Britain 1914-1929 - Crisis and recovery

• LG in coalition with Conservatives under BL - re-elected December 1918.
• LG PM but Conservatives biggest party.
• Opposition weak -  Asquith Libs only 28  - Labs main opposition
• Sinn Fein won 73 seats - refused to participate - unofficial  Dail  in Dublin.
•  Peacetime coalitions rare in British politics
• War coalition patriotic and effective - united nation working together
• Hard political reality - LG needed Cons to stay in power. - prepared to support LG - 'the man who won the war' - reputation as social reformer would stave off political extremism
• LG in weak position - power rested on former enemies - would have support as long as he was successful  
• Cons could withdraw backing once wartime spirit ended
• LG had no political base - leader of one wing of divided party in decline.
• Radical instincts for social reform - promises i.e. 'homes fit for heroes' - carrying out policies difficult 
• ‘Coupon election' was disaster for Libs and LG.

• B4 1914;
  •  Competition from Germany and USA
  • growth TU movement
  •  Home Rule for Ireland
• war
  • government debt
  • Dislocation of trade and industry
  • Demobilising 5 mil> men.
• Had to confront issues while negotiating post-war peace settlement
• Failure of Staple industries
  • Cotton industry found it difficult to win back pre-war trading position & coal mines inneed of modernisation.

• Sankey Commission -  recommended nationalisation - Cons opposed it
• Unrest in coalfields and TUs stronger and > militant. - Membership had doubled - £4 mill > 8 mil 1914-1920 - large unions -  amalgamation -Transport and General Workers Union
• Police strike in Liverpool & riots in Glasgow 1919
• May 1920 - dockers refused to load weapons used against Bolsheviks in Russian Civil 
• May 1920 - dockers refused to load weapons used against Bolsheviks in Russian Civil War - 'Hands off Russia' campaign
• April 1921 - national miners' strike - owners cut wage rates.
• Threat of general strike - 1921 Emergency Powers Act -
• Addison's Housing Act 1919 - 200,000> 'council houses' for WC
• Fisher's Education Act 1918 - >ed school leaving age to 14 - promised part time education to 18
• Pensions extended - war widows’ pensions introduced
• New National Insurance Act - extended unemployment benefit to xtra 8 mil workers
• Costs & war debts - financial pressure
• ‘Geddes Axe’ 1921 - proposed £86 mil cuts - LG promise of 'land fit for heroes' betrayed

• Coalition contained talented politicians e.g. A.J. Balfour and Winston Churchill.
• New ministries for health and transport set up
• Churchill took responsibility for demobilisation - carried through in 1919 without much more unemployment
• Economy switched war production to peacetime
• Controls over prices rents and profits ended.
• Rationing gradually ended
• railways returned to private ownership and reorganised into four companies for greater efficiency
• coal industry was re-privatised
• Brief post-war boom
• 1921 unemployment = 2 mil

• Home Rule Bill  due to be law 1921 - divisions in Ireland intense
• Irish Nats overtaken by Sinn Fein (‘Ourselves Alone’)
• 1916 Easter Rising regarded as heroes and martyrs
• British rule directly challenged by setting up of Dail in Dublin and rise of IRA.
•  Anglo-Irish War 1919-1921 - 'Black and Tans' vs IRA.
• 1920 - Government of Ireland Act - Partitioned Ireland - Unionist rule in north & autonomy to Catholic nationalist south - council of Ireland
•  Accepted by unionists - Province of Northern Ireland created - parliament in Belfast 
•  Sinn Fein rejected act – wanted complete independence
• LG proposed second solution - Anglo-Irish Treaty - Irish Free State
•  LG persuaded Sinn Fein that although Ulster remained separate it would be so small and unviable it would soon join united Ireland. 
•  Sinn Fein signed but opened up deep divisions among Nationalists - minority in Sinn Fein lead by Eamon de Valera rejected

