Download I. Introduction

BRITISH HISTORY 1900-45
D’après le cours de M. Park du premier semestre 2006
I . Introduction
a) 1901 – The Death of Queen Victoria – Great Britain at the dawn of a new century.
When Victoria died, the Victorian period finished. It was the end
of an era. She became queen in 1897. She was queen for 64
years, the longest reign of English history. She was just 18 when
she became queen of the largest empire in the history of the
world, of countries all around the globe (Australia, Canada, the
West Indies, …) : the British empire.
In 1837, Britain was the richest, more powerful nation of the
world. India exported tea, material, spices, … to Britain that sold
it around the world. Britain dominated trade. All trade was
conducted in pounds.
It was the time of the industrial revolution. Britain was a small
country, but by the middle of the 19th century it produced 50% of
the world goods.
It was also a period of great social change. The wealth was not
shared equally with the British people. Ordinary people were
extremely poor. The gap between the riches and the poors was
enormous. Work in coalmines, factories, docks, … Children
began work at 4. Work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. They
earned almost nothing.
When Victoria died that was finished. Children were going to school. Victorian period = enormous
social change.
Victoria was young, pretty, small. She became queen at a time (1920-30)when British people began to
think that a republic would be better then a monarchy. The monarchy was not popular. She married a
German prince, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He was a very proud and arrogant man. When
he went to England he insisted on being involved in British politics. He wanted to know what was
happening. Victoria forced the Parliament to give him information and he was involved.
1861 : Albert died. Victoria was devastated. For years she never appeared in public and she wore
black. The British people began to be bored with Victoria. They needed to see their monarch. The
British government at the time was very worried. There could be a new period of republican feeling.
They asked Victoria to be seen in public and she agreed. She began to go back out and quickly
regained her popularity.
In 1897 she celebrated 60 years as a queen. There were celebrations all over the world. She was
queen and empress.
When the new century came, the queen was a very old and very tired lady. She was dying. She finally
died in January 1901.
The monarchy was saved by Victoria. She turned it into the modern institution of today. When she died
there was great sadness all over the empire.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the monarchy was strong and stable. Britain had a great empire
and was very confident about the future.
But things were changing rapidly. The most powerful nation of the world was the United States.
Militarily, Germany was stronger than Britain. Britain was like an ostrich which put its head in the sand.
It tried to remained isolated from other powerful countries but it could not and in 1904 Britain was
forced to create an alliance with France, called “L’entente cordiale”. Other alliances were created,
between Germany, Austria and Italy. Britain created an alliance with Russia. The sides had been
created which in just ten years would break into war.
1
Britain was a socially divided nation, full of prejudices (religious, economic, political). Catholics were
not allowed to teach at university. If you wanted to teach at Oxford or Cambridge you had to be part of
the Church, to believe in God, and to be a member of the Protestant Church. A woman couldn’t teach.
Women could only have babies, work in shops or factories. It was very difficult to have a professional
carrier if you were a woman. They couldn’t vote.
Education was for the riches. All children had to go to school started at the age of 5 until 10. After that
you had to pay. Most children, after 10, left school and went to work. => educational prejudices.
Most working class families were poor. Their diet : black bread and soup most of the time. They almost
never ate meat. When the British army asked for volunteers, they rejected 35% of applicants because
they were not physically fit because of their diet (no muscles, no teeth, thin).
Agriculture was in decline in Britain. Most people (80%) lived in towns and cities. At that time France
was rural. There were enormous towns in Britain (3m people in London). The conditions were terrible,
crime was very high.
There were symbols of wealth. The greatest symbol of personal wealth was a car.
Britain was a paradoxical nation, so rich and so poor at the same time. It was a united kingdom but
very divided on many levels. There was a very distinct class system : the monarchy at the very top of
society, surrounded by an aristocracy, and then a large rich and powerful middle class, and at the
bottom a huge working class.
But at the same time it was a very united society. British people were (and are) extremely loyal to the
monarchy, they loved their queen. They cried when they heard the news of Victoria’s death. The
monarchy gives some kind of symbolism. At the death of Victoria, they were monarchist.
The transport systems were changing dramatically. Railways all over the country, very comprehensive
network of railways centred on London. Dramatic effects on people way of live. Even ordinary people
could travel. The London underground existed. Steam ships could transport people around the world
In very short times. Cars were too expensive for most people, a luxury for the aristocracy and very rich
people. Soon, ordinary people would be able to buy cars. And very soon, by the beginning of the
century, there would be aeroplanes.
People felt the possibility of a new and exciting life in the new century. 20 th century is the greatest
century of change in the history of humanity : revolution in social life, political life, transport. In 1909
the first aeroplane flew, and in 1969 there was the landing on the moon.
b) The birth of the Labour Party
There were very serious social divisions. The Labour Party was created to try and end with those
divisions.
At the end of the 19th century, there were two political parties in Britain : the Conservatives and the
Liberals. By that time, more and more working class men had the right to vote. The Conservative Party
was the party of the aristocracy. The Liberal Party represented the middle class, the bourgeoisie. Who
could working class vote for ? One man tried to provide that choice, a Scottish coalminer named
James Keir Hardie (1856-1915).
