Thursday 31 October 2019

I am the Old Pagan at Samhain..hail to the Crone....

  I am the old politicaI Pagan at Samhain.. it is Samhain the day of the Crone. The Pagan in me celebrates the Celtic new year, the Marxist in me looks at the hidden agendas and the myriad false consciousness promoted by those in power, the Green in me sees another turning of the wheel of the year. As the old dark lady takes us individually and collectively into our Shadow and our Id she takes us to the dark side of the moon and we are haunted by out prejudices, our regrets and our denials. We are confronted by those who have slipped beyond the veil, we hear in our heads words said, words unsaid and words we should never uttered to those who live on this side. As patriarchy is confronted with its consequences both consciously and unconsciously, psychologically and politically we know that it is no accident that patriarchy triumphed at the time of the invention of slavery and of the domestication of animals. It was a time when patriarchy supplanted matriarchy. Samhain should and always be an uncomfortable time for men and the authoritarians who rule over us. From the Bullingdon bully to the Abrahamic Sky Fathers this is and should be the time when our hearts trouble us and our memories disturb the fixed personas we live through . 



As the Tory Party and Brexit Party becomes parodies of unreconstructed masculinity, in all its ontological insecurity and epistemological ignorance we all look at the themes, tropes and theories of finest organic Gammon. As they march to independence day and getting their country back we hear the footfalls of the corporate chiefs of big pharma echoing down the corridors of the high mandarins of Whitehall The Crone shows us all what may be, what is, what could be and what she would ask us to know and do. As the Tory bullies howl at Corbyns green Grenfell tie we see their hearts and minds. She offers us generational change and asks dare we take it? She is the Crone who weighs our hearts and asks us the deep questions that we run from. The uncomfortable realisations confront us and challenge us daily . As the abuse on social media rises to new heights and projections and displacements flow in legion from the Freudian stable of defence mechanisms. In Samhain, on nearly November in dark mornings and darker evenings the hours lessen and the old Dark Lady passes amongst and between us. As Mike Ashley and the Duke of Westminster are called out for their crassness, their brutality and their greed we see what society has become. But however essential this calling out is we must not forget the fascistpsych within us all that is so difficult to exorcise, confront and explain. The Crone helps us here and leads us to integration and hope. All hail on Samhain to the Triple will ..up to the Goddess, down to the God . Across to the waves and into my heart . I am the old Pagan at Samhain and I am coming for you Boris Johnson.



Wednesday 30 October 2019

Lacan, Psychoanalysis and Dylan Thomas.... books by Dr Rhian Barfoot


Over 40 years ago I discovered the poetry of Dylan Thomas. My English teacher at Dynevor School in Swansea would not teach it as he claimed it was too difficult. At that time I was in a relationship with a woman who was studying Dylan Thomas for A level.  It might have been my hormone soaked mind and body that saw the Psychoanalysis and raw Lacanian Sexuality within the poetry. I discovered some weeks ago several books by Dr Rhian Barfoot that intellectually and analytically  provided an approach to this aspect of this works of Thomas. I am now 61 and can look back over the events of the late 70s. I recommend Rhian's books as an important analysis of the poetry that provides far more than narrow aspects of Chapel Culture that Thomas despised so much.


Obsessional does not necessarily mean sexual obsession, not even obsession for this, or for that in particular; to be an obsessional means to find oneself caught in a mechanism, in a trap increasingly demanding and endless. Jacques Lacan
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jacques-lacan-quotes
Obsessional does not necessarily mean sexual obsession, not even obsession for this, or for that in particular; to be an obsessional means to find oneself caught in a mechanism, in a trap increasingly demanding and endless. Jacques Lacan
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jacques-lacan-quote
Obsessional does not necessarily mean sexual obsession, not even obsession for this, or for that in particular; to be an obsessional means to find oneself caught in a mechanism, in a trap increasingly demanding and endless. Jacques Lacan
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jacques-lacan-quotes

Dr Rhian Barfoot is an honorary research associate of C.R.E.W (The Centre for Research into Welsh Writing in English) at Swansea University. Her research interests include modernist and postmodern poetry and poetics, Anglo-Welsh literature and critical theory.

Before I Knocked - Poem by Dylan Thomas


Before I knocked and flesh let enter,
With liquid hands tapped on the womb,
I who was as shapeless as the water
That shaped the Jordan near my home
Was brother to Mnetha's daughter
And sister to the fathering worm.

I who was deaf to spring and summer,
Who knew not sun nor moon by name,
Felt thud beneath my flesh's armour,
As yet was in a molten form
The leaden stars, the rainy hammer
Swung by my father from his dome.

I knew the message of the winter,
The darted hail, the childish snow,
And the wind was my sister suitor;
Wind in me leaped, the hellborn dew;
My veins flowed with the Eastern weather;
Ungotten I knew night and day.

As yet ungotten, I did suffer;
The rack of dreams my lily bones
Did twist into a living cipher,
And flesh was snipped to cross the lines
Of gallow crosses on the liver
And brambles in the wringing brains.

My throat knew thirst before the structure
Of skin and vein around the well
Where words and water make a mixture
Unfailing till the blood runs foul;
My heart knew love, my belly hunger;
I smelt the maggot in my stool.

And time cast forth my mortal creature
To drift or drown upon the seas
Acquainted with the salt adventure
Of tides that never touch the shores.
I who was rich was made the richer
By sipping at the vine of days.

I, born of flesh and ghost, was neither
A ghost nor man, but mortal ghost.
And I was struck down by death's feather.
I was a mortal to the last
Long breath that carried to my father
The message of his dying christ.

You who bow down at cross and altar,
Remember me and pity Him
Who took my flesh and bone for armour
And doublecrossed my mother's womb.

Image of the book
Rhian Barfoot is co-editing a collection of critical essays to be published by University of Wales Press. The collection emerges from the Dylan Thomas centenary conference held at Swansea University in 2014.

