Chapter XI - The Government of 1929-1931

CHAPTER XI THE GOVERNMENT OF 1929-1931 A. ITS FABIAN CONTENT This chapter deals with the composition of the Government of 1929 and the Fabian reaction to its failures of which the angriest expression was Harold Laski's. It surveys, also, the general atti ... tude of The Clarion which portrayed the state of mind of Fabians to the point of facsimile and so provides silent, sardonic com mentary upon the wrathy expression of Sidney Webb as he " dished" MacDonald without lament for the fall of H.M.'s Labour Government.! There were certain parallels with the Government of 1924 to be found in that of 1929-1931. In the relative position of the Capital Levy stood the idea of " family allowances." 2 It was said that this idea stood in the place of the historical agitation of land for the peasants. Like the Capital Levy, it stood aside because as was the case with the Government of 1924, the Party had no majority; and the" right to work" replaced .the member of the equation named " community ownership." 3 Unlike 1924, this time dissent of sen timental Socialists like Maxton and Bevin against taking office without a majority was resolved by Conference majority vote rather than by a letter from Webb after election;" unlike 1924, this time there would be no doubling. Again the Party had grown from the influx of individual members; seven hundred thousand new women voters had joined the Labour Party. 5 Trade Unions listed fewer members but tradesmen were 1 Mrs. Cole wrote, "We were so profoundly relieved to be rid of Mac Donald at last," in her Growing Up Into Revolution, p. 155.

2 Cf. The Labour Year Book of 1931, published by the General Council of the Trade Union Congress and the National Executive of the Labour Party (London: Labour Publications Department, Transport House, 1931), p.7. (Hereinafter, LYB.) 8 Cf. Snowden, Ope cit., II, p. 179. 4. Cf. Hamilton, Henderson, p. 281. 5 Cf. Snowden, Ope cit., II, p. 756. 456 The Government of 1929-1931 457 impelled by the reaction to the Trades Dispute Law· to favor Labour. "Contracting in" had scant effect on the volume of the vote. Again recourse was had to political action; as in 1923 after a wave of strikes, so in 1929, after the spasm of the General Strike. Again the Labour Party had a " Programme," Labour and the Nation, in place of Labour and the New Social Order. The former, couched in Tawney's phrases was evolved by Fabians from a " mandate" of the Party Executive: George Lansbury, F. O. Roberts, T. C. Cramp, Herbert Morrison, Ellen Wilkinson, Os wald Mosley, Charles Trevelyan (not on any Fabian list but a friend of the Webbs), and Arthur Henderson along with Mac Donald." Again the Big Five met to decide policy: 8 MacDonald, Snowden, Clynes, Henderson, Thomas. Webb was not in evidence.

Henderson's biographer believes he might have opposed Mac Donald's leadership-presumably, had he followed his inclination but he remained " loyal." The fact is that the Labour Party Con ference where the real weight of labor was a force, favored Mac Donald who, with one of his" big speeches" 9 had won rejection of the resolution (Wheatley's), 10 supported by Maxton, like Bevin's in 1925, not to accept the Ministry without a majority in Parlia ment. MacDonald had been very close to the work of drafting Labour and the Nation which was to be Henderson's "book of words." 11 Whereas in 1923-1924 the ILP had demanded Mac Donald's leadership, now it was the Trade Unionists of the second and third class (in Mrs. Cole's classification) plus the liberal core of England against Baldwin, which favored MacDonald. The Con•LYB, p. 11. 'I Cf. Hamilton, Ope cit., p. 262. 8 Cf. Snowden, Ope cit., II, p. 755.

9 Hamilton, Ope cit., p. 260. Working to promote MacDonald's leadership was the Fabian Quaker, Walter Newbold. His objective was disarmament. Cf. Snowden, Ope cit., II, p. 249, and Weir, Ope cit., p. 432. The use of Fabians in "behind the scene" places as in 1924 is a repeated pattern. Newbold had been a Fabian since 1908 and by 1924 was an ex-Communist. He had been on the Labour Research Department, 1922-1926. L. M. Weir, a former Academy Head, was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mac Donald until replaced by another Fabian from the London School of Economics, S. F. Markham, a Mosleyite at the time. 1'0 Cf. Snowden, Ope cit., II, p. 760. 11 Hamilton, Henderson,pp. 262 f.