February 1900. He organised a meeting of trade unionists, socialists, and together they decided to
created the Labour Representation Committee (LRC).
1900 : general election. 15 candidates representing the LRC. The LRC spent £33 on the election
campaign. Two candidates were elected, there were two Labour MPs. One of them was Keir Hardie.
The other man was Richard Bell. These two men went to parliament and immediately Bell joined the
Liberals.
1906 : another election. 50 candidates represented the LRC. 29 were elected. The LRC changed its
name and it became the Labour Party. But the Liberal Party won the election with a huge majority.
c) Liberalism and the birth of the welfare state (1906-1914 : the achievements of the
Liberal government)
The Liberal Party was then the most successful party. The principles of the modern welfare state were
born during this period : free medical examination for all school children, school diners were
2
introduced, school breakfasts also. The state recognised that people were not fit. The meals were
subsidized by the state. All children born in Britain were to be registered but also examined by
midwives that gave free professional advice to mothers (cleaning, feeding, changing the baby, …).
The state was responsible for the health and education of people. What about the very old, weak,
sick?
One of the most important change was the introduction of old age pensions in 1909. The Chancellor of
the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, and the Liberal Prime Minister Henry Asquith were responsible
for the introduction of old age pensions.
In 1909, Lloyd George introduced his budget which he called the people’s budget, because it
introduced old age pensions, money to be paid weekly to all men and women over the age of 70, 5
shillings a week. It did not depend on how much you had worked = non-contributory pensions. All
people in Britain were entitled to a minimum.
This budget was controversial because for the first time it contradicted the philosophy of self-help
(save money every week for the future), and because this money must come from somewhere. He
introduced a new type of tax, a tax on land. It affected the rich, the landowners. The budget was
blocked by the House of Lords because it was dominated by conservative landowners. This led to a
constitution crisis.
January 1910 : election. Question : budget and power of the House of Lords. At that time, 50ù of the
population did not have the right to vote because they were women, and not all men could vote.
Should the House of Lords have the right to block important bills from the House of Commons ? The
Liberals won the election and they introduced the people’s budget and a bill to reform the House of
Lords. The lords finally agreed to accept the people’s budget but they rejected, of course, the reform
bill.
In April 1910, Asquith went to the king, Edward, and asked him to create 250 Liberal lords. He gave a
list of 250 men, all of them liberals. The king was in a difficult situation. He died in May, before he gave
an answer to Asquith. His son was George V. Asquith waited until August to speak to the new king.
George V was not very enthusiastic at the idea. So he asked Asquith to have another election, to let
the people decide. So there was another election in the same year, in December 1910. Result : the
Liberals won the majority.
1911 : George V agreed to create these liberal Lords. However, before he did it, the House of Lords
agreed to pass the reform bill. The 250 liberal Lords were not created.
1911 Parliament Act. Three main points :
the Lords do not have the right to reject or block any finance bill from the House of Commons.
the Lords do not have the right to block permanently other bills from the House of Commons but
they may be delayed for a period of two years. This gave the House of Commons time to “think
again”.
there must be an election in Britain every five years.
That is still the situation today except point number 2. It was changed in 1949. The 1949 Parliament
Act reduced the delay to one year. The bill was obviously blocked for two years by the House of Lords.
=> dramatic change in the constitution.
+ unemployment benefits
+ sickness benefits
= the origins of the British welfare state.
d) The Suffragette Movement
The were women activists at the end of the 18th century. Book : “A Vindication of the Rights of
Women”, 1792. In the 19th century there were great women feminists, demanding the right to be
educated, changes in the laws of marriage and divorce. When a woman married she became the
property of her husband. They had no right to go to university, enter certain professions (doctors,
politicians). There were thousands of women, all over the country, demanding reforms and the right to
vote.
3
1897 : creation of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). It was a combination
of all groups of women fighting for the right of vote.
1906 : a delegation met with the Prime Minister, Asquith, and they presented their demands. He did
not agree with the right of vote for women but he told them to be more patient. Some of the women in
the room had no more patience and they created an organization much more violent : Women’s Social
and Political Union (WSPU).
There were then two groups : the NUWSS led by Millicent Fawcett, and the WSPU led by Emmeline
Pankhurst.
The NUWSS was moderate. Their motto was “Faith, Perseverance, Patience”. Calm, antiviolence.
They believed in persuading men through words, arguments.
The WSPU’s motto was “Deeds not words” (deed = action). They were fighters. They believed in
fighting and dying for the right of vote. They were supported by Keir Hardie. Violent actions against
properties (golf, letterbox, windows). They were really irritating : they wanted life to be difficult for men.
Some of them were imprisoned and went on hunger strikes. The officials did not want them to become
martyrs => they forced them to eat, and in 1913 : the government passed an Act : the Prisoner’s
Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act = “Cat and Mouse Act” => these women on hunger strike were
released, they went back home, ate, and were reimprisoned after they had recovered.
The problem was they were proving to men they were unfit for politics, that they were dominated by
their emotions.