 Liberating Dylan Thomas: Rescuing a Poet from Psycho-sexual Servitude (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014)
 ‘’The Echoes Return Slow’ as a Poet’s Autobiography’, Junction Box, 6 (2014)

Liberating Dylan Thomas

Rescuing a Poet from Psycho-Sexual Servitude




Throughout the history of Thomas’s critical reception, psychoanalytic interpretations have been applied that have privileged the psychosexual over the psycho-linguistic elements of his work. The wealth of sexual and pseudo-sexual imagery has acquired a negative charge, and has been used to evidence claims that Thomas was the epiphon of his own disturbed psyche, thus reducing the poetry to the expression of the poet’s schizoid neuroses. Avoiding the biography-based approaches that have dominated hitherto, Liberating Dylan Thomas rescues his early poetry from the position of servitude to the discursive mastery of psychoanalysis. Placing the poetry and psychoanalysis together in a mutually illuminating dialogue, this book clearly demonstrates the ways in which the vital connection between post-Freudian psychoanalysis and Thomas’s early poetry can be articulated without reductive simplification.
  1. Liberating Dylan Thomas | UWP
    University of Wales Press
  2. New Theoretical Perspectives on Dylan Thomas
    University of Wales Press, 2019
  3. Where Have the Old Words Got Me?
    University of Wales Press, 2003
  4. Discovering Dylan Thomas
    University of Wales Press, 2017
  5. Welsh Writing in English: v. 10
    University of Wales Press, 2005

Endorsements

‘Rhian Barfoot’s ground-breaking study is a timely reminder of the burning relevance of Dylan Thomas, both to a fuller understanding of Anglo-Welsh and British twentieth-century poetry, and to literary studies more generally. Barfoot is the first scholar to bring psychoanalytic theory to bear on Thomas’s early poetry in a way that does not reduce it to social or personal pathology, and the result is a series of brilliantly insightful readings that do justice to its serious play; the reading of ‘To-day, this insect’, for example, is the best I have ever read. By scrupulously attending to the interaction of mind and language, Barfoot’s account reveals the inner workings of Thomas’s ‘revolution of the word’ and marks an important step towards understanding how Thomas’s ‘intricate images’ truly work, to liberate both the reader and Thomas himself.’
– John Goodby, Editor of The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas

New Theoretical Perspectives on Dylan Thomas

“A writer of words, and nothing else


Genre(s): Literary Criticism
February 2020240 pages
Paperback - 9781786835208 eBook - epub - 9781786835222 eBook - mobi - 9781786835239 eBook - pdf - 9781786835215

About The Book

Dylan Thomas’s reputation precedes him. In keeping with his claim that he held ‘a beast, an angel, and a madman in him’, interpretations of his work have ranged from solemn adoration to dubious mythologising. His many voices continue to reverberate across culture and the arts: from poetry and letters, to popular music and Hollywood film. However, this wide and sometimes controversial renown has occasionally hindered serious analysis of his writing. Counterbalancing the often-misleading popular reputation, this book showcases eight new critical perspectives on Thomas’s work. It is the first to provide in one volume a critical overview of the multifaceted range of his output, from the poetry, prose and correspondence to his work for wartime propaganda filmmaking, his late play for voices Under Milk Wood, and his reputation in letters and wider society. The whole proves that Thomas was much more than his own self-characterisation as a ‘writer of words, and nothing else’.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations Used
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: ‘[A] writer of words, and nothing else’, Kieron Smith and Rhian Barfoot
Shibboleth: For Dylan Thomas, Tomos Owen
The ‘Strange’ Wales of Dylan Thomas’s Short Stories, Tony Brown
‘Tawe pressed in upon him’: Dylan Thomas, Modernity and the Rural-Urban Divide, Andrew Webb
The comic voices of Dylan Thomas, M. Wynn Thomas
‘As long as he is all cucumber and hooves’: Dylan Thomas’s Comedy of the Unconscious, Rhian Barfoot
‘Thrown back on the cutting floor’: Dylan Thomas and film, John Goodby
‘If We Are Gong to Call Peots Bda […]’: Kingsley Amis and Dylan Thomas’, James Keery
‘[E]ruptions, farts, dampsquibs [and] barrelorgans’: Administrating Dylan Thomas in his centenary year, Kieron Smith 205





When I was a windy boy and a bit
And the black spit of the chapel fold,
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of women),
I tiptoed shy in the gooseberry wood,
The rude owl cried like a tell-tale tit,
I skipped in a blush as the big girls rolled
Nine-pin down on donkey's common,
And on seesaw sunday nights I wooed
Whoever I would with my wicked eyes,
The whole of the moon I could love and leave
All the green leaved little weddings' wives
In the coal black bush and let them grieve.

When I was a gusty man and a half
And the black beast of the beetles' pews
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of bitches),
Not a boy and a bit in the wick-
Dipping moon and drunk as a new dropped calf,
I whistled all night in the twisted flues,
Midwives grew in the midnight ditches,
And the sizzling sheets of the town cried, Quick!-
Whenever I dove in a breast high shoal,
Wherever I ramped in the clover quilts,
Whatsoever I did in the coal-
Black night, I left my quivering prints.

When I was a man you could call a man
And the black cross of the holy house,
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of welcome),
Brandy and ripe in my bright, bass prime,
No springtailed tom in the red hot town
With every simmering woman his mouse
But a hillocky bull in the swelter
Of summer come in his great good time
To the sultry, biding herds, I said,
Oh, time enough when the blood runs cold,
And I lie down but to sleep in bed,
For my sulking, skulking, coal black soul!

When I was half the man I was
And serve me right as the preachers warn,
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of downfall),
No flailing calf or cat in a flame
Or hickory bull in milky grass
But a black sheep with a crumpled horn,
At last the soul from its foul mousehole
Slunk pouting out when the limp time came;
And I gave my soul a blind, slashed eye,
Gristle and rind, and a roarers' life,
And I shoved it into the coal black sky
To find a woman's soul for a wife.

Now I am a man no more no more
And a black reward for a roaring life,
(Sighed the old ram rod, dying of strangers),
Tidy and cursed in my dove cooed room
I lie down thin and hear the good bells jaw--
For, oh, my soul found a sunday wife
In the coal black sky and she bore angels!
Harpies around me out of her womb!
Chastity prays for me, piety sings,
Innocence sweetens my last black breath,
Modesty hides my thighs in her wings,
And all the deadly virtues plague my death!




#CorbynbyChristmas



As the shade of February 1974 haunts us once more. It begins to dawn on many that the fear of Corbyn us very great. On the right in many parties they knows that Corbyn losing is not the issue. The real fear is that he may win and that prospect haunts some across all political parties. There is no middle ground anymore, there never really was . There is no middle ground between equality and inequality, between health and ill health, between privatisation and public ownership, between a Green New Deal and corporate control, between diversity and xenophobia and between hope and hate. There never was, there never will be and there never can be. This is the time where we choose between Socialism or Barbarism. Its now the time to choose. On the eve of Samhain we choose between the ghosts of hate or the better angels of our nature . As the Lib Dems stare at the "precious" of minisisterial cars, power and privilege the rest of us see what lies behind the shrill voice of Swinson and the weedy and bland nazgul who are as ambitious as Lucifer and as chill as a lizard.#CorbynbyChristmas Corbyn is a natural campaigner and the election will be about public services . ...