458 Fabianism in the Political Life of Britain 1919-1931 ference had repudiated the proffered leadership of the Wheatleys, the Maxtons, and the Mosleys. Young Fabians in The Clarion were keeping an eye on Ernest Bevin and his four million union men. There was no personality in 1924 comparable with Ernest Bevin now becoming a politico who could be counted upon to keep Trade Unionists out of splinter Inovements like Mosley's, and to remind the politicians "who pays the piper." 12 Again there were a half-hundred Liberals representing a dispropor tionately larger electoral segment than their numbers signified but no Asquith to hold the balance. The suggestion was made that Labour coalesce with Conservatives, but Snowden with his" free trade" sentiment, Henderson who had made" free trade" part of the bone-structure of the Party, and Thomas whose railway men could get along now with or \vithout " free trade," steered the Party a\vay from coalition or coalescence with Tories on the basis of this ancient antagonism.13 The veteran Lloyd George became the arbiter of Parliamentary policy. But, like the realism of 1924, the realism of 1930 drew the Labour leaders far over into the " right" orbit of Tory thinking before the denouement. 14 In 1929, in place of Asquith, a still form and a silent power stood in the background. Once, and then 'with such elaborate protesta tions of confidence in the absolute constitutionality of its actions that he contradicted himself, Lord Passfield alluded to it; again, the closest scrutinizer of the actions of the Minister who headed the Foreign Office alluded to it with· studied objectivity: 15 the form and the power of the King of England.

The proportion of men of Trade Union mentality to the in telligentsia was thirteen out of twenty in the Cabinet of 1924; in '12 Thomas, Ope cit., p. 278. 18 Cf. Snowden, Ope cit., II, p. 758. '14 Cf. Weir, Ope cit., p. 451, where he tells of Neville Chamberlain's collaboration in the composition of Snowden's speech on the crisis. Also, ibid., p. 316, where Weir speaks of Baldwin and MacDonald having mutual friends. Weir describes a scene wherein the Prime Minister sent for Bald win in a very agitated mood; and he insinuates that then it was that Baldwin took the measure of the P.M., and dictated the Cabinet's formation. Cf. Weir,.op. cit., pp. 310 f. Weir ascribes the financial plight of the time to Tory and City machinations devised to get Labour" in a corner" by H finan cial jugglery." Ibid., p. 397. 15 Cf. Hamilton, Henderson, p. 312.

The Government of 1929-1931 459 19r29, most of the Cabinet were Fabians, or their associates, as were twentY~0ne out of fifty-four in the Parliamentary Party. As to local parties and TUe, Fabians predominated in both camps. Almost as if Socialism .was a religion which stood in danger of its being forgotten and required to be preached in season and out, the admonition to bring it in everywhere is given, gratuitously, in a discussion of "rationalisation" in the TUGC's Yearbook. 16 The state of tutelage of Trade Unionism was more abject in 1929 than in 1924 even though Trade Unionism, per se, was more ,clearly articulated. The YearbQok of 1931 shows definitely in digenous leadership but the usual permeation of Fabians in the upper groups and in advisory capacities, where about three fourths were ·-Fabians. Those most easily, identified were: In Defense, Basil Hall; Finance, A. E. Davies and Commander J.M. Kenworthy; -Education, R. H. Tawney and Barbara Drake; Home, Barbara Ayrton Gould; International, C. R. Buxton and L. \VooH; Land, .Josiah Wedgwood; Legal, Arthur Henderson, Jr.; Local Government, Herbert Morrison; Health, Somerville Hastings and G. P. Blizard; Science, G. W. Thomson; Transport, C.T. Cramp.17 As in 1923-:-1924, Henderson came into the Government of 1929 with fresh laurels gleaned from internationalism. M.A.