1913 : the Suffragette Derby, a horse racing in Epsom, the King had his horse racing (Anmer). Emily
Wilding Davison went on the tracks with a banner “Votes for women” and was struck by the King’s
horse. She was a really brilliant woman, she went several times in prison, tried to suicide in prison.
She died at the hospital after the race ended. Her funerals were incredible : thousands of women
wearing the white dress to salute their martyr. (video)
Ironically it was the most extreme violence act of men which won the right to vote for women : both
organizations stopped their actions and campaigned for war, forgetting vote for women. They were
very critical against men who didn’t support war (clash Emmeline + Keir => traitor)
Women went to work in factories, collieries, docks and worked tirelessly to support the soldiers. They
went to war as nurses, ambulances drivers, stretchers. They won big respect from the men : Edith
Cavell was a nurse living in Brussels, but she was English and helped British prisoners to escape from
the continent to UK. She was betrayed by one of her friends, captured and shot by the Germans. It
was a shocking event for the British : she was executed to have helped people.
1916 : introduction of a bill presenting the right to vote for women, which was passed in 1918 : all
women over 30 and all men over 21 could vote
1923 : the divorce laws were equalized
1925 : they had the right to keep custody of their children
1928 : all women over 21 could now vote (= men)
e) 1914 – “The lights are going out across Europe” – The start of the First World War
On Sunday 28th June 1914, the Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia
were assassinated in Sarajevo. They were murdered by a Serb nationalist Gravilo Princip. This is the
famous spark which soon enflamed the whole of Europe.
Franz Ferdinand was an unpopular man with the Serbs and also the Austrians and Hungarians. But
this assassination gave the Austro-Hungarian empire the excuse it wanted to attack the Serbs.
When Britain heard the news, the British government was not very concerned. The Prime Minister,
Asquith, had much more serious problems to deal with : important strikes, and the possibility of war in
Ireland. In 1914, Ireland was on the point of civil war. The question of Irish independence (Home Rule
for Ireland) was a serious question for the government. The Prime Minister was on the point to giving
independence to the Irish. If he had done that in 1914, the situation in Ireland would be very different
today.
4
Britain was not so much interested in events in Europe. Most people didn’t even know where Sarajevo
was. But events moved very quickly : Germany promised support for Austria-Hungary, Russia
promised support for the Serbs, France promised support for Russia, … It was like dominoes.
By the beginning of August, Britain was at war. It declared war on Germany on August 4th, 1914.
Things had happened very quickly. The British Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey, said on that day in his
diary : “the lights are going out all over Europe”. Europe was moving into a period of darkness.
I I . The First World War
a) The politics and the battles of war
The government asked for volunteers in the army, and was surprised by the enormous number of
young men who volunteered to go and fight in Europe. There was a desire for war, a patriotic desire to
fight for Britain. Britain had been at peace for 100 years. The old lion was waking up. There was an
explosion of jingoism (= patriotism). Men who did not volunteer were considered cowards. Some men
who did not volunteer received little envelopes with three white feathers inside, the symbol of
cowardice. There was enormous pressure on men to go and fight. Nobody really understood that this
would be a new type of war, what horrors they were going to experience. They all said it would be over
by Christmas. Nobody understood that this would be a war with weapons of mass destruction, new
types of bombs, missiles, tanks, submarines, big iron battleships, aeroplanes (they had just been
invented) and, perhaps the worse, the machine-gun (mitraillette), and gas, chemical weapons. Every
type of weapons was being used to kill.
By Christmas, 100,000 British men had lost their lives, and the war was far to be over. People soon
began to realize that this was a new terrible type of war. By 1916, to government was forced to use
conscription. It passed a Conscription Act forcing men to join the army. Men no longer volunteered.
The officers on all sides were largely to blame for the terrible massacre which took place. They
ordered the men to go out the trenches and go over the top. Those who came back were arrested and
executed for cowardice to be used as an example. The officers send their men to their deaths.
On July 1st, 1916, the battle of the Somme began. On the first day, 60,000 British soldiers were killed
(During the Vietnam War, in 8 years, 58.000 Americans died). The bombs and the guns could be
heard in England.
Over 10m soldiers died in those 4 years : Germany, 1.8m, Russia, 1.7m, France, 1.4m, AustriaHungary, 1.3m, Britain, 1m, plus Italians, Serbs, Americans, … The statistics did not include civilian
deaths, and millions of civilians were killed, accidentally or deliberately.
b) Enter America – the end of war
The arrival of the Americans in 1917 virtually guaranteed victory for the allies. They came into the war
in April 1917. Hundred of thousands of American troops arrived in Europe. American was now the
supreme economic power on earth. When America joined the war, this was great news for the British
and the French. The balance between Germany and the British and the French was very close. Even
with the Americans it was difficult. The German submarines were very effective in attacking ships in
the Atlantic. They tried to create a blockade around Britain. At the beginning of 1918, Britain was in
trouble : there was a serious shortage of food. Fortunately for Britain, the blockade was broken.
Finally the Germans were forced to surrender at 11 o’clock in the morning on the 11th November 1918.
c) Aftermath and the khaki election
There were great celebrations in Britain; This was the end of the Great War. This war was to be the
war that ended all wars (that is what Britain said). Britain was victorious, but at what cost ? They
decided this type of war must never happen again.