Tuesday 29 October 2019

The Ragnorok Election of December 2019...its time now.Corbyn must win....

I  hear the sound of Bifröst breaking....



And so as Boris Johnson begins his conjuration. From his dank book of dark magic he conjures a people versus politicians discourse for Samhain. Elsewhere the tectonic plates of the UK begin to move apart. A border poll beckons from Northern Ireland as a labour government nears. Will the Greens and Plaid go along too? Or will they stick with their bland friends the Fib Dems? The SNP realise the truth of the situation. Will the others? there's the rub. Soon Ireland will be gone and then Scotland. Will we in Wales be the last colony of the state of Johnsonia? . As the forces collide in a vast Hegelian dialectic...what synthesis will emerge.? Where will little Jo Swindleson be then? The questions emerge the answers are awaited . It depends on so many variables, so many incantations and so many interpretations. The paradigms are mutually impenetrable to one another. The words and grammar clash and the unknowable and unreachable Brexit becomes meaningless as the dark forces released by the Sorceror`s apprentice Johnson reads from the book of Bannon and Cummings while all is laid waste as the images and ghosts of authoritarianism walk the land. This is a truly horrific Samhain and we must ask who it's victors and vanquished will be? Who is the night king and who the undead? It's far from clear....


There will be an election in December  All possibilities are there. When will we realise that in the final analysis the centrists will always look to the right both consciously and Unconsciously,. nn election will reveal that all Saints have a past and all sinners a future. But who is a saint and who sinner and who will win Ragnarok? And whose image will come to form the world to come? Nothing is clear or certain.. and who will be cast into the lake of fire? I was not born for an age like this. Or was I? Only time will tell...I chat to Graham Mallaghan and he ironically points out that he would not blame the young for introducing a Logan's Run approach for the over 30s. Perhaps he has a point....I smile and the bus speeds toward Ystradgynlais



I think of many things. I think of a former friend let's call him Gareth H. He claimed moderation yet as he became involved with the increasing trajectory of the far right that was UKIP he began to associate with the likes of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance and with it support for Tommy Robinson





First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
His last reference was to call for the boys to come to my workplace to have a word with me. Like Saurons one ring the closeness to the far right corrupts and destroys those near it. From moderate to ringwaith is easy then and many have passed that way.. and many will again. The Far right devours it's children and they become monsters of intolerance and bullies.. the SA call them from the abyss and pied piper like you can detect them by the stench of 1933.


Yes I know you're right
I see it in your fierce eyes
But me I've never thought straight
Since the day I had the first doubt
Yes I know you're right
And I'll back you to a point pal
But I'll never be constrained
By another man's ideas now
I spent too long on this road
Looking for the answers
But Poverty and Failure
Aren't what I'm after
I painted "Fight" on factories
But they closed the factory down pal
I want to find out where the Heart's gone
Find out where the nerves gone
What do you do/
When democracy fails you
What do you do?

Labour has to win. Ur Fascism stalks the land.......as the Lib Dems and the SNP lobby Bercow not to call thye Labour amendments on votes at 16 and for EU Citizens, The hypocrites....
I  hear the sound of Bifröst breaking....


And so as Boris Johnson begins his conjuration. From his dank book of dark magic he conjuress a people versus politicians discourse for Samhain. Elsewhere the tectonic plates of the UK begin to move apart. A border poll beckons from Northern Ireland as an SNP supported Labour government nears. Will the Greens and Plaid go along too? Or will they stick with their bland friends the Fib Dems? The SNP realise the truth of the situation. Will the others? there's the rub. Soon Ireland will be gone and then Scotland. Will we in Wales be the last colony of the state of Johnsonia? . As the forces collide in a vast Hegelian dialectic...what synthesis will emerge.? Where will little Jo Swindleson be then? The questions emerge the answers are awaited . It depends on so many variables, so many incantations and so many interpretations. The paradigms are mutually impenetrable to one another. The words and grammar clash and the unknowable and unreachable Brexit becomes meaningless as the dark forces released by the Sorcerors apprentice Johnson reads from the book of Bannon and all is laid waste as the images and ghosts of authoritarianism walk the land. This is a truly horrific Samhain and we must ask who it's victors and vanquished will be? Who is the night king and who the undead? It's far from clear....


There will be an election  in December  All possibilities are there . When will we realise that in the final analysis the centrists will always look to the right both consciously and Unconsciouly,. n election   will reveal that all Saints have a past and all sinners a future. But who is saint and who sinner and who will win Ragnarok? And whose image will come to form the world to come? Nothing is clear or certain.. and who will be cast into the lake of fire? I was not born for an age like this. Or was I? Only time will tell...I chat to Graham Mallaghan and he ironically points out that he would not blame the young for introducing a Logan's Run approach for the over 30s. Perhaps he has a point....I smile and the X6 bus speeds toward Ystradgynlais



I think of many things. I think of a former friend let's call him Gareth H. He claimed moderation yet as he became involved with the increasing trajectory of the far right that was UKIP he began to associate with the likes of the Democratic Football Lads Alliance and with it support for Tommy Robinson



First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

His last reference was to call for the boys to come to my workplace to have a word with me. Like Saurons one ring the closeness to the far right corrupts and destroys those near it. From moderate to ringwaith is easy then and many have passed that way.. and many will again. The Far right devours it's children and they become monsters of intolerance and bullies.. the SA call them from the abyss and pied piper like you can detect them by the stench of 1933.

Yes I know you're right
I see it in your fierce eyes
But me I've never thought straight
Since the day I had the first doubt
Yes I know you're right
And I'll back you to a point pal
But I'll never be constrained
By another man's ideas now
I spent too long on this road
Looking for the answers
But Poverty and Failure
Aren't what I'm after
I painted "Fight" on factories
But they closed the factory down pal
I want to find out where the Heart's gone
Find out where the nerves gone
What do you do/
When democracy fails you
What do you do?

Labour has to win. Ur Fascism stalks the land.......as the Lib Dems and the SNP lobby Bercow not to call thye Labour amendments on votes at 16 and for EU Citizens, The hypocrites.....

Mark Gino Francois and Nigel "Cockett" Evans abjection and denial....