Hamilton, now a member of Parliament, gloried in the .inter~ national assiduities in 1924-1929 of the new head of the Foreign Office.18 Two new Clubs, the National Labour Club headed by MacDonald ~nd Henderson, having a roster of officials about fifty percent Fabian, and the National Trade Union Club, having a Fabian Chairman and about a third of its officers Fabians, had come into existence in 1924 and 1930 respectively. Among other purposes, one was to give hospitality to' foreign visitors and to provi'de a place comparable to the hospices had by " our comrades on the continent." 19 16LYB (1931), p.9. '11 Ibid., p. 16. FN'boasted that seven Fabians were elected to the Labour Party Executive at the Brighton Conference, 1929: Ethel Bentham, Barbara Gould, George Dallas, Hugh Dalton, George Lathan, George Lansbury, Herbert Morrison. 18 Cf. Hamilton, Henderson, pp.277 £. 19 LYB (1931), pp. 24 and Z6.

460 Fabianism in the Political Life of Britain 1919-1931 Once more the problems of India, 20 Egypt, and Singapore, harassed the Foreign Office. Again the Government inherited a half-formulated reparations plan; for, at the Kellogg Pact Con ference in Paris in 1928, suggestions had been put in motion for what turned out to be the. Young Plan of 1929. The Labour Party leaders were now openly francophile in contrast to the gallophobia of 1922-1924. 21 Empire Preference had been re jected by the Labour Government of 1924 22 but the Common wealth was slowly taking shape. Australia, for example, was able to assert her interest in decisions affecting herself by insisting upon the agreement to protect Singapore. The Labour Govern ment which had stopped fortification in 1924 now agreed to resume such-iri five years. 23 . Churchill's difference with Baldwin 20 Six out of sixteen British Round Table Conferees were Fabians: Oliver Stanley, Earl Russell, Lees-Smith, W. A. Jowitt, Henderson, Wedgwood Benn, besides MacDonald, Sankey, and Thomas.

21 Cf. Weir, Ope cit., p. 347. Weir's inculpation of MacDonald reveals some matters he was not concerned with but was in a position to be in formed upon : Henderson revealed that France was willing to earmark credits for rediscount to Britain to the amount of £20,000,000(Weir, Ope cit., p. 405) but Garvin had disclosed that France, seeking Germany's ruin, did not wish to lend gold which might be re-Ioaned to Germany (Weir, Ope cit., p. 403). Weir says that Harrison of the United States Federal Reserve Bank did not know England needed a loan. He implies that the Prime Minister used the urgent need of a loan and the "condition of the borrowing," i.e., cuts in extravagant or anomalous doles, to induce a state of affairs wherein the Cabinet would resign. Two points of extreme interest came to light: The Fabians had become positively francophile and they now exhibited the scantest concern for Briining's plight in Germany; Balfour judged that they, considered Hitler's movement to be fairly acceptable Socialism. Weir tells a sad story of the occasion when Snowden, at a seven-power monetary conference (July, 1931), was making a sympathetic plea for the German case (Briining was present) and MacDonald scribbled a note to Stimson indicating non-support of Snowden, who, at that table, was sarcastically referred to as U the member for Germany." (Weir, op., cit., pp.. 449 f.) The antagonism of Fabian Socialists (from whom Snowden was eccentric) and of Ramsay MacDonald toward the Centre in Germany, and their known anti-Catholicism cannot be overlooked. As to later evidence of their attitude toward Briining cf.

Hamilton, op. cit., pp. 413, 416, and 417. 22 Cf. Blanche E. C. Dugdale, Arthur James Balfour (London: Hutchin son & Co.), 1936, p. 375. 23 Cf. LYB (1931), p. 493.

