interwar year politics Flashcards
Ball + Holliday on the reason for Tory success
“for the mass of the population it seemed obvious that the facts of life are Tory”. they were the “natural party of government
Conservative organisation in Scotland
1874- Scotsman commented that “conservative clubs and working men’s Conservative Associations have sprung up like mushrooms”. 500 attended meetings of Glasgow Conservative Association and the Glasgow association’s membership grew to 6.8k in 1884
Middleton Machine
started in 1892
reconstructed the Conservative headquarters- introduced a network of full time agents to collect info on constituencies and candidates and full term organising secretaries. by 1900, they worked in 7 Glasgow constituencies and 12 of them covered Edinburgh’s 17 constituencies and the St Andrew’s uni seat
Social events organised by the Conservatives
founded draughts and cards clubs from 1886 and ball states that this presented Conservative propaganda ‘disguised with a coating of popular entertainment’
Women’s Liberal unionist association for the west of Scotland
formed 1888
by 1894 had 15 organisers, canvassers and clerks and in 1900 August, had £7.3k promised to the special election fund
Glasgow Conservatives and registration activities
between 1896-99, canvassing returns number of 1,037 in Kilmarnock and 850 in Coatbridge
Shropshire’s significance as an electoral region
2nd in importance for the main farmworker’s union
the NFU
rural institution post WW1 which reinforced “Shropshire paternalism and Conservative domination of the country”
1918 election, ran candidates in Worcestershire, Leominster focusing on the difficulties facing tenant farmers
Brighter villages campaign
aided by the NFU
1922
revived ploughing matches and introduced sheepdog trials and hedging competitions. this maintained a “loyalist consensus” and fostered engagement
Women’s rural institutions
est. from 1917
engaged in fruit bottling, folk dancing, and spread Empire day celebrations - tea parties given by local womens institutions on the day and hold sporting competitions and sing the national Anthem in front of the union jack
‘the comrades of the Great war’
est by Conservatives- successfully destabilised a similar radical organisation links to the Labour party- National federation of discharged and demobilised soldiers and sailors through propaganda which emphasised the pacifism of the ILP
British legion
1920- merged the comrades of the great war and the national federation of discharged and demobilised soldiers. carried out village war memorials which supposedly united the village under shared grief
Conservative press in Shropshire
Shrewsbury chronicle the main weekly farmer’s journal was owned by Tory Mp Beville Stanier
Labour events in Shropshire
the largest one, based in Ludlow, amassed a crowd of 100
Conservative meetings in Shropshire
Junior Imperial league had 600 attendees at its 1924 dinner and in 1926 it claimed to have 1.5k members
housing under the Baldwin Government
1924-9 2/3 of all housing and half of that privately built was state subsidised following an estimated shortfall of 800k houses in 1920s despite promise of homes fit for heroes
Ideal Homes exhibition
organised by the Daily Mail
first held 1908, by 1930s it was attracting 700k visitors
Mortgages in Birmingham
1935- Birmingham’s municipal bank awarded 13k mortgages- reflected belief I Tory slogan “every man is his own landlord”
council housing in Conservative regions
5/7 counties building more municipal than private housing 1921-1931 were within the Conservative’s midlands union and 3 fell in Chamberlain’s heartlands- Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire where council houses contributed to more than 10% if the housing stock
Chamberlain on housing
1933 on a council estate in the outskirts of Birmingham- made a speech promising houses as the burden was good if it meant that “fellow citizens were living lives of human beings, not of wild beasts”
radio licences
1922-1939. radio licences increased from 36k to 8.9 million
How many of the electorate listened to electoral broadcasts in 1935
1/3 to 1/2
Conservative party film department
Conservative central office had its own film unit and was taken over by Sir Henry Clavering
Daylight cinema
first deployed in 1925
Cinema van tour April-November 1926. 31 weeks long costing £40 a week for the part to maintain
special 4 pm viewing for school children and Ball states that in a village of 600, 400 would attend
by 1935, the party had 10 vans
1926 General strike
Conservatives asked ‘loyal citizens’ to join a defence force and 75k did within 10 days
the TUC and Labour failed to ever demonstrate that the strike was constitutional
“roly-poly revolution’ play depicted strikes as damaging for the home physically and financially” and as a tool of community leaders
when was the Tory- Liberal coalition
1918
why was the Tory-Liberal coalition formed according to Kenneth Morgan
anti-socialist
broad economic strategy that appealed to working, middle and upper classes
Class divides due to government debt post WW1
Masterman wrote of middle-class attitudes to the holders of government debt- in 2 half-yearly slums the government pays out on interest on over 6 thousand million pounds, owned by men who stay at home while the war was won
Coalition tax policy
Excess profits duty which at its peak was levied at 60% of profits deemed above normal. survived until 1921
Anti-waste movement
led by the press condemning wasteful public expenditure- Coalition gov only served the interests of Shirkers. Anti-spending independents won Wrekin by-election 1920 and Dover in 1921 and in 1921 2 official anti-waste candidates won Hertford and St George’’s Westminster form MPs in the coalition government
Labour post-war Tax policy
capital levy- tax on wealth. a levy on equities and fixed interest stock designed to pay off a substantial part of the national debt
abandoned and so hard to view it as a producers party
Baldwin’s support of Tariffs
declared in 1922 that he supported tariff protection for domestic industries
led to contest: Beaverbrook and Rotherham wanted imperial preference
Salisbury and Lord Cecil wanted free trade