It was Julia Kristeva who coined the term abjection. It refers to a denial of your origins while at the same time understanding them perfectly Additional reflections can be obtained from Leo Abse's book "Margaret; Daughter or Beatrice". In it Abse argues that Margaret Thatcher hated welfare and socialism because of her dislike of her compassionate caring Mother rather than the narrow small shopkeepe

When we come to Mark Gino Francois we too see the same process. Given two European names we see him loath everything beyond the English Channel, and he apes the discourse and champions the prejudice of a particular lower middle class outlook. One wonders if anything could be made of a rebellion against his father or mother for the imposition of the names. He stands and talks like a parody of a character from a 1970s British situation comedy like "Dads Army" " it ain't half hot, Mum" or "Are you being served" . He loathes everything tolerant, continental and open. He even uses phrases "poor bloody infantry". He is an archetype of parody long mocked and embarrassing to everyone born in the UK.

With Nigel Evans MP from my home town of Swansea we all sense the anger fueled by long sessions in the bar of the House of Commons. Nigel voted to limit legal aid yet in his own legal case moaned of the destruction of his own life savings As many of you know I went to Dynevor Comprehensive in Swansea as did Nigel. We in the Lower Sixth were the first comprehensive stream while Nigel and his right wing mates considered themselves Grammar school and therefore superior. However young Nigel's family ran the local small shop in Graiglwyd Square in the vast Council estate of Townhill. NIgel told everyone in the school that he lived in Cockett . He obviously clearly felt that stays was about where you lived.

As I consider young Gino and Nigel I clearly see the power of the term abjection. In my own case I went to an English Prep school and learnt to spot how infected the Tory Party is with such subjects as these two likely lads. Those who know the English lower middle class realise the toxicity and ignorance that they are. It's left me with a bloodhound like sense for them and a realisation that the lads who ape these behaviours have a deep and lasting loathing for Marxists like my self who have a real knowledge of the frothy "charm" of the English class system. This too is my curse of my own sense of abjection. Yet having had a wide education in many types of school, having travelled widely and read extensively the antidote is readily available. We are all challenged to deal with our prejudices and conditioning..the question is do we have the courage to stop the fog in the channel getting into our eyes.. Autumn should be the season of tbe stag howling the season of Hydref and not of these snake like servants that are Nigel Evans and Mark Gino Francois the Gwas Y Neidr...

Monday 28 October 2019

Of unintended consequences, an independent Wales and possible future



Of unintended consequences, an independent Wales and possible futures..I wait for the Portillo moments to come. For those unfamiliar with the term it refers to the defeat of Portillo in the 1997 election. I remember it so clearly I also think of Max Weber's term of the 'unintended consequences" of historical events. As I reflect on the months to come I wonder what will be. I suspect that the greatest irony will be that it is English Nationalism in all its narrow glory that will be the midwife if an independent Scotland, a united Ireland and ultimately an independent Wales . I think that many young people , particularly in Welsh  Labour, are also of that opinion However many in the Welsh National Movement must realise that just as devolution only became possible because of the conversion of Welsh Labour so to will the issue of an independent Wales. I know that within my wing of the Labour Party that I am not the only one thinking this way. I hope that in future that an ecosocialist Plaid would be the natural allies of a Socialist Welsh Labour Party enabling a Green, clean and socialist Wales to be born that is tolerant, neutral and open. The Welsh National Movement is fundamentally different from the bluekippers of England. Many on the Brit Left are still to realise this as are many within the Welsh National Movement upon the hidden currents within Welsh Labour
The coming general election will be the most vital one for nearly 200 years. A Labour-led government offers one route of liberation for the nations of the UK. In Scotland this government would grant a further referendum, a border poll in Northern Ireland and u suspect a full Welsh Parliament. A Johnson victory would leave Wales as the last colony as it was the first. The right wing English Nationalists have given up on the Union as they stare Farage hypnotized like at their navels.
The British state is fractured beyond repair. The Union faces dissolution it's been in decline for a long time and it's death rattle is approaching. Within Wales the macho males surrounding the indigenous Welsh Right is peeling off of Plaid and coalescing around a rightward moving Neil McEvoy. Former greens once Plaid that I know of are rapidly moving rightwards using the tropes of the Alt Right and retweeting their vile messages. Three in particular go on a journey worthy of the social conservatism of Devalera wanting to build a right, white and strictly gendered Wales. Looking at the three councillors leaving the Plaid group on Cardiff Council reveals them to be "macho men" ontologically insecure and frightened of strong women and of the left. What better than to run to Prince Neil?
In Argentina an anti austerity socialist wins the election. As we wait for the machinations of Swindleson's pro austerity Liberal Democrats we await for the Portillo moments that will be I wait for the fate of the blessed Swinson at the coming election. When Marr raised this issue with her on Sunday I saw the fear cross her face. I also suspect that with a new candidate the Tories will retake Brecon and Radnor in the coming election. I can't say that it is a thing to celebrate yet I feel at least I will know which side my MP will be on. It is quite clear that the Fib Dems have lost all claims to be prigressive or radical. It will not be long before the 35% of their supporters join Labour to build a pregresseive socialist and radical liberal coalition that is the Labour Party.
These unintended consequences are shifting continually and rapidly as I consider what may be. In these days after the backward moving hour, the odd lighter mornings and the darker evenings cause odd effects and stranger observations. These Portillo moments to come to offer much speculation. The British state is done to death as we await all possibilities and none in the election to come. The days come down to this as the temperature chills on the road to Samhain and beyond. The truth is the Lib Dems do not really give a toss about Brexit as they and their shrill leader are revealed to be as ambitious as Lucifer and as cold as a Lizard. As the X6 heads to Swansea I would rather be dealing with Arlene Foster and the DUP. The cloak of unintended consequences has much to answer to and many scenarios to reveal. Welcome to nearly November..
.I wait for the Portillo moments to come. For those unfamiliar with the term it refers to the defeat of Portillo in the 1997 election. I remember it so clearly I also think of Max Weber's term of the 'unintended consequences" of historical events. As I reflect on the months to come I wonder what will be. I suspect that the greatest irony will be that it is English Nationalism in all its narrow glory that will be the midwife if an independent Scotland, a united Ireland and ultimately an independent Wales. I think that many young people , particularly in Welsh  Labour, are also of that opinion However many in the Welsh National Movement must realise that just as devolution only became possible because of the conversion of Welsh Labour so to will the issue of an independent Wales. I know that within my wing of the Labour Party that I am not the only one thinking this way. I hope that in future that an ecosocialist Plaid would be the natural allies of a Socialist Welsh Labour Party enabling a Green, clean and socialist Wales to be born that is tolerant, neutral and open. The Welsh National Movement is fundamentally different from the bluekippers of England. Many on the Brit Left are still to realise this as are many within the Welsh National Movement upon the hidden currents within Welsh Labour
The coming general election will be the most vital one for nearly 200 years. A Labour-led government offers one route of liberation for the nation's of the UK. In Scotland this government would grant a further referendum, a border poll in Northern Ireland and u suspect a full Welsh Parliament. A Johnson victory would leave Wales as the last colony as it was the first. The right wing English Nationalists have given up on the Union as they stare Farage hypnotized like at their navels.
The British state is fractured beyond repair. The Union faces dissolution it's been in decline for a long time and it's death rattle is approaching. Within Wales the macho males surrounding the indigenous Welsh Right is peeling off of Plaid and coalescing around a rightward moving Neil McEvoy. Former greens once Plaid that I know of are rapidly moving rightwards using the tropes of the Alt Right and retweeting their vile messages. Three in particular go on a journey worthy of the social conservatism of Devalera wanting to build a right, white and strictly gendered Wales. Looking at the three councillors leaving the Plaid group on Cardiff Council reveals them to be "macho men" ontologically insecure and frightened of strong women and of the left. What better than to run to Prince Neil?
In Argentina an anti austerity socialist wins the election. As we wait for the machinations of Swindleson's pro austerity Liberal Democrats we await for the Portillo moments that will be I wait for the fate of the blessed Swinson at the coming election. When Marr raised this issue with her on Sunday I saw the fear cross her face. I also suspect that with a new candidate the Tories will retake Brecon and Radnor in the coming election. I can't say that it is a thing to celebrate yet I feel at least I will know which side my MP will be on. It is quite clear that the Fib Dems have lost all claims to be prigressive or radical. It will not be long before the 35% of their supporters join Labour to build a pregresseive socialist and radical liberal coalition that is the Labour Party.