The Government of 1929-1931 461 over India parallels his position on "Chanak" in 1923. Again the Beaverbrook and Rothermere press' stoe,l with Churchill against his Party and drove the Tory leadership toward Labour on foreign issues.24 A parallel dynamism is seen in which the energy of Socialist-Labour contributed its peculiar impulsion to the fructifying of the Young Plan (paralleling Dawes'), the India Round Table Conference (paralleling the Commercial Treaty plans), and the post-crisis Commonwealth (paralleling Locarno). The description of this parallel dynamism lies .outside the scope of this study by reason of its time-span. The denouement came when MacDonald, in the crisis of 1931, formed what was really a Tory Government. Both Parties had succumbed to the orthodoxies of western European finance. For a moment a new idea vital with challenge had lighted the gloomy horizon; then it was gone and the "West " fell back on "gold and credit." The allegation of L. MacNeill Weir, who was MacDonald's Parliamentary Private Secretary, that MacDonald and Snowden faileJ to heed the suggestion of Garvin in The Observer that the war debt be converted and an unnecessary sink ing fund retired, while instead they sought economies in " cuts"

in " the dole" in order to force the Cabinet to resign may be con sidered spiteful, but it uncovers some pertinent facts. The fact that Fabian publicist~ offered no other solution to the fiscal prob lems than the old one leaves them without a position from which legitimately to inculpate their Prime Minister. 25 It ,vas the Fabian economist who wrote the report of "The Depression" in the LYB,26 who diverted the stream, as it were; and the dynamic of Western trade flowed back over its old channels, having been dammed up with" overproduction." The stricture of gold glutted goods in England and Germany, and clotted gold in America and France. Fora brief moment, the plight of the East, deprived of purchasing power by the loss of monetary status of silver, the medium of exchange of the millions, received consideration. The expressions of J. A. Hobson, J. F. Darling, and witnesses before an American Congressional Com2·4 Cf. Weir, op. cit., p. 292.

25 Ibid., pp. 416 and 427. 28 LYB (1931), pp. 93-109.

462 Fabianism in the Political Life of Britain 1919-1931 mittee on Banking and Currency regarding the revival of trade with the East, and the need for goods in India and China, for example, were approved and the remonetization of silver-plenti ful and too cheap only when treated as a mere commodity-almost fastened upon the Trade Union mind as the means to lift the floodgates of .exchange :-Suppose the .silver of India became money again and the Indian people could buy English goods and there are political possibilities-should call their enslaved souls their own when the gold-based power of native potentates should be reduced. The workingmen seemed on the point of demanding remonetization of silver. Then some one (probably Cole, who had published his ideas on credit) proposed that" credit,"· that is, paper money based on controlled gold (nationalized), would serve to give currency the need~d elasticity. N one of the arguments for this latter method adverted to the East. The switch was almost imperceptible. By devaluation the West reestablished circulation in the old knotted tangle of its economy. There was no further discussion of currency for India and China. The high adventurers of "Labour" had shrunk before a challenge too daring. 21 After all, there were forces becoming articulate in India and China which. any Party in power in England would need to control. 28 Having seen the historical setting into which they stepped and the block of stumbling upon which they fell, it seems almost to nlock them to review· the names of the men put forward by the brave Movement. The Cabinet was so much made up of Fabians 27 Cf. U The Causes of the Depression,"LYB (1931), p. 93.

28 It is running ahead of our story to recall here that the Economic Con ference of ·1931 proved abortive because the United States President was taught shortly after it opened that the only result could be the tying in of America with the U sterling bloc." The idea of the remonetization of silver was, with its Eastern implications, present in the conference. .It was not this idea which was rejected by the United States but the English adaptation of it: 1) nationalize-gold-and-credit, 2) allow the pound sterling thus devalued to seek its own level. (After dropping, it regained a steadily rising value.) At this conference, Senator Key Pittman of Nevada, whose only interest in silver was political and economic (he was a miner), allowed himself to be led into the U triumph" for silver which, although it cost the banking industry and the United States Treasury large sums, did not remonetize silver. Cf. B. M. Anderson, Ope cit., p. 359. Silver was re monetized, then "n~tionalized" after 1936, in the United States.

