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.
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.
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.
‘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
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’.
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!
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 . ...
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.....
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...
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.
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.
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)
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)
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.
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.