The Prime Minister was now Lloyd George. He had taken power in December 1916. He was
determined to have an election immediately after the war because he wanted to take advantage of the
excitement in Britain after the war. The King, George V, asked Lloyd George to wait. But Lloyd George
insisted and the election took place in December 1918.
5
Lloyd George campaigned on the theme of creating a “land fit for heroes”. He was leading a coalition
government of Liberals and Conservatives. The Labour Party campaigned separately. For the first
time, women over 30 could vote and all men over 21. The result was predictable. Lloyd George and
his coalition government won a huge victory. People wanted to thank him, to show their loyalty. The
Labour Party received over 2 million votes and won 60 seats in the House of Commons. The Labour
Party was very happy with this result. And very soon, the Labour Party would replace the Liberal Party
as the second most important party in British politics.
III.
A country not at peace… with itself
a) Boom and burst – industrial unrest
Lloyd George had promised a land “fit for heroes” but the reality was very different; The British
economy was in serious trouble after the war. All the European economy had been destroyed by war.
The first consequence of recession is unemployment. The soldiers went home to a country
devastated, to unemployment, poverty, deprivation. There were strikes : coalminers, Dockers, railway
workers, even the police in 1919 for higher wages (today in Britain it is illegal for the police to go on
strike). These economic and industrial problems caused great hostility towards the government. Lloyd
George was becoming increasingly unpopular. By 1920 people hated him. He was forced to resign in
October 1922, as a result of an international crisis, which implicated Turkey and Greece. Turkey was
threatening to attack Greece, and Greece was a Britain’s ally. For a short time it looked like Britain
would go to war against Turkey, to protect Greece. In 1922, many people did not know where Greece
was. The idea of going to war in Greece made the British furious. There were not enough money for
domestic issues.
The Conservatives resigned from the coalition government, which forced Lloyd George to call an
election. The Conservatives won the election in October 1922, Lloyd George was defeated. This was
the first election since 1910 where all three parties were fighting against each other. The Labour Party
came second and the Liberals came third. Lloyd George believed this was a temporary problem, that
the Liberals would come back. But he was the last Liberal Prime Minister. In 1906 and 1910 they were
the major party in British politics. Their influence diminished quickly. They always talk of a come back,
but it never happens.
b) 1924 – The first Labour Government
Conservative Prime Minister : Stanley Baldwin. He was very quickly in trouble over one particular
question : the question of free trade and protectionism. Baldwin was a protectionist.
Argument contre le protectionnisme : on ne trouve pas tout sur le territoire national + à cette époque, pas assez
de nourriture pour tout le monde produite sur le territoire britannique, de vêtements. Protectionnisme =>
augmentation des prix.
The Liberal Party was for free trade. In December 1923, Baldwin decided to call an election on the
question of free trade/protectionism. He believed the country would support protectionism. But the
country was split : 258 seats for the Conservatives, 191 for the Labour Party, 151 for the Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party agreed to support the Labour Party, so in January 1924 the King, George V, invited
the leader of the Labour Party, a Scott called Ramsey MacDonald, to Buckingham Palace to ask him
the be Prime Minister. Ramsey MacDonald became the first Labour Party Prime Minister in British
history, just 24 years after the creation of the Labour Party.
Many people in Britain were very scared at the idea of a socialist Prime Minister. It was just seven
years after the Bolshevik revolution. Even the King, on the first day he met MacDonald, asked him
what he were to do with him. The Russian monarchy was very closely related with the British
monarchy. Many people thought MacDonald would abolish the monarchy. But MacDonald was not a
real socialist. In many ways Tony Blair and Ramsey MacDonald are very similar. MacDonald was
more interested in buying beautiful antics than in socialism. He had an affaire with a member of the
aristocracy : Lady Londonderry. MacDonald gave the order to the Royal Air Force to bomb Baghdad.
Britain was at war with the region of Iraq at the time (Iraq did not exist). Britain killed thousands of Arab
civilians.
6
Some achievements of MacDonald’s government :
One member of the government was indeed a socialist : James Wheatley. He was the Minister for
Housing. He pushed a housing bill through Parliament : the 1924 Housing Act, to build council houses.
He helped to destroy many slums of Glasgow.
MacDonald personally had a great success with the French. Just six years after the end of the war,
France was still very angry with the Germans, and occupied an industrial area in Germany : the Ruhr.
There had even been fighting between the French and the Germans. Germany was still paying
reparations for the First World War as imposed in the Treaty of Versailles : millions and millions of
Deutsch Mark. This caused the collapse of the German economy. Money had no value anymore
(hyperinflation).
MacDonald wanted to help Germany. He wanted France to leave the Ruhr. It was a very courageous
move, because he was a new Prime Minister, he had no experience in diplomacy. In early 1924, he
contacted the French Prime Minister (président du conseil), Pointcaré (the president was Alexandre
Millerand). Surprisingly, they responded quite positively, they agreed to a meeting. June 1924 :
election in France => the Prime Minister and the President were replaced by Edouard Herriot and
Gaston Doumergue. MacDonald contacted them and made the same request. They agreed to a
conference in London with the British Prime Minister and the American President. It took place in the
summer 1924. The Americans proposed a plan to help Germany = the Dawes Plan (by Charles G
Dawes). It consisted in lending them money to pay the reparations to France, and France must leave
the Ruhr, which the French agreed to do. It was a remarkable achievement by MacDonald. He had
brought together the French and the Americans and they agreed to a plan to save Germany.