The Government of 1929-1931 463 that the report of the Society in the L YB ignored the. percentage in the Ministry and stressed the percentage of Fabians in the Parliamentary Labour Party. The Prime Minister, repudiated by the ILP and endorsed by the Labour Party Conference, counted on Herbert Morrison, the foe of Maxton and Wheatley,29 on Mrs. Hamilton, the writer, on William Leach, a Trade Unionist, and Walter Newbold, Fabian Pacifist,30 to support him. Three out of four here named were Fabians. Indeed, the lady M.P. from Scotland defended him well ir:tThe Clarion, and persistently pointed out. to the backbenchers that the Party was (t weakest in the technique of support." 31 Yet when he sent his Parliamentary .Private Secretary, L. MacNeill Weir, to three of the above-mentioned persons to sound them out upon the question of following him into the National Cabinet, they declined. This may have been due to the way the .matter was represented by Weir.

MacDonald had wanted Thomas to be head of the Foreign Office. Their mutual" Socialism" .had now a rightist basis, Trade Unionist for the most part. 32 But Henderson demanded and got the Foreign Office. Again Snowden was Chancellor of the Ex chequer, with Fabian Pethick-Lawrence for Financial Secretary.ss Fabian Hugh Dalton, along with Susan Lawrence of kindred experience in internationalism,34 came in·as Parliamentary Private Secretaries. Henderson came to the Foreign Office pledged to rec ognize and establish trade with Russia. 35 He had the assistance 29 Snowden, op. cit., p. 760. so Weir, Ope cit., p. 435. S1 Cf. The Clarion, 11:8 (August, 1930), 227. 32 Cf. Godfrey Elton (Baron), Life of James Ramsay MacDonald, 1866 1919 (London: Collins, 1939). This· author, like Clifford Allen, now Lord Allen, followed MacDonald in 1931. The Epilogue in Elton's Life is an encomium of MacDonald's peace efforts and successes on the Continent, not unmerited. Cf. Godfrey Elton, "No Alternative-Socialism or Radicalism'"

The Clarion, 11:2 (February, 1931),45 f. 33 Snowden, Ope cit., p. 760. M Fabians in international. activities included. A~ Fenner Brockway on the executive of the International (LYE [1931], 414), C. R. Buxton on the Committee for Minorities (ibid., 415), and on the International Advisory Committee of Socialist Women, Barbar'a Ayrton Gould. The ILP repre sentation in this sphere was the larger. 35 Hamilton, Henderson, pp. 311 £ and 309.

464 Fabianism tn the Political Life of Britain 1919-1931 also of Fabian Drummond Shiels (at Geneva) and of Charles Buxton vvho was adept at .managing H the fussers." 36 Lord Ponsonby became Undersecretary of State for the Dominions. Ten out of twenty-one Undersecretaries of State were Fabians like C. G. Ammon for the Admiralty under A. V. Alexander, now a Fabian, and Ben Turner for Mines. The sinecure of Lord Privy Seal was given to ]. H. Thomas 31 with the understanding he was in charge of the works and production programs. Thomas "vas capable of the most understanding attitude toward men like Birkenhead, Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain. 38 He acquired the dubious assistance of another sinecure holder, the Chancellor for Lancaster, Oswald Mosley, whom Henderson dubbed" the rich young man" and who had for determined follower the liter ary light, John Strachey. On condition that he might be Sec~etary of State for Colonies, Sidney Webb became Lord Passfield and entered the House of Lords. He would be followed by Fabian Harry Snell,as Lord Snell. He joined Beatrice's one-time brother in-law, Parmoor, president of the Council and leader of the House, also Lord Arnold, Earl Russell, Lord De La Warr, Lord Pon sonby, Lord Marley, and later, Lord Noel-Buxton. Ten at least out of the seventeen Labour -Lords were Fabians. One was henceforth to belong to the Consultative Committee. This was Lord Snell, who also assisted Webb (Passfield) in the Colonial Office. An innovation designed to procure party discipline, at tendance records \vere kept to insure interest on the part of the Labour Lords in the fortnightly meetings of -the Parliamentary Labour Party. 39 36 Ibid., p. 278.