These unintended consequences are shifting continually and rapidly as I consider what may be. In these days after the backward moving hour the odd lighter mornings and the darker evenings cause odd effects and stranger observations. These Portillo moments to come offer much speculation. The British state is done to death as we await all possibilities and none in the election to come. The days come down to this as the temperature chills on the road to Samhain and beyond. The truth is the Lib Dems do not really give a toss about Brexit as they and their shrill leader are revealed to be as ambitious as Lucifer and as cold as a Lizard. As the X6 heads to Swansea I would rather be dealing with Arlene Foster and the DUP. The cloak of unintended consequences has much to answer to and many scenarios to reveal. Welcome to nearly November.

Friday 25 October 2019

This Sunday: 27th October, Persuasive Conversations training, 1.30pm 4pm, Glanrhyd Coronation Club 'the Bomb', Glannant, Ystradgynlais, SA9 1BG

 
 
This Sunday: 27th October, Persuasive Conversations training, 1.30pm 4pm, Glanrhyd Coronation Club 'the Bomb', Glannant, Ystradgynlais, SA9 1BG

Hello all,

The training this weekend is for those who want to positively put across Labour's policies and programme on the doorsteps and just in everyday conversation. It's great fun and you will learn a great deal. You will meet activists and campaigners and have a great time as well as learn very powerful approaches and methods.
Hope you can make it!

The first Labour Government December 6th 1923 election

 

1923 General Election

Andrew Bonar Law, the leader of the Conservative Party, replaced David Lloyd George as prime minister. His first task was to persuade the French government to be more understanding of Germany's ability to pay war reparations. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), agreed to 226 billion gold marks. In 1921, the amount was reduced to 132 billion. However, they were still unable to pay the full amount and by the end of 1922, Germany was deeply in debt. Bonar Law suggested lowering the payments but the French refused and on 11th January, 1923, the French Army occupied the Ruhr. (1) Bonar Law also had the problem of Britain's war debt to the United States. In January 1923 Bonar Law's chancellor, Stanley Baldwin, sailed to America to discuss a settlement. Initially the loans to Britain had been made at an interest rate of 5 per cent. Bonar Law urged Baldwin to get it reduced to 2.5 per cent, but the best American offer was for 3 per cent, rising to 3.5 per cent after ten years. This amounted to annual repayments of £25 million and £36 million, rising to £40 million. Baldwin, acting on his own initiative, accepted the American offer and announced to the British press that they were the best terms available. Bonar Law was furious and on 30th January announced at cabinet that he would resign rather than accept the settlement. However, the rest of the cabinet thought it was a good deal and he was forced to withdraw his threat. (2)
The American settlement meant a 4 per cent increase in public expenditure at a time when Bonar Law was committed to a policy of reducing taxes and public expenditure. This brought him into conflict with the trade union movement that was deeply concerned by growing unemployment. Robert Blake, the author of The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) argued that Bonar Law was not sure how the working class would react to this situation. Could they gain their support "by making moderate concessions" or to make "a direct appeal to the working-class over the heads of the bourgeoisie, a new form of Tory radicalism?" (3)
In April 1923, Bonar Law began to have problems talking. On the advice of his doctor, Sir Thomas Horder, he took a month's break from work, leaving Lord George Curzon to preside over the cabinet and Stanley Baldwin to lead in the House of Commons. Horder examined Bonar Law in Paris on 17th May, and diagnosed him to be suffering from cancer of the throat, and gave him six months to live. Five days later Bonar Law resigned but decided against nominating a successor. (4)
John C. Davidson, the Conservative Party MP, sent a memorandum to King George V advising him on the appointment: "The resignation of the Prime Minister makes it necessary for the Crown to exercise its prerogative in the choice of Mr Bonar Law's successor. There appear to be only two possible alternatives. Mr Stanley Baldwin and Lord Curzon. The case for each is very strong. Lord Curzon has, during a long life, held high office almost continuously and is therefore possessed of wide experience of government. His industry and mental equipment are of the highest order. His grasp of the international situation is great."
Davidson pointed out that Baldwin also had certain advantages: "Stanley Baldwin has had a very rapid promotion and has by his gathering strength exceeded the expectations of his most fervent friends. He is much liked by all shades of political opinion in the House of Commons, and has the complete confidence of the City and the commercial world generally. He in fact typifies the spirit of the Government which the people of this country elected last autumn and also the same characteristics which won the people's confidence in Mr Bonar Law, i.e. honesty, simplicity and balance."
Given their relative merits, Davidson believed that the king should select Baldwin: "Lord Curzon temperamentally does not inspire complete confidence in his colleagues, either as to his judgement or as to his ultimate strength of purpose in a crisis. His methods too are inappropriate to harmony. The prospect of him receiving deputations as Prime Minister for the Miners' Federation or the Triple Alliance, for example, is capable of causing alarm for the future relations between the Government and labour, between moderate and less moderate opinion... The time, in the opinion of many members of the House of Commons, has passed when the direction of domestic policy can be placed outside the House of Commons, and it is admitted that although foreign and imperial affairs are of vital importance, stability at home must be the basic consideration. There is also the fact that Lord Curzon is regarded in the public eye as representing that section of privileged conservatism which has its value, but which in this democratic age cannot be too assiduously exploited." (5)
Arthur Balfour, the prime minister between July, 1902 and December, 1905, was also consulted and he suggested the king could chose Baldwin. (6) "Balfour... pointed out that a Cabinet already over-weighted with peers would be open to even greater criticism if one of them actually became Prime Minister; that, since the Parliament Act of 1911, the political centre of gravity had moved more definitely than ever to the Lower House; and finally that the official Opposition, the Labour party, was not represented at all in the House of Lords." (7)
Andrew Bonar Law was the shortest-serving prime minister of the 20th century. He is also the only British prime minister to be born outside the British Isles. Bonar Law died aged 65, on 30th October, 1923. His estate was probated at £35,736 (approximately £1,900,000 as of 2017). (8)
Stanley Baldwin was faced with growing economic problems. This included a high-level of unemployment. Baldwin believed that protectionist tariffs would revive industry and employment. However, Bonar Law had pledged in 1922 that there would be no changes in tariffs in the present parliament. Baldwin came to the conclusion that he needed a General Election to unite his party behind this new policy. On 12th November, Baldwin asked the king to dissolve parliament. (9)