However, by October, MacDonald was out of power. October 1924 : vote for no confidence in the
Parliament. The Conservatives and Liberals allied against MacDonald. He was defeated and the
government had to resign. They were in power for nine months. This was the first real taste of power
for the Labour Party. Those nine months had not been a disaster : no difference with the
Conservatives. The Labour Party had proved they could govern the country as good as the
Conservatives.
October 1924 : election. It has become quite famous in British politics thanks to a letter, known as the
Zinoviev Letter. Zinoviev was a Russian, the president of the international Communist Party. Four or
five days before the election, a British paper , The Daily Mail, published a letter from Zinoviev to the
British Communist Party. They had received a copy of the letter. The letter promised that the soviet
union was ready to support a communist revolution in Britain. It also said that the Labour Party was
secretly giving money to the Communists in Russia. This “proved” that the Labour Party was secretly
communist. The letter was a forgery, a fraud. It was invented by the Daily Mail. The Labour Party told
the people it was a lie. But some people were scared. The Daily Mail did succeed in destroying the
Labour Party. This event show how much the Conservatives were determined to destroy the Labour
Party. But people did vote for the Labour Party, they were not all influenced. Results : Conservatives
919 seats, Labour 151 seats, Liberals 40 seats. The Conservatives won the election but Labour did
not do so badly. The Liberals were destroyed : they became a minority party.
c) 1926 – The General Strike
Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister again, from 1924 to 1929. During that period of five years, the
economy declined, unemployment increased and almost in the middle, in 1926, was the only time
when there was a general strike (May 1926).
At that time the coalmines were private. In 1925 the mine owners insisted that the miners work longer
hours (there was a law : 8h a day maximum, 6 days a week => 48 hours a week). The owners wanted
60 hours a week and to cut wages. The miners had a great leader at that time, Arthur Cook, a
Welshman. He was a coalminer and a pastor. He was a great speaker. He coined a phrase in
response to the mine owners : “Not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay.” The miners followed
Cook and threatened to go on strike. Baldwin was very worried, it could be a disaster for the economy.
He proposed a solution : he promised government subsidies to the coal industry, to maintain the
miners’ wages at the same level, and no extra hours. He also promised a Royal Commission to
investigate the problem of the coalmine industry and to propose solutions. It was accepted by the mine
owners and the miners. The crisis was avoided, there was no strike.
The Commission was led by Herbert Samuel. It produced its report in March 1926. It suggested cuts in
wages and increase in the number of hours. The government subsidies ended on the 1 st May. Cook
7
rejected the Samuel report. The miners refused to work longer hours for less money. This time, the
government was ready for a strike. For one year, the government had been increasing its stocks of
coal, had been saving coal. By May 1926, the government had large reserves of coal. Moreover, it
was the beginning of the summer : not much coal used for domestic purposes. The coal was kept for
industry and transport. The government had contingency plan for public transport systems.
The unions met with the government (Baldwin, Churchill, Chamberlain, … )in Downing Street during
the week-end. There were the leaders of the unions of the coalminers but also Dockers, etc… The
negotiations continued during the week-end, they were very tough. On Sunday night, at about 10
o’clock, the members of the government stood up and left the room. Everybody was then really tired.
The union leaders waited. And suddenly, on of the servants of Downing Street came into the room and
spoke to the union leaders. He said that the Prime Minister had gone to bed. The other members of
the government had gone home. The leaders of the unions had to leave. On the 3rd May, on Monday
morning, the first and only general strike in British History began.
It lasted nine days (= “The Nine Days”). There was an absolute silence in the street that Monday
morning : docks, railways, factories, coalmines, were on strike. Transports were taken over by the
government, and volunteers drove the buses and trains. They were students, very often with soldiers
sitting next to them. The strike continued for nine days and ended on the 12 th May. The only people
who did not go back to work were the coalminers. Their strike continued for 5 months. They had no
money.
Finally, by October, they agreed to go back to work, and to the mine owners demands. Bu the
demands had changed : they had to take even more cuts and work more. It was a disaster for the
coalminers and the unions.
d) 1929 : The second Labour Government
The general strike was a failure and all the time during this difficult months, the Labour Party did
nothing. They remained silent. They did not support strike because they were afraid of being accused
of being communists. During the general strike, the press said that this was a strike about
communism, which was the beginning of the communist revolution. A few coalminers were
communists but the majority was not. The leaders were not communists. At that time, there was a
radio, the BBC. The radio and the newspapers worn people, tried to frightened them. The Labour
Party was worried about being associated with communists. So they said nothing.
In 1927, the Conservative government passed the Trade Union Act. It declared the general strike to
have been illegal. It was a retroactive law. It was very worrying. Something legal today might in the
future be illegal. The are the actions of tyrannical governments. The men who were on strike were
criminalized. It showed the absolute supremacy of Parliament.
