David Cameron has claimed that he wants to make history a compulsory subject because he is concerned about young people's knowledge of the past. It seems he did not get a very good history education at Eton. In this interview yesterday he said that the UK was the "junior partner" under the United States against Germany in 1940.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10727983
Thursday 22 July 2010
Thursday 15 July 2010
1929 and 2010
In the 1929 General Election the Conservatives won 8,664,000 votes, the Labour Party 8,360,000 and the Liberals 5,300,000. However, the bias of the system worked in Labour's favour, and in the House of Commons the party won 287 seats, the Conservatives 261 and the Liberals 59. Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister again, but as before, he still had to rely on the support of the Liberals to hold onto power.
Ramsay MacDonald was forced to do a deal with David Lloyd George. This included reforming the way MPs were elected to the House of Commons. After a meeting on 19th May, 1930, MacDonald wrote in his diary: "Told me he (Lloyd George) could not get his party to accept alternative vote: would only have Proportional Representation. I said we would not accept P.R., but would offer alternative vote as a compromise." It seems that this is the same conversation that David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been having over the last couple of months.
The other thing that they could not agree on was public spending. During the 1929 election campaign David Lloyd George published a pamphlet, We Can Conquer Unemployment, where he proposed a government scheme where 350,000 men were to be employed on road-building, 60,000 on housing, 60,000 on telephone development and 62,000 on electrical development. The cost would be £250 million, and the money would be raised by loan. John Maynard Keynes also published a pamphlet supporting Lloyd George's scheme.
These views impressed Richard Tawney who wrote a letter to Ramsay MacDonald, the leader of the Labour Party, about the forthcoming election: "If the Labour Election Programme is to be of any use it must have something concrete and definite about unemployment... What is required is a definite statement that (a) Labour Government will initiate productive work on a larger scale, and will raise a loan for the purpose. (b) That it will maintain from national funds all men not absorbed in such work." MacDonald refused to be persuaded by Tawney's ideas and rejected the idea that unemployment could be cured by public works.
During the economic crisis of 1930-31, MacDonald had a series of meetings with Lloyd George and Maynard Keynes about public spending. However, MacDonald refused to change his mind and unemployment continued to grow. When he took power in 1929 the unemployment figure was 1,433,000. By June 1931 it reached 2,735,000.
Most Labour MPs agreed with increased public spending. MacDonald favoured cuts and in July 1931 he formed a National Government with the Conservatives. Lloyd George and the Liberals did not get parliamentary reform or increased public spending. Is history going to be repeated?
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUkeynes.htm
Ramsay MacDonald was forced to do a deal with David Lloyd George. This included reforming the way MPs were elected to the House of Commons. After a meeting on 19th May, 1930, MacDonald wrote in his diary: "Told me he (Lloyd George) could not get his party to accept alternative vote: would only have Proportional Representation. I said we would not accept P.R., but would offer alternative vote as a compromise." It seems that this is the same conversation that David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been having over the last couple of months.
The other thing that they could not agree on was public spending. During the 1929 election campaign David Lloyd George published a pamphlet, We Can Conquer Unemployment, where he proposed a government scheme where 350,000 men were to be employed on road-building, 60,000 on housing, 60,000 on telephone development and 62,000 on electrical development. The cost would be £250 million, and the money would be raised by loan. John Maynard Keynes also published a pamphlet supporting Lloyd George's scheme.
These views impressed Richard Tawney who wrote a letter to Ramsay MacDonald, the leader of the Labour Party, about the forthcoming election: "If the Labour Election Programme is to be of any use it must have something concrete and definite about unemployment... What is required is a definite statement that (a) Labour Government will initiate productive work on a larger scale, and will raise a loan for the purpose. (b) That it will maintain from national funds all men not absorbed in such work." MacDonald refused to be persuaded by Tawney's ideas and rejected the idea that unemployment could be cured by public works.
