Keeping the British Liberal Party flag flying high
- Thread starter pipisme
- Start date
On balance the Republicans. The Democrats had been tacking to the left to win the support of the Social Democrats. But the US political spectrum could no be divided neatly into liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. There were conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans.
Alphonse Fournier became Prime Minister of Canada on 15 November 1948 following the resignation of William Mackenzie King. In this TL Louis St. Laurent was appointed League of Nations High Commissioner in Danzig in September 1940. After he had served in that post he returned to Canada and did not have a political career.
Fournier called a federal election for 9 May 1949. The number of seats obtained by each party was as follows [federal election on 11 June 1945]:
Liberal: 138 [101]
Progressive Conservative: 65 [74]
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation: 44 [51]
Social Credit: 10 [12]
Independents: 4 [6]
Liberal-Progressive: 1 [1]
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Total: 262 [245]
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[1] Here is the Wikipedia entry for Fournier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Fournier.
Fournier called a federal election for 9 May 1949. The number of seats obtained by each party was as follows [federal election on 11 June 1945]:
Liberal: 138 [101]
Progressive Conservative: 65 [74]
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation: 44 [51]
Social Credit: 10 [12]
Independents: 4 [6]
Liberal-Progressive: 1 [1]
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Total: 262 [245]
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[1] Here is the Wikipedia entry for Fournier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Fournier.
In March 1950 the book The Way Forward for Socialism: Essays on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Formation of the Labour Representation Committee was published. This comprised a preface by Clement Attlee, the leader of the Socialist Labour Party, and nine essays by the following people: Hugh Gaitskell, Roy Jenkins, Anthony Crosland, Annie Maxton, Patrick Gordon Walker, John Strachey, Margaret Cole, Austen Albu and Stephen Owen Davies.
A significant body of opinion on the left-wing of the Socialist Labour Party [SLP] were opposed to being in coalition with the Liberals. They believed that doing so comprised their independence and did not not advance the cause of socialism. They pointed to the sister party of the SLP in Canada, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which although it generally supported Liberal governments between June 1945 and May 1949, but did not go into coalition with the Liberals.
Although opposition to the coalition was comparatively low among SLP MPs and Senators, amounting to only around twenty SLP MPs, that is about a fifth of the total were opposed to coalition, and a smaller proportion of senators, political commentators and historians have estimated that it was as high as between thirty-five and forty percent of SLP constituency parties. The trade unions mostly supported the coalition.
Although opposition to the coalition was comparatively low among SLP MPs and Senators, amounting to only around twenty SLP MPs, that is about a fifth of the total were opposed to coalition, and a smaller proportion of senators, political commentators and historians have estimated that it was as high as between thirty-five and forty percent of SLP constituency parties. The trade unions mostly supported the coalition.
There were people on the right-wing of the Socialist Labour Party who wanted it to drop Socialist from its name and revert to being the Labour Party. An article by Douglas Jay, the newly elected Socialist Labour MP for Lambeth Vauxhall, in the issue of the New Statesman dated 24 November 1950, argued that the word socialism in the party's name deterred people from voting for it, and was a factor in the party's disappointing performance in the October general election in which they had a net gain of only eight seats from 89 to 97. He pointed out that the party was more successful when it was the Labour Party. He claimed that several other Socialist Labour MPs agreed with him.
Thank you for that idea for a name change, which I hadn't thought of. However the members wanted to keep the name Labour for historic reasons and to show that it is the party of the labouring or working class. The name Socialist Labour was chosen when the Labour Party and the Independent Labour Party reunited on 1 March 1939. [1]
There were Social Democratic parties in other countries. I don't know how left-wing they were. In the UK the Social Democratic Federation was in existence from 1891 to 1911. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Federation.
[1] See posts #596-598 on page 30, and post #732 on page 37.
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An interesting problem to have, though probably the left have it right - constantly tacking to the Liberals in a liberal/conservative western world means the Liberals get the parliamentary credit when it goes well.
Socialism has withered on the vine in much more of the world TTL so it probably starts to seem out of date or utopian, and they can't coherently attack Lib/Lab governments for not going far enough if they don't object while being in them.
The choice will seem like the party must lurch left to the ILP model and remain irrelevant, or lurch right and find seats where they could replace the Tories as the Liberal challenger. In the later model they might find some examples in TTL's Carlist PSOE unity government in Spain.
Socialism has withered on the vine in much more of the world TTL so it probably starts to seem out of date or utopian, and they can't coherently attack Lib/Lab governments for not going far enough if they don't object while being in them.
The choice will seem like the party must lurch left to the ILP model and remain irrelevant, or lurch right and find seats where they could replace the Tories as the Liberal challenger. In the later model they might find some examples in TTL's Carlist PSOE unity government in Spain.