Labour-Liberal coalition
Asquith neglected to form a coalition with Labour, yet did place them in power in 1923. McKibbin said that MacDonald made coalition difficult because “he spent much of his time complaining of the parliamentary behaviour of the liberals and of their general impossibility”
Conservatives and the constitution
McKibbin- Conservatives of the 1920s can best be understood as the party of the constitution- directly presenting themselves as the anti-socialist party
Churchill epitomised Baldwin’s constitutionalism- stood in in 1924 general election, stood in Epping as a constitutionalist and joined Baldwin’s second government
Pugh on working class Conservative support
monarchical enthusiasm, state hostility, Empire, militant protestantism to name a few and this was reflected in the Tory gambling societies, music halls, horse racing and the primrose league
Labour and conscription bill
no clear policy- 8 voted for it, 13 against
1918 Labour seats in London
4
1918 how many labour seats, and how many of these were mining towns
33 of 57 seats
Home and politics
1923-30 magazine offprint from the general party magazine
by 1929 it was circulating to 200k, outselling its male version- ‘man on the street’
One-off election Conservative publication for women
1929 women of today and tomorrow
Mrs Maggs quote to Betty
“hanging out clothes during changeable weather is as risky as voting liberal”
“free trade means allowing people to steal flowers from your garden”
acted our by constituency women’s societies in full dress
First female Conservative MP complaints
in 1923 “i have tried for 5 years to get the Conservative party right on the position of women. I have never been to a conference where I have not been treated more like a poor relation”
A pretty kettle of fish
a play for patriots
Mrs Barker claims the dole for herself and pays for her unemployed husband who is left to look after the child. the child is consequently neglected. depicting women as successfully combing domestic duties and political activity however only when they put the former first
A word to women
1931 leaflet claiming Labour were headed for bankruptcy and that if any woman were in the same position she would “cut down her expenses and live within her means”- this showed appreciation for female financial competence which justified Conservatives austerity
MacDonald v Baldwin- radio
MacDonald unlike Baldwin did not change his speech for the radio and was a platform orator which he continued when on the radio. He also used abstract phrases- didn’t speak normally unlike Baldwin who spoke in normal and simple English without speaking down
Labour party’s attempts to extend beyond the working class
party of the ‘productive classes’
or the national party- nation takes control of the economy
1923 election
Baldwin called early as confident but lost as became the election of free trade so Liberals put the Labour party into power as the biggest free-trade party, however, didn’t form an official coalition. it cemented the tories as the anti-socialist party
1924 general election
Tories had greater majority than they had in the Khaki election with Liberals favouring Tories 2:1 but Labour vote increased from 30 to 33%
1929 election
Tories lost 2 million votes and Liberal vote increased by 6%- not clear that Labour’s success was the other party’s failure and Liberals unemployment centred election campaign failed with them winning larger support from the employed
Trade unions and the Labour party
Labour party designed by Unions but rarely used by them. they according to McKibbin, prioritised industrial action over political action and wanted to retain their ability to have free collective bargaining and extra-legal privileges- act independently of parliament and since most Labour members were trad unionists, most of the party’s members had the “same ambivalence to the party as their leaders
Trade union opposition to welfare
Ernest Bevin, general secretary of transport and general worker’s union- largest and fastest-growing union- was opposed to state intervention in the economy such as family allowances
TUC and the Labour party on free trade
1930- Labour politician and trad unionist tried to get the TUC general council to adopt protectionism but it was defeated 17 to 5 and was reaffirmed in 1931
discontent with Labour leaders
MacDonald, Snowden and Thomas defected to the national party taking few Labour politicians with them, the 2 of the big 5 remaining, Clynes and Henderson lost their seats
1934 Tory economic policy
restored benefit cuts and cuts to salaries- prior to the general election so change in policy according to McKibbin, made those who had not yet benefitted from the national government believe that they were going to
Growth in press
paper duty abolished in 1861 and stamp tax abolished on newspapers in 1853
1896- Daily mail created by Harmsworth brothers. by 1900 had 1 mill readers. 1903 Daily mirror created
1895 electoral results for Tories
clearly not working-class party- out of the 95 predominantly working-class seats, Tories only won 30
Divide on economic policy in Labour Party during GD
Llyod George, Keynes and Mosely wanted defecit spending to stimulate the economy, Snowden refused
Mosely also publically called for public control of imports and banking and increase to pensions in 1930
Unemployment insurance Act 1930
Labour policy
increased expenditure on the insurance funds prevent more unemployed from having to turn to poor relief, bringing 170k into benefit
Widows and Old age Pensions Act
Amended by Labour to extend to widows between 55-70 and furthered cover for hundreds of thousands
unemployment Insurance Act (1929)
unemployed no longer had to prove that they were ‘genuinely seeking work’ to be eligible to unemployment benefits and it increased the allowances of dependents
National Health Insurance Act
1930
extended healthcare insurance to those unemployed males whose insurance had run out
reason for Labour resignation 1931
To receive loans from NY, they had to implement austerity measures such as the e10% reduction on the dole. 9 rejected it and 11 accepted as could not form a conclusive decison
