Britain Flashcards
Constitutional Crisis
Liberals proposed the radical peoples budget that aimed to fund welfare programs with higher taxes on rich people - The House of Lords vetoed the act which went against an existing convention that they wouldn’t veto financial acts
Asquith wanted to resolve this through peoples peers however the Existing king died and George V wasn’t willing to agree to this
In 1910 the General election happened and the Libs only won through the support of Labour and Irish nationals who demanded Home rule in exchange for support.
Was Resolved when the Houses came to compromise that the Lords could only veto non financial bills 3 times then it would be let through
Significant Change in Politics - Elected House now much more Powerful =
Communism
Communist party in Britain
formed in 1920 - Sylvia Pankhurst was a member as well as some Labour MPs
Membership peaked at 16000 in 1939 as feeling of sympathy for the left wing in Spain as well as the Rise of Fascist Hitler
2 Communists were elected to Parliament but lost their Seats, a third was Willy Gallagher who was elected in 35’ and stayed til 50’
never Polled more than 5% of the vote in any constituent
Reasons for low Support - Instructions from Moscow urged them to infiltrate other parties and work together but none would work with them
Was only Strong in a few locations - South wales, Tyneside, and East End
Communists were arrested in 1926 for treason and the movement was discredited by propaganda and association with Zinoviev Letter
The General Strike showed limits to Radical activity
International developments shocked Communists and non-communists - Nazi and Soviet non aggression pact and Stalin Purges
Fascism
Growth -
While some aspects such as racial persecution didn’t gain favour other parts did - imperialism, white supremacy, discipline and National efficiency and the Impact of the Depression attracted some to Fascism
Oswald Mosley founded the British Union of Fascists in 1932, he modelled it off of the Blackshirt’s and organised songs, rallies and banners
Press was sympathetic to them especially those owned by Lord Rothermere, Membership peaked at 50,000 in 1934
In June 1934 violence broke out at a rally in Olympia which led to a loss of Support and withdrawal of Lord Rothermere
Membership never went above 20,000 in 1939
Low Support
2nd Labour Govt 1929-1931 Economy
Minority Govt - 59 Liberal held balance of power
Depression hit during this period
Snowden as Economic minister, Bonfield as first women cabinet member
Dramatic fall in world trade $6.9 to $2.7 Billion - Damaged staple industries
Snowden wanted Austerity - cutting public spending to maintain confidence in pound and keep inflation down - hoped confidence would return and put money in British banks
No deficit financing
Refused to Cut unemployment until 1931
1) Cut production, 1930 Coal mines act - regulation of production and sale of coal, set quotas and minimum price, Coal mines Re-organisation commission - to force inefficient mines to close, working day limited to 7.5 hours, Agriculture marketing act - allowed farmers to form boards to regulate production and prices but the act was only permissive, Hop farmers did form the hop marketing boards in 1932 and succeeded in raising prices but prices fell again in 1934.
2) Public Works - reluctant to fund large scale public works, Development Loan and Colonial Loan acts 1929 - provided £42million for public works at home and across empire, was some house building and Hyde park lido was built using public money
3)Oswald Mosely proposed Mosely memorandum - Extensive public works by borrowing, Protective tariffs, Introduce pensions at 60 and raise school leaving age to shrink workforce, Cabinet opposed it due to expense and inflation, Snowden feared the public would think it was socialism
RMD think tank - recommended spending money on public works, Snowden once again disagreed and went with austerity
2nd Labour Govt - 1931+
RMD takes control, spent time setting up commissions and committees, lack of policy, however scale of depression was unprecedented
Two Leading Banks collapsed (Austrian and German), Britain had lent money to keep them afloat.
Bank of Geneva collapsed, foreign investors started withdrawing their money in gold
Raised interest rates, Reserves fell to £133m, Needed loans to prevent whole system from collapsing
Government would have to make cuts
May committee - feared a £120 million deficit, recommended a 20% cut in benefits, Snowden proposed borrowing money then cutting unemployment to balance budget Feared a run on the pound, 1/4 of gold reserves were gone.
Fear that there would be a devaluation of the £ or forced off gold, potential disasters of the economy,
RMD and Snowden came to conclusion that significant cuts were needed to restore confidence in economy, talk of a coalition.