• Civil war between 'pro' and 'anti' treaty until 1922 - victory for de Valera & murder of Michael Collins - borders fixed but leaders of Irish Free State claimed sovereignty over all of Ireland until 2007
• LG fiercely criticised Anglo-Irish War, civil war south & emergence of oppresiveregime in North Ire
• Libs and Labs appalled by methods of 'Black and Tans' + Cons & Unionists never forgave LG for Ireland from B

• BL resigned May 1921 - LG's relations with Cons
• 1922 - 'Honours Scandal' - accused of selling peerages to finance own party
•  'Chanak Affair' - LG accused of ordering British troops into action without consulting coalition
•  Cons felt they would be better off without LG - victory in Newport by-election 
• Meeting at Carlton Club in October 1922 - key speeches by Baldwin & BL - voted to fight the next election alone - LG resigned & coalition ended.
•  Conservatives won election November 1922.
• LG Libs and Asquithian Liberals won 116 seats  in total  
• Lab = 142
• King George V wrote LG would be PM again - never happened - reunited Libs 1926 but career over.

• Labs became main opposition to Cons - minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1923-4 & 1929 - dependent on support from other parties
• 8 months> - BL ill & resigned - succeeded by Baldwin
•  called general election December 1923 & Ramsay MacDonald became 1st Lab PM 1924.
• dependant on Lib support but passed reforms,
  • >ed pensions & unemployment benefi
  •    Wheatley's Housing Act 1924 -  500,000 council houses built in 10 years
  •   set up a committee on future of secondary education.
• Only lasted 10 months - Libs withdrew support & Labs accused of being 'soft on Communism' - Row over trade deal with USSR.
• Campbell case - communist journalist urged men in armed forces to disobey orders if sent to put down general strike - MacDonald's failed to act & resigned.
• October 1924 general election - 3rd in <2 years
• dominated by Lab's links to communist - 'Zinoviev Letter' published 4 days B4 election - exploited by Cons - damaged Lab's campaign
• Lab's share of vote >ed but Cons won &  Libs 3rd 

• Degree of economic recovery and Baldwin was successful in projecting an image of calmness and stability despite underlying economic problems and industrial unrest.
• Staple industries in decline
  • 50% Britain's GNP 
  • ¼  of employment and 
  •  ¾  of exports B4 1914
• 10-15% unemployment - share of world export trade <ed 18% > 11%
•  Drop in value of overseas investments - struggling to pay for imports.
•  USA became world moneylender so $ displaced  £ as world's major currency
•  New industries of 'Second Industrial Revolution' - chemicals, motor vehicles, electrical goods and canned foods - were growing at a fast pace.
• Motor car production by mid-1920s was three times better than 1913.
•  Central Electricity Generating Board in 1926 and development of National Grid brought a new and more flexible form of power to industry and homes.
• Output per worker increased.
• 1923 and 1929, overall economic growth was faster than before 1914.
•  The service sector grew due to spread of retailing, road transport, mass entertainment and administration.
•  Rising living standards
•  Million jobs created in service sector during 1920s

• New industries of 'Second Industrial Revolution' - chemicals, motor vehicles, electrical goods and canned foods - were >ing at fast pace.
• Motor car production mid-1920s was >ed X3 than 1913.
• Central Electricity Generating Board 1926 & National Grid brought - new & flexible power to industry and homes.
• Output per worker increased - 1923-1929 economic growth was faster than <1914.
•  service sector grew due to spread of retailing, road transport, mass entertainment and administration. millions of new jobs - rising living standards 

Conservatives 1922-3

• Trade - Baldwin proposed tariff reform to protect British industry from foreign competition.