During the economic crisis of 1930-31, MacDonald had a series of meetings with Lloyd George and Maynard Keynes about public spending. However, MacDonald refused to change his mind and unemployment continued to grow. When he took power in 1929 the unemployment figure was 1,433,000. By June 1931 it reached 2,735,000.
Most Labour MPs agreed with increased public spending. MacDonald favoured cuts and in July 1931 he formed a National Government with the Conservatives. Lloyd George and the Liberals did not get parliamentary reform or increased public spending. Is history going to be repeated?
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUkeynes.htm
A very interesting analysis on the way the assassination of John F. Kennedy is treated at Wikipedia can be found here:
http://www.ctka.net/2010/wiki.html
It includes the following passage:
From here on out to the end of the Wikipedia LHO entry, just about all of its information is in support of the Warren Commission Report's 1964 conclusions. With the exception of a very brief and dismissive mention of the House Select Committee on Assassination's (HSCA) 1979 assertion that there was a " 'high probability that two gunman fired' at Kennedy and that Kennedy 'was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy.' " As well as the use of a few very selectively drawn conclusions from the HSCA that duly support the 1964 Commission's conclusions, Gamaliel/Fernandez and those at Wikipedia who are supporting his policy of blanket censorship would have us believe that there have been absolutely no new developments in the ensuing 46+ years that would merit any direct mention in the LHO entry. This is strongly proven by an analysis of the footnotes. In an essay of over 150 references, 11 are from the HSCA – which was the most recent federal inquiry into the case. Two are from Tony Summers' book Not in Your Lifetime, and two references are to the work of Don Thomas on the acoustics evidence that indicates two gunmen. In other words, of the library of several hundred books criticizing the Commission, Gamaliel/Fernandez used exactly one. The crucial work of Sylvia Meagher, Howard Roffman, Philip Melanson, Bill Davy and John Newman do not exist for him or the readers of this essay. Which is bizarre, since it is largely that work that has placed the Warren Commission in disrepute to the point that Gamaliel/Fernnadez is one of the few who still believes it. But further, the work of Davy, Melanson, and Newman revolutionized the way we percieve Oswald. Which is not important to Gamaliel/Fernandez. The rest of the footnotes, about 90%, are to the Commission, and the likes of Gerald Posner, The Dallas Morning News, and Vincent Bugliosi. There is not one footnote to the files of Jim Garrison or the depositions of the Assassination Records and Review Board. In fact, the ARRB does not exist for Gamaliel/Fernandez. Which is stunning, since they enlarged the document base on Oswald and the Kennedy case by 100%. But since much of their work discredited the Commission, it gets the back of Gamaliel's/Fernandez's hand. If that Is not Orwellian, then what is?
Just how bad is Gamaliel's/Fernandez's work here? This is the third paragraph, which appears at the end of the introduction: "In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy, a conclusion also reached by prior investigations carried out by the FBI and Dallas Police." He leaves out the following: 1) Oswald never had a trial; 2) the Commission never furnished him with a lawyer posthumously; 3) the FBI report was so bad it was not included in the Commission volumes; and 4) even Burt Griffin of the Commission suspected the Dallas Police helped Jack Ruby enter the jail to kill Oswald. So much for the "investigations" of the FBI and the Dallas Police. This gives us a good idea of what the rest of the essay will be like.