National Govt - Why and HOw
Aug 19th - Cabinet discussed cutting 56m
Aug 20th - RMD met Lib leader and Baldwin, Snowden wanted 78m of cuts but Tuc nor labour national executive would accept said bankers ramp
Aug 21st - Cabinet agreed to 56m
Aug 22nd - RMD insisted not enough compromised on 68.5m
Aug 23rd - RMD told king 78m was need but cabinet opposed, opposition leaders were called to see king and agreed to a coalition, met cabinet again who narrowly voted for further 10m cuts, RMD lost control of cabinet and resigned, Cabinet expected a lib con cabinet but convinced RMD to stay and form a national govt
Aug 24th - King met the lib and con leaders who assured him that they would support coalition, without telling cabinet or party RMD resigned then formed new national govt with him as PM
WHY - Lab unable to deal with causes and impact of Depression, RMD lost confidence in party, Con and Lib willing to work in coalition, King George played a part, Public opinion favoured idea of a coalition, Britain had had effective coalitions previously, RMD’s govt was a minority govt and unlikely to have lasted long anyways
National Govt - How national
An emergency govt, Four members of labour cabinet, two Con and two Lib
Economy act - made the cuts needed to secure foreign loans and keep on gold, passed by only 61 votes
Case to reduce Dole payments due to falling prices
2nd run on the pound due to Invergordon mutiny, forced Britain off gold, called for an election
Each party had its own program but national parties dominated con won 470 seats
NG had broad support across the country, re-elected in 1925 with a majority
Con - Able to take RMD prisoner as to blame policy on him, managed to implement tariffs, Neville chamberlain became chancellor, Tories were the dominant party, Allowed Baldwin to side-line radical members of his party
Abdication Crisis
Monarch had political influence (1924 Coalition)
Head of commonwealth and empire, head of church
1936 Edward VIII was in a relationship with Wallis Simpson (divorcee) and he wanted to marry her but there were fears within the govt about the king and his wife
Edward was considered politically indiscrete - made comments about unemployed and poor, sympathetic to fascist govts
Divorce frowned upon
Edward might be tempted to replace Baldwin with his friend Churchill Archbishop was opposed to the marriage - how could edward marry her and still be supreme head of the church
Edward was popular with the public
A compromise could have been reached with Simpson as his mistress but he was determined to marry her.
Baldwin asked king to consider impact on country and empire, Baldwin advising king that the Cabinet wouldn’t approve a morganatic marriage, Dec 10 the King abdicated in favour of his younger brother
Victory for Baldwin, he had removed a potential enemy and pushed the kings supporters further from the spotlight and allowed easier passing of policy on India and appeasement
Foreign affairs 1929-1839
Ten year rule - no war for ten years and foreign and defence policies would be guided by that, post 1929 brought about rise of extremism 1931-Japan invades Manchuria
1933-Germany withdraws from disarmament talks in Geneva and league of nations
1935-Germany began conscription and naval expansion in defiance of the TofV, Italy invades Abyssinia
1936-German troops remilitarised Rhineland
1938-Germany united under Anschluss and Sudetenland
1939-Germany seized remaining of CZ in march and invaded Poland in Sept
There was an Consensus that Britain should avoid conflict at all cost, reliance on collective security (League of Nations) and/or individual deals with aggressor countries
Baldwin made the Anglo-German Naval treaty (1935) which allowed Germany to increase the size of its navy
Hoare-Laval Pact = Handed a large chunk of Abyssinia to Italy caused a degree of outrage at home and Hoare was forced to resign - Italy went on to occupy the whole of Abyssinia in 1936
Appeasement
Foreign policy pursued by Chamberlain that aimed at Germany in order to prevent war
Met Hitler 3 times in sept 1938 resulting in German annexation of Sudetenland and a vague promise of no more annexation
This was changed after the German occupation of Prague in March 1939 after which Britain declared war
The public was very supportive of Appeasement, there was great acclaim after the Munich agreement - Fear of another WW, People put their faith in the league, growing belief that Germany had been harshly treated by TofV, Fear of USSR, Cost of rearmament was high at a time of depression, welfare spending should be priority
How did Foreign policy affect domestic politics
Very little -
little division between parties on issue of appeasement and rearmament
Collective outrage at the treatment of Abyssinia
Winston Churchill was starting to gain steam again and it urged for more rigorous rearmament against Germany
Most politicians supported Appeasement upto and beyond the outbreak,
View of this period has been coloured by hindsight