In 1929, there was a general election. The main issue of the campaign was the problem of
unemployment. It was rising very quickly. Consequently the Labour Party did very well : 288 seats.
Conservatives : 26 seats. Liberals : 59 seats. For the first time in history, the Labour Party was the
biggest party in Parliament. The Conservatives asked the Liberals to join with them but they refused.
The Cabinet : MacDonald became Prime Minister. Arthur Henderson was the foreign secretary. He
was a very good man. George Lansbury was a radical socialist, a good man, honest. Oswald Mosley
was a very young and charming man, an aristocrat who joined the Labour Party.
IV.
Crash and Debacle – The 1930s
a) Wall street and the end of innocence
The problem was economic depression; In October 1929 there was the Crash. By 1930, Britain was in
deep trouble. Nobody knew how to deal with this economic crisis. One man proposed a solution. This
was Oswald Mosley. In 1930 he spoke at meeting of the Cabinet and he presented solutions to
economic problem : he suggested that the government should take the responsibility for a public work
programme. The government should employ men to work in building programmes. They would spend
their wages, buy things, and this would encourage more consumption and then more production. This
idea came from a British economist called Keynes. This was the responsibility of government to
stimulate the economy. These ideas were implemented in America in the 1930s by Roosevelt (the
New Deal). These were new and complicated ideas, and very dangerous, because the government
8
had to start investing, take the risk at the beginning. When the government looked at these ideas, they
thought that they had not enough money. They said they could not make money because it could lead
to inflation. The Labour Cabinet rejected Mosley’s proposal. He left the Cabinet and the Labour Party.
He created a new party in 1930 : the New Party. He quickly changed the name to the British Union of
Fascists. All during the 1930s, Mosley was the leader of the B.U.F. in Britain. He made contact with
Mussolini and Hitler. He marched through the streets of London, Birmingham, … to create problems.
He began to attack the Jews. He was very arrogant, treated women very badly. The Fascists never
have had popular support in Britain. There were some pockets of support. Much of its support came
from British aristocracy. The BUF never had any seat in Parliament. In the 1970s, there was a fascist
party called the National Front, and today the British National Party. It is still a minor party.
1931 was a year of crisis for MacDonald and the Labour Government. By this time, the British
economy was close to collapse. Unemployment was dramatically high : about 15%. As unemployment
was rising, unemployment benefits were rising and taxation was decreasing. The government income
was going down and outgoings were increasing. Foreign banks which had invested money in Britain
were beginning to get very nervous. The New York and Europeans banks had a lot of money invested
in Britain. The government was incapable of paying the money back. In May 1931, a big Austrian bank
collapsed because it had led money to Britain and Britain had not given the money back. When other
banks heard the news, they began to collapse too. People wanted their money back. The British
government employed an economist, George May, to find immediate solution to the problem. He
produced his report on 31st July 1931. The May report suggested to reduce unemployment benefits by
£97 million, and to increase taxation, especially on policemen and teachers because their jobs were
secure.
MacDonald and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden, went on holiday on August 1 st, in
the middle of this absolute crisis. When the bankers saw the reaction of the government, they were
shocked, furious.
The British economy was on the point of collapse. The business community in London could not
believe that Snowden and MacDonald had left London. They got in touch with MacDonald and insisted
that he comes back. He returned to London on 11 August and announced that he intended to
implement the report.
The problem for MacDonald was he had to persuade his government to accept the May Report. A
Labour government attacking the poor ? Another problem : he had to tried to persuade the unions to
accept the May Report, because the Labour party was closely linked to the trade unions. MacDonald
said he was in favour, but the government was split and the unions were against. The negotiations
continued for about one week and MacDonald finally persuaded them to accept cuts but not as much
as May wanted. When MacDonald spoke to parliament (the majority were not Labour) on 20 August,
the House of Commons rejected MacDonald. The Liberals supported the Conservatives. They wanted
the full cuts.
Sunday 23 August : New York bankers sent a message to MacDonald promising more money to
Britain but on condition that the government agreed to impose the May Report. MacDonald went to
speak to his Cabinet. At the end of the day, there were 11 for, 9 against. The government was split,
almost 50-50. MacDonald knew he could not continue. At the end of the day, he said he would resign.
And the government had to resign too. He said he was leaving 10 Downing Street now and going to
Buckingham Palace to see the King George V.
The next Monday, the government went to Downing Street and MacDonald told them that he had not
resigned. He explained that he had seen the King and that the King asked him not to resign, to form a
national government of all the political parties. MacDonald agreed to do that. The Cabinet were furious
with him. MacDonald asked them to join the national government but they refused and they left. Just 3
men agreed to stay : Snowden was one of them. Then, MacDonald invited the Conservatives to come
in. => government with a Conservative majority with a Labour Prime Minister.
A few days later, at the beginning of September, MacDonald was expelled from the Labour party. Most
members of the Labour Party never spoke to MacDonald again. He had betrayed them, he was a
traitor to the Labour Party, a traitor to the working class.
It showed that the King had a direct influence in politics.
