Crises of the Second Labour Govt.

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DJkG.1

The Second Labour Government, 1929-31 – a study of crises, how Labour dealt with them and how Labour weathered as a Party as a result of this two year period

The second Labour government started out with high hopes in 1929. Success in the general election seemed to be the zenith of years of growth in support for the Labour movement. The Liberals had become marginalised and Labour was clearly a chief player in Britain’s two-party system. Ramsay MacDonald was already an experienced political leader, well known and respected, both at home and abroad. Yet within two years Labour would be out of power, demolished in the 1931 election, with less than one-fifth of the seats they had won in 1929. Worse, the party was bitterly split, with MacDonald himself regarded by most of his Labour colleagues as a traitor to everything they stood for.

Part of the reason for this catastrophe was simply bad timing. Labour had got into power in 1929 just in time for the Wall Street Crash and the onset of the Great Depression. Part of it was due to individual qualities and bad decisions by individuals, especially Ramsay MacDonals himself. However, there was also the special nature of Labour party politics. The 1931 crisis did not on its own cause the bitter party divisions – the pressures of the crisis revealed the deep divisions that already existed.

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When Ramsay MacDonald became PM for the second time in 1929, the prospects for his Labour government seemed very favourable. Although Labour was once again dependent on Liberal support for its overall majority in parliament, MacDonald was the electoral success of 1929 and the opportunity for the Labour Party to put its long-cherished beliefs and ideas into action.

Some important reforms were pushed through in 1929-30. Arthur Greenwood’s Housing Act increased subsidies for house-building and introduced new slum clearance schemes. The Land Utilisation Act and Agricultural Marketing Act established a series of marketing boards to help producers. The ...

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