STSnowden, op. cit., II, pp. 765 and 776, is favorable to Thomas. 38 Thomas, Ope cit., pp. 229, 231, and 235. 39 Cf. LYB (1931), p. 216. The other Labour Lords were Kinnoul (George Harley Hay), a student of seventeenth century social agitation; Kirkley, created in 1930 (William Joseph Noble) of the Chamber of Ship ping of the United· Kingdom and of the Baltic and International Maritime Conference; Marks (Percy D'Evelyn Marks) of military precedents and now Paymaster Commander; Sanderson (Henry Sanderson Furniss), professor of economics of Ruskin College and member of the Central Executive. of the WEA, the author of a Memoir of C. S. Buxton and contributor to the Economic Journal; Kimberly (John Wodehouse) who seemed to take delight in his inconsistency by writing in Who's Who, as his sole claim to impor,;.

The 'Government of 1929-1931 465 To resume consideration of the Cabinet of 1929: Parmoor had for Parliamentary Private Secretary Fabian Arnold Forster; Lord Sankey was Chancellor. The legal team was completed by W. A. Jowitt, a Fabian, as Attorney General, treasurer of the ILP 40 and representative of the Socialist cooperatives and pro fessional societies in the Labour Party Executive; 41 and J. B. l\1elville, the~Fabian member from Gateshead who was Solicitor. The. Home Secretary was J. R! Clynes ,hose Trade Unionist mentality seemed to hold Socialism as a sort of Sabbath religion. He had not been distinguished of late by chairing Fabian lectures. His necessary presence in the Royal household on stated occasions was not calculated fo frighten his hosts. A Fabian of several years standing now was Secretary of State for India, Sir Wedgwood Benn. This appointment appeared to be exceptional for he was a newcomer to Labour, as Snowden believed; 42 but he had been associated with Fabians long before he joined the Labour Party. Tom Shaw was identified in the first Labour Cabinet. Like aynes, he must needs. be in the Ministry but it would seem his greatest effectiveness was the reassurance which his position as Minister for War might give to European Social ists. Fabian Lord Thomson, already a disillusioned observer of European politics in 1919, was Minister of Air. The Com missioner of Works was Fabian George Lansbury. Thomas 4:3 thought he was only a good propagandist but The Clarion always praised him for administrative work; for example, in his having Buckingham Palace cleaned up and procuring radios and central heating for the inmates of poor houses. A· Fabian was Minister for Health, Arthur Greenwood. Henderson advanced the appoint ment of Fabian Margaret Bondfield as Minister for Labour. 44 tance,. "owns about 11,200 acres." The newly created Lord Marley noted down his Fabian membership., He belonged to the Council of Magistrates Association and was treasurer of the Union of Democratic Control.

40 LYB (1931), p.21. W. A. Jowitt (now Chancellor) became a Fabian in 1929. Cf. FN, XLI:1 (January, 1930), where he expresses his joy at presiding at a meeting instead of remaining" an admiring member of the audience" as before. 41 Ibid., p. 13. 42 Snowden, Ope cit., p. 765. 4:3 Thomas, Ope cit., pp. 247 f. 44: Snowden, Ope cit., p. 759.

466 Fabianism in the Political Life of Britain 1919-1931 Fabian Noel-Buxton, destined for the House of Lords, had for Parliamentary Private Secretary, Fabian Lord De LaWarr in the Ministry of Agriculture. The radical Socialist and Webb intimate, Charles Trevelyan, was Minister for Education;4,5 The Board of Trade was under Fabian William Graham. A. V. Alexander, the only link with Cooperators, now a Fabian, became First Lord of the Admiralty. Lees-Smith, a Fabian, had wanted this place 46 but, throufP the influence of Snowden, he was given instead the Postmaster Generalship.47 Lord Arnold, MacDonald's friend and the Paymaster General, also favored· Lees-Smith. As a young radical he had adhered to " Labour" in 1919 after break~ ing with his army precedents and going through Ruskin College. Snowden had characterized William Adamson as " an inept miner," when the latter had been Parliamentary Party leader.