October 1931 : general election. MacDonald was the Prime Minister leading a national government of
Conservatives, Liberals and a few ex-Labour people. Anybody who supported MacDonald was
9
expelled from the Labour Party (Snowden). On the other side : the Labour Party. MacDonald
campaigned against the Labour Party.
Results : the national government 556 seats, Labour 52 seats. It was a disaster for the Labour Party.
Many people believed it was the death of the Labour Party. They blamed MacDonald, who helped to
create the Labour Party in 1900.
Meanwhile, the poor are getting poorer. Unemployment was increasing. The economic situation was
getting worse.
b) Unemployment – the Jarrow March
First time in the industrial age that we see enormous, mass unemployment. This issue dominated
politics in the 1930s. This converted many ordinary people in extremists. Over 6 million unemployed
Germans. People were desperate. Hitler was democratically elected. In Britain the 1930s have
become known as the “wasted years”, “the hungry decade”, “the devil’s decade”.
1931-35 : the worst period of unemployment. The minimum number of unemployed was 2 million but
in 1933 it was over 3 million, about 25% of the adult population. That is the official statistics. They did
not include married women, part-time workers (seasonal workers in holiday times, agricultural
workers).
The government was desperate to reduce the unemployment benefits. The national government did
introduce the cuts but it did not solve the problem. In 1931, the government tried another method : “the
means test”. The government sent officials to unemployed people’s houses to interview the people
and to assess their situation. They looked how well you were doing. If they thought you were doing
well, they cut the benefits. People were forced to sell things. This test and the people who carried on
the test were hated. People were living in outer desperation, in poverty, on or below the “bread line” (=
just enough money to buy bread). Many people did not have money to buy bread daily.
This massive unemployment made a large number of men moving around the country looking for
work. In France, men were staying in their villages, looking for agricultural jobs. In Britain, more
industrial => more fluidity. Massive migration. This search for jobs became a national obsession.
There was a deep shame about being unemployed. People feel guilty. Especially men who are
supposed to provide for their families. About two men per day committed suicide because of the
shame of being unemployed (official statistics). Many women died because of poor health due to bad
diets, malnutrition.
A whole generation of young people without the tradition of work. They were not considered as
unemployed because they had never worked. A whole generation lost the practice of going to work.
There was a change in the mentality of people. There was an increase in crime among young men,
who had never worked and who had no hope in working. They had no feeling of attachment to the
community where they lived. They did not belong. Increase in small crime : theft, robbery, attacks on
private properties.
There were organized protests. People who believed that the government was responsible, that things
could change. Some of the protests supported the extreme right (the BUF). Mosley promised to get
jobs, blamed the Jews.
Other protested through the NUWM : the National Unemployed Workers Movement. They had no
power, but they could demonstrate. It was created in 1921, but it became much more popular in the
1930s. It organized marches in all the major towns and cities : “hunger marches”. They had no
economic power. The only thing they could do was to make the general public conscious.
Unemployment was concentrated in the north. In the southern towns there was low unemployment.
In 1936, one of the most famous march in British history,
organized in a small industrial town in the north of England,
Jarrow, by a Labour MP, Helen Wilkinson. 200 men from Jarrow
to London (about 300km). They marched in silence, in rain, all
the way to London. They were peaceful and very effective.
People gave them food, clothes, shoes. They were well received.
When they arrived in London, the people in the street applauded
them. The Jarrow March has become the most potent symbol of
that terrible decade.
10
Another event in Britain : crisis in the Royal family = the abdication crisis.
c) An alien world – The abdication Crisis
In January 1936, George V died. He had become king in 1910. The new king was his son, Edward
VIII. He already had a reputation as the Prince of Wales. He was handsome, charming, enjoying life in
the fast line, cocktails, cigarettes, women. At that time, in the 30s, the population was starving => quite
shocking. The press was very sympathetic to him, portraying him as a man concerned by people’s
problems : he visited villages and towns, spoke to people, and they focused on that (cf. a visit to
Wales). Image of a caring man. He was supported by a large part of the British people as they
believed he truly cared for them.
In 1934, he met Wallis Simpson, an American socialite married with
a rich businessman, Ernest, her second husband, and he felt in love.
It was quite embarrassing as the husband quickly was aware of what
was going on. She asked for the divorce, he agreed in order she
could marry Edward.
The government was aware of what was going on, as well as the
Conservatives and the Church, even the chiefs of the
Commonwealth Nations (created in 1930). They all knew he had an
affair, and they opposed him. They would not support such a
marriage.
Edward offered a compromise solution : a morganatic marriage (a
technical term for a union where he would be King, she would not be
Queen, and their children would not have any titles). The
government considered it seriously, but refused. He made it clear he would marry her normally.
He became King at his father’s death. In august they went on holiday together, a cruise to Yugoslavia.
The British newspapers said nothing (quite amazing), not one picture, nor a detail. But European or
American newspapers were not as gentle as they were, and the news was beginning to leak through
the population (from foreign English to inner ones).
Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister. In November he met Edward who told him he was preparing to
marry Wallis immediately after the divorce was finalized. Baldwin told him his government would
resign, and that every parties agreed with him (Clement Attley, the new Conservative leader, Liberals
and Labours). It was a total agreement to threaten Edward, but he still stood in his position.
The bishop of Bradford made a speech on the BBC in December, asking the British people to pray for
Edward at this very difficult period of his life : the news was now public. All knew Edward wanted to
marry an American divorcee. The country was split on the subject. The Church did not recognize the
divorce, and the King is Head of the Church.
Edward accepted to step down on 10 December 1936. He made an announce on the BBC, a great
speech written for him, at the end of what he announced his abdication. If he had stood a bit more, he
would have killed the monarchy.
12 December 1936, his young brother became King George VI. Edward left England with Wallis about
Christmas and never came back. He died later, in 1972, in Paris, after he spent his life with Wallis.
George had never been prepared to that, he was not ready for that. He was not trained to be King. He
was very nervous and died young (1952), and his wife Elizabeth blame Edward and Wallis for his
death. His elder daughter became Queen Elizabeth II.
V . Europe – The clouds darken once again.
a) The rise of fascism
In 1937, Britain had a new Prime Minister. Stanley Baldwin resigned : he was simply exhausted, he
was old and tired. The abdication crisis had been very difficult for him. He was replace by Neville
Chamberlain.
This was the period of the rise of fascism in Europe. Hitler was in power since 1933, Mussolini since
1922, Franco, Spanish civil war. Britain and France were very worried about another war beginning.
11
The majority of British people were determined that there should never be another war in Europe.
They were led by a Prime Minister who was determined to avoid war, at almost all costs.
b) Guilty men – Appeasement
When Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, Chamberlain met with Hitler and he got a promise from
Hitler : that Germany had no more territorial ambitions. Chamberlain returned to England and when he
arrived back in London, he held up a piece of paper and declared “peace in our time”. Piece of paper
signed by Hitler which promised that Germany would not attack any other country. It was a relief for
British people. Czechoslovakia was a faraway place of which the British did not know anything. There
were voices in Britain critical of Chamberlain, for being too naive with Hitler. They said that Hitler could
not be trusted. One of the loudest came from Winston Churchill. He said that Britain should be ready
for war. The only way to stop Hitler was fighting him.
c) 1939 : Back to the Beginning – War in Europe
The following year, Germany invaded Poland (1 September 1939), on a Friday. Chamberlain and the
British government were devastated. They realized that they had been tricked. Hitler had been buying
time. In 1938 he was quite ready for war. The policy of appeasement had failed.
VI.
The Second World War
a) 1939-42 – Dark days for Britain
The German war machine looked invincible. The early months of the war were a disaster for Britain.
April 1940 : Germany invaded and took control of Norway. Germany controlled the North Sea. This
was an enormous shock to the British. The British were very proud of their navy (cf. the song
“Britannia”). Britain was very vulnerable.
In 9-10 May 1940, there was a debate in the House of Commons = the Norway Debate. Chamberlain
tried to defend his policy. He could not. When Arthur Greenwood (Labour Party) stood up to make a
speech, the Conservative Party shouted support for him. They applauded him. At the end of the
debate, Chamberlain resigned and the King invited Churchill to become Prime Minister. Churchill was
65.
One of his greatest abilities was to deliver speeches. On 12 May he made his first speech as a Prime
Minister in the House of Commons. He concluded with : “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears
and sweat”. He formed a new government and he invited the Labour Party to join the government. La
Labour Party accepted.
1940-41 : extremely dangerous time for Britain. France had fallen. The German army => Blitzkrieg.
The German army was in France, ready to invade Britain. If Hitler had attacked in the summer of 1940,
Britain would have collapsed. Hitler turned his attention away from Britain, to Russia. Britain survived
thanks to that decision. His generals advised him not to attack Russia. But he was obsessed by
attacking Communists. Hitler broke the pact with Staline.
b) 1942 – New hope – El Alamein and the Beveridge Report
1942 = turning point in the war. The German army was defeated twice : by the Russian army at the
battle of Stalingrad and in North Africa by the British army (Al Alamein). Rommel = brilliant German
Marshall.
The German war machine was not so invincible in fact. People began to believe that Germany could
be defeated.
By 1942, America had joined the war, after the attack on Pearl Harbour (Sunday 7 December 1941).
Churchill wrote in his diary that he had slept well because he knew that America was at war. The
American war machine was in action.
At the beginning of 1942, an economist called William Beveridge was asked to produce a report on
how the British social security system should be structured and financed after the war. It was
remarkable that they had ideas for the future. October 1942, the Beveridge Report was published. It
12
aimed to create a welfare state, a society where nobody should be hungry, uneducated. People
should not be afraid of being unemployed, or ill. It became a best-seller in Britain. Thousand of people
were buying copies. People wanted a new society, a future that they could look forward to. They
wanted a society which looked after its people. Beveridge provided the way. The Labour Party quickly
adopted the report as the Labour Party policy. Churchill was not interested in the report.
c) 1944 – D-Day – The Normandy Landings
d) 1945 – peace in Europe
The peace treaty was signed in Reims on May 7, 1945.
What would British society look like now that the war was finished ?
13