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In the issue of the New Statesman dated 1st December 1950, Annie Maxton, younger sister of the late James Maxton and Socialist Labour MP for Renfrewshire East, put the case for keeping Socialist Labour as the new name for the party in reply to the article by Douglas Jay in the previous issue. She quoted from her brother's speech at the special Independent Labour Party [ILP] conference in Bradford in February 1939 that the Socialist Labour Party was not a merger of the ILP and the Labour Party, but a new socialist party. [1] To change its name would be to deny those values and a rejection of her brother's legacy. There was absolutely no evidence that the party would have done better in the general election under the name Labour. Annie was the custodian of her brother's papers.
In that issue of the magazine and over the following weeks, there was a lively correspondence in reply to Jay's and Maxton's articles, until it petered out. Most of the letters agreed with Annie Maxton.
[1] See post #732 on page 37.
In that issue of the magazine and over the following weeks, there was a lively correspondence in reply to Jay's and Maxton's articles, until it petered out. Most of the letters agreed with Annie Maxton.
[1] See post #732 on page 37.
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In a speech in her Glasgow Bridgeton constituency in early December 1950, Jennie Lee, the Minister of Housing and Local Government, strongly rejected the proposal to change the name of the Socialist Labour Party.
The debate over the proposed name change continued in the political weeklies and the broadsheet press until the Socialist Labour Party conference in Scarborough in the first week of October 1951. There a resolution proposed by Birmingham Sparkbrook Socialist Labour Party to change the party's name to Labour Party was overwhelmingly defeated with only 8.3 percent of delegates voting in favour.
The debate over the proposed name change continued in the political weeklies and the broadsheet press until the Socialist Labour Party conference in Scarborough in the first week of October 1951. There a resolution proposed by Birmingham Sparkbrook Socialist Labour Party to change the party's name to Labour Party was overwhelmingly defeated with only 8.3 percent of delegates voting in favour.
Festival of Britain
In October 1944 Gerald Barry editor of the Liberal broadsheet News Chronicle wrote an open letter to Hugh Dalton, the President of the Board, in which he put his forward his idea of a national festival in 1951. It would not only commemorate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, but celebrate British industry, science, arts and architecture. [1] Dalton replied a few days later giving his full support to Barry's proposal. The Prime Minister, Isaac Foot, appointed Clement Attlee, the Lord President of the Council, to be the minister responsible for the festival.
[1] This was much like the Festival of Britain in OTL. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_of_Britain
In October 1944 Gerald Barry editor of the Liberal broadsheet News Chronicle wrote an open letter to Hugh Dalton, the President of the Board, in which he put his forward his idea of a national festival in 1951. It would not only commemorate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, but celebrate British industry, science, arts and architecture. [1] Dalton replied a few days later giving his full support to Barry's proposal. The Prime Minister, Isaac Foot, appointed Clement Attlee, the Lord President of the Council, to be the minister responsible for the festival.
[1] This was much like the Festival of Britain in OTL. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_of_Britain
In January 1945 Gerald Barry became Director of the Festival Office, having resigned from the editorship of the News Chronicle. It was decided that the main Festival exhibition would be on a new site on the south bank of the Thames, rather than in Hyde Park. There would also be exhibitions and events in other cities throughout the United Kingdom.
The proposed Festival was opposed by the Daily Express and Daily Mail, and also by the Conservative Party, because they regarded it as a wasteful extravagance and it was a Liberal/Socialist enterprise. The Tory government which took power on 31 May 1946 scrapped the previous government's plans and replaced it with a low key exhibition in Hyde Park only to commemorate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The Liberal/Socialist Labour coalition which took office on 20 October 1950 decided to go ahead with the original plans for the Festival. The Prime Minister, Megan Lloyd George, appointed the Lord President of the Council, Leslie Hore-Belisha [Liberal] to be the minister responsible for it.
The proposed Festival was opposed by the Daily Express and Daily Mail, and also by the Conservative Party, because they regarded it as a wasteful extravagance and it was a Liberal/Socialist enterprise. The Tory government which took power on 31 May 1946 scrapped the previous government's plans and replaced it with a low key exhibition in Hyde Park only to commemorate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The Liberal/Socialist Labour coalition which took office on 20 October 1950 decided to go ahead with the original plans for the Festival. The Prime Minister, Megan Lloyd George, appointed the Lord President of the Council, Leslie Hore-Belisha [Liberal] to be the minister responsible for it.
Hore-Belisha secured a propaganda coup in November 1951 with the appointment of Sir Samuel Hoare, a former Conservative Prime Minister, as Director of the Festival Office. Hoare was in a minority in his party in supporting the Festival of Britain. A Life Senator. and no longer having political ambitions, he could afford to be independent of his party. The Festival Office which had been abolished by the previous government in June 1946, it was re-established in November 1951. The opening of the Festival was planned for May 1954 and it would close in the following October.
In January 1952 John Betjeman was appointed Director of the Arts Festival of Britain. He planned a nationwide programme of concerts, plays, poetry readings, and exhibitions in 1954. Also in the same month the British Film Institute appointed a committee to be responsible for the Films Festival of Britain. It was chaired by John Grierson, with Michael Balcon, David Lean, Laurence Olivier and Michael Powell being the other members.
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