Junior Imperial League Gazette (December, 1923)
Junior Imperial League Gazette (December, 1923)
During the election campaign, Baldwin made it clear that he intended to impose tariffs on some imported goods: "What we propose to do for the assistance of employment in industry, if the nation approves, is to impose duties on imported manufactured goods, with the following objects: (i) to raise revenue by methods less unfair to our own home production which at present bears the whole burden of local and national taxation, including the cost of relieving unemployment; (ii) to give special assistance to industries which are suffering under unfair foreign competition; (iii) to utilise these duties in order to negotiate for a reduction of foreign tariffs in those directions which would most benefit our export trade; (iv) to give substantial preference to the Empire on the whole range of our duties with a view to promoting the continued extension of the principle of mutual preference which has already done so much for the expansion of our trade, and the development, in co-operation with the other Governments of the Empire, of the boundless resources of our common heritage." (10) The Labour Party election manifesto completely rejected this argument: "The Labour Party challenges the Tariff policy and the whole conception of economic relations underlying it. Tariffs are not a remedy for Unemployment. They are an impediment to the free interchange of goods and services upon which civilised society rests. They foster a spirit of profiteering, materialism and selfishness, poison the life of nations, lead to corruption in politics, promote trusts and monopolies, and impoverish the people. They perpetuate inequalities in the distribution of the world's wealth won by the labour of hands and brain. These inequalities the Labour Party means to remove." (11)
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, the 57 year-old, 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. (12)



 
Political PartiesTotal Votes%MPs
Conservative Party 5,514,541 38.0 258
Liberal Party 4,301,481 29.7 158
Labour Party 4,439,780 30.7 191
Communist Party 39,448 0.2 0
Irish Nationalists 97,993 0.4 3









Primary Sources

(1) John C. Davidson, Conservative Party member of the House of Commons, memorandum sent to Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham, private secretary of King George V (22nd May, 1923)

The resignation of the Prime Minister makes it necessary for the Crown to exercise its prerogative in the choice of Mr Bonar Law's successor. There appear to be only two possible alternatives. Mr Stanley Baldwin and Lord Curzon. The case for each is very strong.
Lord Curzon has, during a long life, held high office almost continuously and is therefore possessed of wide experience of government. His industry and mental equipment are of the highest order. His grasp of the international situation is great.
Mr Stanley Baldwin has had a very rapid promotion and has by his gathering strength exceeded the expectations of his most fervent friends. He is much liked by all shades of political opinion in the House of Commons, and has the complete confidence of the City and the commercial world generally. He in fact typifies the spirit of the Government which the people of this country elected last autumn and also the same characteristics which won the people's confidence in Mr Bonar Law, i.e. honesty, simplicity and balance. There is however a disadvantage that, compared to many of his colleagues, his official life is short. On the other hand there can be no doubt that Lord Curzon temperamentally does not inspire complete confidence in his colleagues, either as to his judgement or as to his ultimate strength of purpose in a crisis. His methods too are inappropriate to harmony. The prospect of him receiving deputations as Prime Minister for the Miners' Federation or the Triple Alliance, for example, is capable of causing alarm for the future relations between the Government and labour, between moderate and less moderate opinion. The choice in fact seems to be in recognizing in an individual those services which in Lord Curzon's case enable him to act as Deputy Prime Minister, but which as is so often the case when larger issues are involved might not qualify him in the permanent post. The time, in the opinion of many members of the House of Commons, has passed when the direction of domestic policy can be placed outside the House of Commons, and it is admitted that although foreign and imperial affairs are of vital importance, stability at home must be the basic consideration. There is also the fact that Lord Curzon is regarded in the public eye as representing that section of privileged conservatism which has its value, but which in this democratic age cannot be too assiduously exploited.
The number of peers holding the highest offices in the Government, that is four out of the five Secretaries of State, has already produced comment, even among Conservatives. The situation in this respect will be accentuated by placing the direction of Government policy in the Upper House. For any further subordination of the House of Commons will be most strongly resented, not only by the Conservative Party as a whole, but by every shade of democratic opinion in the country. It is thought that the truth of this view finds support in the fact that whereas it would be most unlikely that Lord Curzon could form a government without the inclusion of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the other hand it would clearly be possible for Mr Baldwin to form a government even though Lord Curzon should find himself unable to join it.

