British Prime Ministers: Ramsey MacDonald (1924, 29-31, and 31-35)


Figure 1.-- Labour leader Ramsey MacDonald was one of the three men who dominated British politics during the inner-war era. Here he is in Canada just before forming his second government with his daughters. The press caption read, "At Lake of the Woods, during the Canadian Pacific trip across the Dominion of Rt. Hon. Ramsay MacDonald. Left to right: Miss Sheila MacDonald, Joan MacDonald, Mary Gordon, Ishbell MacDonald, Ralph Connor, Rev. Dr Gordon.well known Canadian author, and Mr MacDonald." Ishbel was especially close to her father and cared for him in old age.

Ramsay MacDonald was one of the founder of the Labour Party and Labour's first prime minister (1924). It was coaltion government with support from the split Liberal Party--including former Prime Minister Asquith. MacDonald He was a Scot of humble origins. He had three daughters, but lost his wife who was a great influence on him several years before becoming prime minister. He was a good and decent man, but a committed socialist in part because of his moral character. The fact that socialism did not work was largely unknown to the British working class. He was elected to Parliament (1906). He was forced to resign when he declared that Britain's declaration of war was morally wrong, a stronly held position among soialists. He returned to Parliament after the war as leader of the Labour opposition (1922). His first act as prime minister was to recognized the Soviet Government. He also pushed a Russian loan. He and his Party does not seem to have fully understood the character of the Soviet regime, but he was no totaltrian. He became prime minister at a time after Lenin's death, Stalin began his rise. The Russian Revolution generated the Red Scare and the Conservtives painted him as a Bolskevik. He wanted to help heal the War divide between the Germans and French, but made little real progress. Unlike modern times, the press at the time was staunchly conservative (Tory). His primary goal was to create jobs and get smokestacks belching, but he focused primarily on foreign policy in his premiership which floundered after only 9 months on his policies associated with the Bolsheviks and Communists at home. He returned two times, at first as a result of the Drepression (1929-31). And then under another coaltion with the Liberals, the National Labour Party (1931-35). He negotiated an Anglo-American Naval Limitations Agreement, but failed to respond meaningfully to Hitler's rise in Germany. Here he was shaped by his opposition to World War I. Criticsing war and the terrible losss is easy. But MacDonald never eexplained what would have happened to Europe had Britain not opposed the Germans. He also believed that the Germans had been treated too harshly after the War. His sucessors Stanley Baldwin and especially Nevile Chamberlin are commonly blamed for appeasement and leaving Britain unprepared to face Hitler's fearsome Wehrmacht, but MacDonald shares much of the blame. He is one of the group described as the Guilty Men who failed to prepare Britain for World War II. The most intense blame is directed at the Conservative prime-miniters.








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Created: 6:05 AM 2/2/2018
Last updated: 6:05 AM 2/2/2018