http://www.ctka.net/2010/wiki.html
It includes the following passage:
From here on out to the end of the Wikipedia LHO entry, just about all of its information is in support of the Warren Commission Report's 1964 conclusions. With the exception of a very brief and dismissive mention of the House Select Committee on Assassination's (HSCA) 1979 assertion that there was a " 'high probability that two gunman fired' at Kennedy and that Kennedy 'was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy.' " As well as the use of a few very selectively drawn conclusions from the HSCA that duly support the 1964 Commission's conclusions, Gamaliel/Fernandez and those at Wikipedia who are supporting his policy of blanket censorship would have us believe that there have been absolutely no new developments in the ensuing 46+ years that would merit any direct mention in the LHO entry. This is strongly proven by an analysis of the footnotes. In an essay of over 150 references, 11 are from the HSCA – which was the most recent federal inquiry into the case. Two are from Tony Summers' book Not in Your Lifetime, and two references are to the work of Don Thomas on the acoustics evidence that indicates two gunmen. In other words, of the library of several hundred books criticizing the Commission, Gamaliel/Fernandez used exactly one. The crucial work of Sylvia Meagher, Howard Roffman, Philip Melanson, Bill Davy and John Newman do not exist for him or the readers of this essay. Which is bizarre, since it is largely that work that has placed the Warren Commission in disrepute to the point that Gamaliel/Fernnadez is one of the few who still believes it. But further, the work of Davy, Melanson, and Newman revolutionized the way we percieve Oswald. Which is not important to Gamaliel/Fernandez. The rest of the footnotes, about 90%, are to the Commission, and the likes of Gerald Posner, The Dallas Morning News, and Vincent Bugliosi. There is not one footnote to the files of Jim Garrison or the depositions of the Assassination Records and Review Board. In fact, the ARRB does not exist for Gamaliel/Fernandez. Which is stunning, since they enlarged the document base on Oswald and the Kennedy case by 100%. But since much of their work discredited the Commission, it gets the back of Gamaliel's/Fernandez's hand. If that Is not Orwellian, then what is?
Just how bad is Gamaliel's/Fernandez's work here? This is the third paragraph, which appears at the end of the introduction: "In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy, a conclusion also reached by prior investigations carried out by the FBI and Dallas Police." He leaves out the following: 1) Oswald never had a trial; 2) the Commission never furnished him with a lawyer posthumously; 3) the FBI report was so bad it was not included in the Commission volumes; and 4) even Burt Griffin of the Commission suspected the Dallas Police helped Jack Ruby enter the jail to kill Oswald. So much for the "investigations" of the FBI and the Dallas Police. This gives us a good idea of what the rest of the essay will be like.
Wednesday 14 July 2010
King George V complained about the singing of the Red Flag
In the 1923 General Election, the Labour Party won 191 seats. Although the Conservative Party had 258 seats, Herbert Asquith announced that the Liberal Party would not keep the Tories in office. If a Labour Government were ever to be tried in Britain, he declared, "it could hardly be tried under safer conditions". On 22nd January, 1924 Stanley Baldwin resigned. At midday, Ramsay MacDonald went to Buckingham Palace to be appointed prime minister. He later recalled how George V complained about the singing of the Red Flag and the La Marseilles, at the Labour Party meeting in the Albert Hall a few days before. MacDonald apologized but claimed that there would have been a riot if he had tried to stop it. Ramsay MacDonald agreed to head a minority government, and therefore became the first member of the party to become Prime Minister.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonald.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Plabour.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonald.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Plabour.htm
Monday 12 July 2010
Vernon Hartshorn and the First World War
During the First World War several Labour Party changed their views on international conflict in order to further their career. One such example was Vernon Hartshorn, a miner's leader in South Wales. Hartshorn supported the war effort and served on the coal trade organization committee, the coal controllers' advisory committee, and the industrial unrest committee in South Wales. His loyal support resulted in him being awarded the OBE in 1918.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUhartshorn.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUhartshorn.htm
Friday 9 July 2010
Guy Aldred and British Anarchism
Guy Aldred was a socialist who supported the Russian Revolution but disapproved of the way that Lenin and Bolsheviks closed down the Constituent Assembly and began banning political parties such as the Cadets, Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries.
On 31st July, 1920, a group of revolutionary socialists attended a meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel in London. The men and women were members of various political groups including the British Socialist Party (BSP), the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), Prohibition and Reform Party (PRP) and the Workers' Socialist Federation (WSF). It was agreed to form the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).