(2) Conservative Party Manifesto for the 1923 General Election (November, 1923)

In submitting myself to you for re-election, I propose frankly to put before you the present situation as I see it, and the measures which in the opinion of myself and my colleagues are necessary adequately to deal with it.
1. The unemployment and under-employment which our working people and our great national industries are now facing for the fourth winter in succession, on a scale unparalleled in our history, have created a problem which calls urgently for a solution. Their indefinite continuance threatens to impair permanently the trained skill and the independent spirit of our workers, to disorganise the whole fabric of industry and credit, and, by eating away the sources of revenue, to undermine the very foundations of our national and municipal life.
2. In large measure this state of affairs is due to the political and economic disorganisation of Europe consequent on the Great War. In accordance with the policy affirmed by the Imperial Conference we shall continue to devote every effort through the League of Nations and by every other practical means, to the restoration of a true peace in Europe. But that at the best must take time. A year ago Mr. Bonar Law could still hope that a more settled condition of affairs was in prospect, and that with it trade might enjoy a substantial and steady revival, even in the absence of any modification of fiscal policy, of the ultimate necessity of which he himself was always convinced. Since the occupation of the Ruhr it has become evident that we are confronted by a situation which, even if it does not become worse, is not likely to be normal for years to come.
3. The disorganisation and poverty of Europe, accompanied by broken exchanges and by higher tariffs all the world over, have directly and indirectly narrowed the whole field of our foreign trade. In our own home market the bounty given to the importation of foreign goods by depreciated currencies, and by the reduced standard of living in many European countries, has exposed us to a competition which is essentially unfair and is paralysing enterprise and initiative. It is under such conditions that we have to find work for a population which, largely owing to the cessation during the war period of the normal flow of migration to the Dominions, has in the last census period increased by over a million and three quarter souls.
4. No Government with any sense of responsibility could continue to sit with tied hands watching the unequal struggle of our industries or content itself with palliatives which, valuable as they are to mitigate the hardship to individuals, must inevitably add to the burden of rates and taxes and thereby still further weaken our whole economic structure. Drastic measures have become necessary for dealing with present conditions as long as they continue.
5. The present Government hold themselves pledged by Mr. Bonar Law not to make any fundamental change in the fiscal system of the country without consulting the electorate. Convinced, as I am, that only by such a change can a remedy be found, and that no partial measures such as the extension of the Safeguarding of Industries Act, can meet the situation, I am in honour bound to ask the people to release us from this pledge without further prejudicing the situation by any delay. That is the reason, and the only reason, which has made this election necessary.
6. What we propose to do for the assistance of employment in industry, if the nation approves, is to impose duties on imported manufactured goods, with the following objects: -
(i) to raise revenue by methods less unfair to our own home production which at present bears the whole burden of local and national taxation, including the cost of relieving unemployment;
(ii) to give special assistance to industries which are suffering under unfair foreign competition;
(iii) to utilise these duties in order to negotiate for a reduction of foreign tariffs in those directions which would most benefit our export trade;
(iv) to give substantial preference to the Empire on the whole range of our duties with a view to promoting the continued extension of the principle of mutual preference which has already done so much for the expansion of our trade, and the development, in co-operation with the other Governments of the Empire, of the boundless resources of our common heritage.
7. Such a policy will defend our industries during the present emergency and will enable us, as more normal conditions return, to work effectively to secure a greater measure of real Free Trade both within the Empire and with foreign countries. Trade which is subject to the arbitrary interference of every foreign tariff, and at the mercy of every disturbance arising from the distractions of Europe, is in no sense free, and is certainly not fair to our own people.
8. It is not our intention, in any circumstances, to impose any duties on wheat, flour, oats, meat (including bacon and ham), cheese, butter or eggs.
9. While assisting the manufacturing industries of the country we propose also to give a direct measure of support to agriculture. Agriculture is not only, in itself, the greatest and most important of our national industries, but is of especial value as supplying the most stable and essentially complementary home market for our manufactures.
10. We propose to afford this assistance by a bounty of £1 an acre on all holdings of arable land exceeding one acre. The main object of that bounty is to maintain employment on the land and so keep up the wages of agricultural labour. In order to make sure of this we shall decline to pay the bounty to any employer who pays less than 30/- a week to an ablebodied labourer.
11. The exclusion from any import duties of the essential foodstuffs which I have mentioned, as well as of raw materials, undoubtedly imposes a certain limitation upon the fullest extension of Imperial Preference. But even the preferences agreed to at the recent Economic Conference within our existing fiscal system, have been acknowledged as of the greatest value by the Dominion representatives, and our present proposals will offer a much wider field, the value of which will be progressively enhanced by the increasing range and variety of Empire production.
12. Moreover in the field of Empire development, as well as in that of home agriculture, we are not confined to the assistance furnished by duties. We have already given an earnest of our desire to promote a better distribution of the population of the Empire through the Empire Settlement Act, and at the Economic Conference we have undertaken to co-operate effectively with the Government of any part of the Empire in schemes of economic develop ment. More especially do we intend to devote our attention to the development of cotton growing within the Empire, in order to keep down the cost of a raw material essential to our greatest exporting industry.
13. These measures constitute a single comprehensive and inter-dependent policy. Without additional revenue we cannot assist agriculture at home, but the income derived from the tariff will provide for this and leave us with means which can be devoted to cotton growing and other development in the Empire, and to the reduction of the duties on tea and sugar which fall so directly upon the working class household.
14. For the present emergency, and pending the introduction of our more extended proposals, we are making, and shall continue to make, every effort to increase the volume of work for our people. The Government are spending very large sums on every measure of emergency relief that can help in this direction. Further, the Local Authorities of all kinds throughout the country, and great individual enterprises, such as the railways, with the assistance of the Government, or on its invitation, are co-operating whole-heartedly in the national endeavour to increase the volume of employment. This great combined effort of the Government, of the Local Authorities, and of individual enterprises, represents an expenditure of no less than'100 millions sterling.
15. The position of shipbuilding, one of the hardest hit of all our industries, is peculiar. It can only recover as shipping revives with the development of Empire and foreign trade which we believe will follow from our measures. We propose in the meantime to give it special assistance by accelerating the programme of light cruiser construction which will in any case become necessary in the near future. We are informed by our Naval advisers that some 17 light cruisers will be required during the next few years in replacement of the County class, as well as a variety of smaller and auxiliary craft, and we intend that a substantial proportion of these shall be laid down as soon as the designs are ready and Parliamentary sanction secured.
16. The solution of the unemployment problem is the key to every necessary social reform. But I should like to repeat my conviction that we should aim at the reorganisation of our various schemes of insurance against old age, ill-health and unemployment. More particularly should we devote our attention to investigating the possibilities of getting rid of the inconsistencies and the discouragement of thrift at present associated with the working of the Old Age Pensions Act. The encouragement of thrift and independence must be the underlying principle of all our social reforms.

(3) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970)

The king decided for Baldwin, and everything suggests that he was influenced above all else by the fact that Curzon was a peer. His strong inclination to keep the premiership in the Commons was heavily reinforced by the advice of Balfour whom he consulted as an ex-Tory Prime Minister and the leading elder statesman of the party... We know that he privately had long regarded Curzon with a mixture of dislike and contempt. He was, however, careful to say nothing personally detrimental. He merely pointed out that a Cabinet already over-weighted with peers would be open to even greater criticism if one of them actually became Prime Minister; that, since the Parliament Act of 1911, the political centre of gravity had moved more definitely than ever to the Lower House; and finally that the official Opposition, the Labour party, was not represented at all in the House of Lords.

