacDonald's
place, Arthur Henderson, was too loyal to lend himself to any action
against his leader. Instead of deciding on a policy and standing or
falling by it, MacDonald and Snowden persuaded the Cabinet to agree
to the appointment of an Economy Committee, under the chairmanship
of Sir George May of the Prudential Insurance Company, with a majority
of opponents of Labour on it. The result might have been anticipated.
The proposals were directed to cutting the social services and particularly
unemployment benefit. Their remedy for an economic crisis, one of
the chief features of which was excess of commodities over effective
demand, was to cut down the purchasing power of the masses. The majority
of the Government refused to accept the cuts and it was on this issue
that the Government broke up. Instead of resigning, MacDonald accepted
a commission from the King to form a so-called 'National' Government.
(11)
Frederick Pethick-Lawrence and Susan Lawrence
decided to resign from the government when they heard that Philip
Snowden, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, decided in 1931 to cut
unemployment benefits.
Susan Lawrence came to see me. As Parliamentary Secretary
to the Ministry of Health, was concerned with the proposed cuts in
unemployment relief, which she regarded as dreadful. We discussed
the whole situation and agreed that, if the Cabinet decided to accept
the cuts in their entirety, we would both resign from the Government.
At last I got my summons from the Prime Minster, and went to Downing
Street. We went in and were sat round a table. MacDonald proceeded
to address us. He gave a short account of the crisis, told us that
the Cabinet had broken up and that he was forming a National Government
with Conservative and Liberal colleagues. He closed the meeting abruptly,
saying he had important business to transact. As we filed past to
say good-bye, he detained me for a moment, and said he thought I might
be willing to stay with the new Government; but I declined the suggestion.
(12)
Morgan Philips Price, My Three Revolutions
(1969)
Early
in the summer vacation (August 21st) the Labour Government resigned
and each Labour M.P. received a letter from the Prime Minister informing
him that he had felt constrained to form a National Government and
had secured the support of Mr Baldwin, the leader of the Opposition.
Some Conservative Members would be taken into the Government. Mr Snowden
and Mr J. H. Thomas had agreed to continue in their offices and it
was hoped that the Parliamentary Labour Party would agree with what
had been done. At the same time a message arrived summoning all Labour
M.P.s
to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Party in London. Incredibly,
I was playing cricket when it arrived. I rushed up to
London at once. I found Members delighted that Ramsay Macdonald, Philip
Snowden and J. H. Thomas had severed themselves from us by their action.
We had got rid of the Right Wing without any effort on our part. No
one trusted Mr Thomas and Philip Snowden was recognized to be a nineteenth-century
Liberal with no longer any place amongst us. State action to remedy
the economic crisis was anathema to him. As for Ramsay Macdonald,
he was obviously losing his grip on affairs. He had no background
of knowledge of economic and financial questions and was hopelessly
at sea in a crisis like this. But many, if not most, of the Labour
M.P.s thought that at an election we should win hands down. I was
not so optimistic and wrote in a memorandum which I published in a
local paper in my constituency at the time. "The country is thoroughly
frightened and our Party has not proved that it has an alternative
policy or the courage to put one through if it had one."
(13)
Herbert
Morrison, An
Autobiography (1960)
It is unfortunate that the Labour Party has in the main
produced leaders
who have been poorly endowed with that generosity of mind and regard
for their colleagues which enables them to live closely with them.
Keir Hardie, Arthur Henderson and George Lansbury were exceptions.
The usual excuse is shyness, but that is not always valid.
Ramsay MacDonald, by the
time he became prime minister, was already showing evidence of that
remote and defensive attitude to those around him which in the end
left him with virtually no friends in the real sense of the word.
He had, as a matter of fact, a considerable number ofM.P.s at his
disposal who had years of hard experience in the House when they had
had to wage a well-nigh hopeless battle as members of a party without
political force or indeed much of the country behind them.
(14)
Henry
(Chips) Channon,
diary entry (8th June, 1934)
I am glad Ramsay (MacDonald) has gone: I have always disliked
his shifty face, and his inability to give a direct answer. What a
career, a life-long Socialist, then for 4 years a Conservative Prime
Minister, and now the defender of Londonderry House. An incredible
yolte-face. He ends
up distrusted by Conservatives and hated by Socialists.
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