Willie Paul argued strongly against the strategy suggested by Lenin that the CPGB should develop a close-relationship with the Labour Party. "We of the Communist Unity Group feel our defeat on the question of Labour Party affiliation very keenly. But we intend to loyally abide by the decision of the rank and file convention." Aldred agreed:"Lenin's task compels him to compromise with all the elect of bourgeous society, whereas our task demands no compromise. And so we take different paths, and are only on the most distant speaking terms".
Aldred summarised the position in 1920: "I have no objection to an efficient and centralised party so long as the authority rests in the hands of the rank and file, and all officials can be sacked at a moment's notice. But I want the centralism to be wished for and evolved by the local groups, a slow merging of them into one party, from the bottorp upwards, as distinct from this imposition from the top downwards." He added: "It was hoped to create a communist federation out of those remaining groups. The principle of federation - a federation of communist groups developed voluntarily from below, rather than an imposed centralism from above - was always an important and consistent part of the anti-parliamentary movement's proposals for unity."
In 1921 Aldred established the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF), a breakaway group from the Communist Party of Great Britain. This became the main British anarchist group in Britain. He edited the organisation's newspaper, The Communist. The authorities began to invistigate this group and Aldred, Jenny Patrick, Douglas McLeish and Andrew Fleming were eventually arrested and charged with sedition. After being held in custody for nearly four months they appeared at Glasgow High Court on 21st June 1921. They were all found guilty. The Socialist reported: "Lord Skerrington then passed sentences: Guy Aldred, one year: Douglas McLeish three months: Jane Patrick, three months, Andrew Fleming (the printer), three months and a fine of £50, or another three months."
For more on Guy Aldred see:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPaldredG.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAanarchist.htm
On 31st July, 1920, a group of revolutionary socialists attended a meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel in London. The men and women were members of various political groups including the British Socialist Party (BSP), the Socialist Labour Party (SLP), Prohibition and Reform Party (PRP) and the Workers' Socialist Federation (WSF). It was agreed to form the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).
Willie Paul argued strongly against the strategy suggested by Lenin that the CPGB should develop a close-relationship with the Labour Party. "We of the Communist Unity Group feel our defeat on the question of Labour Party affiliation very keenly. But we intend to loyally abide by the decision of the rank and file convention." Aldred agreed:"Lenin's task compels him to compromise with all the elect of bourgeous society, whereas our task demands no compromise. And so we take different paths, and are only on the most distant speaking terms".
Aldred summarised the position in 1920: "I have no objection to an efficient and centralised party so long as the authority rests in the hands of the rank and file, and all officials can be sacked at a moment's notice. But I want the centralism to be wished for and evolved by the local groups, a slow merging of them into one party, from the bottorp upwards, as distinct from this imposition from the top downwards." He added: "It was hoped to create a communist federation out of those remaining groups. The principle of federation - a federation of communist groups developed voluntarily from below, rather than an imposed centralism from above - was always an important and consistent part of the anti-parliamentary movement's proposals for unity."
In 1921 Aldred established the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF), a breakaway group from the Communist Party of Great Britain. This became the main British anarchist group in Britain. He edited the organisation's newspaper, The Communist. The authorities began to invistigate this group and Aldred, Jenny Patrick, Douglas McLeish and Andrew Fleming were eventually arrested and charged with sedition. After being held in custody for nearly four months they appeared at Glasgow High Court on 21st June 1921. They were all found guilty. The Socialist reported: "Lord Skerrington then passed sentences: Guy Aldred, one year: Douglas McLeish three months: Jane Patrick, three months, Andrew Fleming (the printer), three months and a fine of £50, or another three months."
For more on Guy Aldred see:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPaldredG.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAanarchist.htm
Thursday 8 July 2010
Grace Roe and Christabel Pankhurst
In April 1913 Grace Roe became head of operations in London. Roe was arrested on 23rd May 1914. She went on hunger strike and was forcibly fed and was still in prison when on 4th August, when England declared war on Germany. A few days later the leadership of the WSPU began negotiating with the British government. On the 10th August the government announced it was releasing all suffragettes from prison.