(4) Labour Party Manifesto for the 1923 General Election (November, 1923)

After a year of barren effort, the Conservative Government has admitted its inability to cope with the problem of Unemployment, and is seeking to cover up its failure by putting the nation to the trouble and expense of an election on the Tariff issue.
TARIFFS NO REMEDY
The Labour Party challenges the Tariff policy and the whole conception of economic relations underlying it. Tariffs are not a remedy for Unemployment. They are an impediment to the free interchange of goods and services upon which civilised society rests. They foster a spirit of profiteering, materialism and selfishness, poison the life of nations, lead to corruption in politics, promote trusts and monopolies, and impoverish the people. They perpetuate inequalities in the distribution of the world's wealth won by the labour of hands and brain. These inequalities the Labour Party means to remove.
WORK OR MAINTENANCE
Unemployment is a recurrent feature of the existing economic system, common to every industrialised country, irrespective of whether it has Protection or Free Trade. The Labour Party alone has a positive remedy for it. We denounce as wholly inadequate and belated the programme of winter work produced by the Government, which offers the prospect of employment for only a fraction of the unemployed in a few industries; and in particular provides no relief for women and young persons.
LABOUR'S UNEMPLOYMENT PROGRAMME
The Labour Party has urged the immediate adoption of national schemes of productive work, with adequate maintenance for those who cannot obtain employment to earn a livelihood for themselves and their families. The flow of young workers from the schools must be regulated to relieve the pressure on the labour market, and full educational training, with maintenance, must be provided for the young people who are now exposed to the perils and temptations of the streets.
The Labour Programme of National Work includes the establishment of a National System of Electrical Power Supply, the development of Transport by road, rail and canal, and the improvement of national resources by Land Drainage, Reclamation, Afforestation, Town Planning, and Housing Schemes. These not only provide a remedy for the present distress, but are also investments for the future.
HELP FOR AGRICULTURE
Agriculture, as the largest and most essential of the nation's industries, calls for special measures to restore its prosperity and to give the land workers a living wage. The Labour Policy is one that will develop Agriculture and raise the standard of rural life by establishing machinery for regulating wages with an assured minimum, providing Credit and State insurance facilities for Farmers and Smallholders, promoting and assisting Co-operative Methods in Production and Distribution, so as to help stabilise prices, and make the fullest use of the results of research.
THE LAND
The Labour Party proposes to restore to the people their lost rights in the Land, including Minerals, and to that end will work for re-equipping the Land Valuation Department, securing to the community the economic rent of land, and facilitating the acquisition of land for public use.
PEACE AMONG THE NATIONS
Labour's vision of an ordered world embraces the nations now torn with enmity and strife. It stands, therefore, for a policy of International Co-operation through a strengthened and enlarged League of Nations; the settlement of disputes by conciliation and judicial arbitration; the immediate calling by the British Government of an International Conference (including Germany on terms of equality) to deal with the Revision of the Versailles Treaty, especially Reparations and Debts; and the resumption of free economic and diplomatic relations with Russia. This will pave the way for Disarmament, the only security for the nations.
RELIEF FOR THE TAXPAYER
Labour condemns the failure of the Government to take steps to reduce the deadweight War Debt. No effective reform of the National Finances can be attempted until the steady drain of a million pounds a day in interest is stopped. Treasury experts, in evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, expressed their view that a Tax on War Fortunes could be levied, and have therefore admitted both the principle and its practicability. A Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, in consultation with Treasury experts, would at once work out a scheme to impose a non-recurring, graduated War Debt Redemption Levy on all individual fortunes in excess of £5,000, to be devoted solely to the reduction of the Debt.
The saving thus effected, with reduction of expenditure on armaments, other sane economies, and the increased revenue derived from Taxation of Land Values, would make it possible to reduce the burden of Income Tax, abolish not only the Food Duties, but also the Entertainments Tax and the Corporation Profits Tax, as well as provide money for necessary Social Services.
THE COMMONWEALTH OF CO-OPERATIVE SERVICE
The Labour Party is working for the creation of a Commonwealth of Co-operative Service. It believes that so far only a beginning has been made in the scientific organisation of industry. It will apply in a practical spirit the principle of Public Ownership and Control to the Mines, the Railway Service and the Electrical Power Stations, and the development of Municipal Services. It will make work safe for the worker by stricter Inspection of Workplaces, and more effective measures against Accidents and Industrial Diseases. It will provide fuller Compensation for the Workers and improve the Standard of Hours.
THE AGED, THE WIDOWS, THE CHILDREN
Labour Policy is directed to the creation of a humane and civilised society. When Labour rules it will take care that little children shall not needlessly die; it will give to every child equality of opportunity in Education; it will make generous provision for the aged people, the widowed mothers, the sick and disabled citizens.
It will abolish the slums, promptly build an adequate supply of decent homes and resist decontrol till the shortage is satisfied. It will place the Drink Traffic under popular control.
EX-SERVICE MEN'S PENSIONS
In accordance with its past actions inside and outside Parliament, the Labour Party will do its utmost to see that the Ex-Service men and their dependants have fair play.
EQUAL RIGHTS
Labour stands for equality between men and women: equal political and legal rights, equal rights and privileges in parenthood, equal pay for equal work.
LABOUR'S PRACTICAL IDEALISM
The Labour Party submits to the men and women of the country its full programme. It urges them to refuse to make this General Election a wretched partisan squabble about mean and huckstering policies. It appeals to all citizens to take a generous and courageous stand for right and justice, to believe in the possibility of building up a sane and ordered wants, to oppose the squalid materialism that dominates the world to-day, and to hold out their hands in friendship and good-will to the struggling people everywhere who want only freedom, security and a happier life.





References

(1) Conan Fischer, The Ruhr Crisis, 1923–1924 (2003) pages 28-31

(2) Ewen Green, Andrew Bonar Law : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(3) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 207

(4) Robert Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister: The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law (1955) page 516

(5) John C. Davidson, Conservative Party member of the House of Commons, memorandum sent to Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham, private secretary of King George V (22nd May, 1923)

(6) John C. Davidson, Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 157

(7) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 213

(8) Ewen Green, Andrew Bonar Law : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(9) Stanley Ball, Stanley Baldwin : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(10) Conservative Party Manifesto (November, 1923)

(11) Labour Party Manifesto (November, 1923)

(12) Robert Shepherd, Westminster: A Biography: From Earliest Times to the Present Day (2012) page 313