Labour 1923-4

• Trade
  • The Labour government signed trade treaty with Soviet Russia to revive Anglo-Russian trade.
  •  MacDonald negotiated Dawes Plan 1924 and Young Plan 1929
  • Aimed to restore Germany as trading partner by easing burden of reparations.
• Unemployment
  •   Aimed to create jobs by public spending on roads, council houses, etc
  •    Labour government launched public works programme
• Industry - Subsidies were extended to imperial Airways
• Trade - Pre-war rate of pound to gold and other currencies
  • Winston Churchill put Britain back on  Gold Standard in 1925 

• Demand for British coal fell due - foreign competition & use of substitutes 
• old and inefficient & Short of investment.
• 1913 - dockers, miners and railwaymen formed 'triple alliance'
•  miners wanted coal industry to be nationalised  - re-privatised after war 
• Major strikes & lockouts in 1919, 1920 & 1925.
• 1925 - Britain back on Gold Standard at pre-1914 exchange rate - too high -  exports too expensive.
• owners called for further wage cuts and longer working hours, but the miners rejected these demands - threatened a lockout.
•  Baldwin subsidise miners' wages & owners' profits for 9 months - nicknamed 'Red Friday'.
• Samuel Commission - rejected nationalisation and wage cuts essential to save jobs but reorganisation of mines
• Owners declared that 1 May 1926>  miners would be locked out unless they accepted wage cuts & longer hours - government subsidies ended in April 1926
• 'Not a penny off the pay, not a second on the day.'

• Miners appealed to the TUC for support - 1 May - decided to call on strike for miners' case.
• Balwin failed to reach a compromise or shown a greater willingness to talk to the TUC
• 1921 Emergency Powers Act - state of emergency
• abruptly ended talks with  TUC after unofficial strike at Daily Mail the day before

• May 1926 - Coal, iron, steel, chemical and newspaper industries ceased production.
• Ships were neither loaded nor unloaded.
• Railway trains, the London Underground & bus services stopped running.
•  Government sent soldiers and armoured cars into London & warships sent into Clyde, Tyne and Mersey.
• Lasted 9 days 
• Term 'General Strike' controversial - began with a lockout by employers
• 3 million workers involved - fraction of total workforce.
• Baldwin: 'a challenge to parliament and a step on the road to ruin' (British Gazette, 6 May 1926).
• General Council of Trade Union Congress: 'no challenge to the constitution, the TUC is engaged in an industrial dispute' (British Worker, 11 May 1926).

• Emergency Powers Act - Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies - 100,000 volunteer workers to move essential supplies.
• Baldwin argued General Strike was a threat to British constitution - won public sympathy -  turned issue away from miners' grievances to question of who ruled Britain
• ·   Put Churchill in British Gazette - fought a relentless campaign to undermine support for the strike - played on general desire to avoid violence and disorder.
• TUC stressed need for striking workers to behave
• Herbert Smith and A. J. Cook turned public opinion against them - refused to compromise
• Called General Strike off - miners continued fought alone - had to accept wage cuts and longer working hours
• Failures in TUC leadership - only began preparations <1 week - no national system for coordinating strike action
• Newspapers were closed when TUC called print workers out on strike

• TUC published British Worker - too late 
• TUC divided moderates like J. H. Thomas against General Strike - A. J. Cook wanted to bring down government.
•  TUC had hoped that threat of general strike would be enough - left struggling to find a way out
• General Strike did not harm the unions or the Labour Party as much as expected
• 1927 government passed Trades Disputes Act - limitations on unions & outlawed 'sympathy' strikes.
• Ramsay MacDonald refused to involve Labs strike - image of moderation - helped Labour to win 1929 election.
• unions were strengthened - allowed moderate union leaders to come to forefront - wanted a better deal for their members by negotiating with the employers.

• Baldwin's reputation based on ability to reassure party and people that everything was under control
•  Handling of miners' strike dramatic example of his style
• Leader of Cons for 14 years and PM 3x 1922 -1937 
• Criticised for putting Britain back on Gold Standard in 1925
• Did have successes; set up BBC, built new houses, range of reforms in local government, widows' pensions and health
•  Equal Franchise Act - equal voting rights for woman 1928.
• Cons lost power 1929 general election
• Labs grew after 1924> - MacDonald distanced party leadership from TU movement - >ed party's electoral appeal
• Labour’s programme 'Labour and the Nation' aimed at cautious reform - gained new seats 
• 288 seats vs. Conservatives' 260 & Liberals' 59
• Largest party in Commons for 1st time - MacDonald formed 2nd government.