In 1918 Grace Roe went to live with Annie Kenney in St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex. They remained together until Kenney, who was bisexual, fell in love James Taylor. Grace now went to live with Christabel Pankhurst. They eventually settled in Santa Barbara but later moved to Hollywood. They were still together when Christabel died at her home in Santa Monica on 13th February 1958 from a heart attack. Grace was appointed as her literary executor and was responsible for the publication of Christabel's memoirs, Unshackled: the Story of how we Won the Vote.
Grace Roe was interviewed by Anna Raeburn for BBC's Woman's Hour in 1968. This can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wroe.htm
Other interviews can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpankhurstC.htm
In 1918 Grace Roe went to live with Annie Kenney in St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex. They remained together until Kenney, who was bisexual, fell in love James Taylor. Grace now went to live with Christabel Pankhurst. They eventually settled in Santa Barbara but later moved to Hollywood. They were still together when Christabel died at her home in Santa Monica on 13th February 1958 from a heart attack. Grace was appointed as her literary executor and was responsible for the publication of Christabel's memoirs, Unshackled: the Story of how we Won the Vote.
Grace Roe was interviewed by Anna Raeburn for BBC's Woman's Hour in 1968. This can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wroe.htm
Other interviews can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpankhurstC.htm
Margaret and Ramsay MacDonald
In May 1895 Margaret Gladstone saw Ramsay MacDonald addressing an audience during his campaign to win the Southampton seat in the 1895 General Election. She noted that his red tie and curly hair made him look "horribly affected". However, she sent him a £1 contribution to his election fund. A few days later she became one of his campaign workers. MacDonald, along with the other twenty-seven Independent Labour Party candidates, was defeated and overall, the party won only 44,325 votes.
The following year they began meeting at the Socialist Club in St. Bride Street and at the British Museum, where they both had readers' tickets. In April 1896 she joined the ILP. In a letter she admitted that before she met him she had been terribly lonely: "But when I think how lonely you have been I want with all my heart to make up to you one tiny little bit for that. I have been lonely too - I have envied the veriest drunken tramps I have seen dragging about the streets if they were man and woman because they had each other... This is truly a love letter: I don't know when I shall show it you: it may be that I never shall. But I shall never forget that I have had the blessing of writing it."
You can read their moving love letters here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonaldM2.htm
Margaret MacDonald died on 8th September 1911, at her home, Lincoln's Inn Fields, from blood poisoning due to an internal ulcer. Her body was cremated at Golders Green on 12th September and the ashes were buried in Spynie Churchyard, a few miles from Lossiemouth. Her son, Malcolm MacDonald, later recalled: "At the time of my mother's death... my father's grief was absolutely horrifying to see. Her illness and her death had a terrible effect on him of grief; he was distracted; he was in tears a lot of time when he spoke to us... it was almost frightening to a youngster like myself."
An account of how this changed her career can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonald.htm
The following year they began meeting at the Socialist Club in St. Bride Street and at the British Museum, where they both had readers' tickets. In April 1896 she joined the ILP. In a letter she admitted that before she met him she had been terribly lonely: "But when I think how lonely you have been I want with all my heart to make up to you one tiny little bit for that. I have been lonely too - I have envied the veriest drunken tramps I have seen dragging about the streets if they were man and woman because they had each other... This is truly a love letter: I don't know when I shall show it you: it may be that I never shall. But I shall never forget that I have had the blessing of writing it."
You can read their moving love letters here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonaldM2.htm
Margaret MacDonald died on 8th September 1911, at her home, Lincoln's Inn Fields, from blood poisoning due to an internal ulcer. Her body was cremated at Golders Green on 12th September and the ashes were buried in Spynie Churchyard, a few miles from Lossiemouth. Her son, Malcolm MacDonald, later recalled: "At the time of my mother's death... my father's grief was absolutely horrifying to see. Her illness and her death had a terrible effect on him of grief; he was distracted; he was in tears a lot of time when he spoke to us... it was almost frightening to a youngster like myself."
An account of how this changed her career can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonald.htm
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