Now he was Secretary of State for Scotland; the Undersecretary was Fabian Tom Johnston, founder and editor of Forward, who had long been a Trade Union leader as well asa professional publicist. F. O. Roberts who had been Minister for Pensions in 1924 held the same post in 1929. His position in the Movement was notable; he was Chairman of the National Labour Club 48 and a member of the Executive of the Trade Union Club honorary and social positions duly accorded a member of the Trade Union Section of the Executive of the Labour Party 49 who was an advisor for Defense in the special advisory section of the Party. The Minister of Transport was Herbert Morrison, one of the brilliant young group \vhose principles were still fluid and who troubled the calm of general gatherings ,vith their un answerable questions. Morrison had backed MacDonald when Bevin had demanded that the Conference go on record against taking office if able to command only a minority in Parliament. 5o 45 Cf. Hamilton, op. cit., p. 419, where he turned Moscow-ward after 1931.

Cf. also, Beatrice Webb, Our Partnership, p. 128, for his devotion to the Fabian" junta." Trevelyan followed the Webbs into the conceptual" new civilization," which th~y discovered in Russia. Cf. Samuel, op. cit., p. 346. 46 Snowden, op. cit., p. 765. 47 Ibid. 48 LYB (1931), p. 24. 49 Ibid., p. 13. One finds an embryonic organizational apparatus in Party and in TUC set up parallel with governmental apparatus in a State. 5Q Hamilton, op. cit., p. 260.

The Government of 1929-1931 467 He was also Henderson's man. 51 The great recruit of 1924, Haldane, was dead, but in the House of Commons Doctor Christopher Addison, newly converted to Labour, was rising in prestige under the guidance of Mary Hamilton and her good pen. He was among the four Ministers who, all Fabians, addressed the Conference presided over by Susan Lawrenc~ at Llandudno in 1930. The Webbs had tried to take in John Wheatley in 1924; now the MacDonald-Henderson-Morrisop influence resulted in the mistake of relegating" Boss" Wheatley to the obstreperous backbenches where, with Kirkwood, now on the National Ad ministrative Council of ILP,52 and with Jenny Lee, a Fifeshire miner's daughter (LL.D. from Edinburgh), together with a sharp young Welshman, Aneurin Bevan; as Snowden related, he per sistently "insulted" the Government. 53 The doomed John Scurr was Chairman of the Standing Committee of Housing-Arthur Greenwood's charge. Fabians L'Estrange Malone, Ernest Thurtle, and Chuter. Ede, the Surrey school· teacher and organizer of edu cators, were singled out for notice by Mrs. Hamilton; 54 and, impartially~ she mentioned Tom Dickson, former editor of. For ward, as one of the best speakers; also, pointedly, W. B. Taylor, of Wayland Smallholders Association, an agriculturalist. Before the term of office ended, readers noticed the na~es of Stafford Cripps, linked with land valuation .bills,55 and .Clement Attlee 51 Ibid., p. 266.

52 Along with the veterans, R. C. Wallhead and J. W. Moor, on this Council, there was the Fabian Fenner Brockway. Cf. LYB (1931), p. 21. 53 Snowden, op. cit., p. 759. Jenny Lee and Aneurin Bevan are now man and wife...•Re Scurr, cf. Oldmeadow, op. cit., p. 236. 04 The Clarion, 11:8 (August, 1930), 227. 55 Snowden, op. cit., p. 907. Snowden was amazed when Cripps became an U unconstitutional and· revolutionary Socialist." When. on October 27, 1932, Sir Stafford Cripps spoke on U Political Institutions," FN, XLIII :12 (December, 1932), and the "Transition to Socialism" (this series had been on "Transition "), he asked, "Can the forms of constitutional democracy be altered in time to be efficient instruments of the change· [to a Socialism not II without tears"] or must there be violence and disorder?" Parliamentary tradition once based upon smooth continuity of policy must now proceed by a series of "jerks." Delegating authority to the judiciary by Orders in Coun eil and Statutory Orders was not a proper expedient, said lawyer Cripps.