Assess the Perofmance of the Labour government 1929-1931

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Assess the Performance of the Labour Party during the Economic Crisis of 1929-31

The Economy and Unemployment dominated the 1929 election and were issues that were at the forefront of the leading parties agendas. The election was lead by an impressive Liberal campaign fronted by Lloyd George who implemented his “We can conquer Unemployment”[1] campaign leaflet, which detailed plans to increase spending on infrastructure, such as the programme to build “trunk roads at a cost of £42 million and in turn employing 100,000.”[1] He also claimed to place “600,000 men back into work at a cost of £250m.”[2] However this came under great criticism by the two leading parties. The Conservatives led by Stanley Baldwin and the Labour government under James Macdonald.

The Labour party replied strongly to Lloyd George’s “We can conquer unemployment leaflet”[1] with one of their own “How to conquer unemployment: Labours reply to Lloyd George”[2] This argued that Lloyd George had not given a single proposal on how to actually tackle the issue of reconstructing industry. Along with the fact that “Lloyd George was up to his old games of borrowing recklessly as he did during the war, piling on debt”[3].

Labours “Diversified schemes”[4] looked impressive and as a result the General election of 1929 saw a seat gain and took control of 288 seats along with the Liberal party gaining 59 seats. This reinforced the point that there was a clear repudiation of the Conservative government and the policies it had pursued. As a result Baldwin resigned and left Macdonald to form the second Labour government.

Labour put forward many promises during the electoral campaign most notably the debate arising from unemployment. Labour suggested it could better the conservative and especially the strong Liberal campaign to tackle unemployment. But also to protect British economic interest by aiding exporting businesses and industry.

The first six months of MacDonald’s tenure were perceived to be “very good”[5] this was due to a number of factors including his success in foreign policy and his “outstanding success of his American visit in October 1929”[6]. His reputation was also enhanced by the fact that his Chancellor, Phillip Snowden had defended Britain’s key interests at The Hague over war reparations and trade.

However due to the election results Macdonald was running a minority government and therefore this caused great difficulty in passing policy through the commons. Regardless the widows, orphans and old age contributory bill and the unemployment insurance bill taken in the autumn session managed to pass through with the agreement of the conservatives and liberals. These bills promised to benefit a number of people and as a result Macdonald was seen to be in ascendency even beyond his honeymoon period in government.

This was not the case however for other policies and Macdonald was unable to work well or come to agreements with the opposing parties. Most significantly with the leader of the Liberal party Lloyd George who the Labour party were most aligned with. “In the Labour party there was a massive mistrust of Lloyd George”[7] This was as a result of “broken promises that marked his premiership”[8] and as a result he was regarded as “tricky, unreliable and the last person whom you wanted to depend upon”[9] The inability to work with the Liberals and the Conservatives lead to increasing difficulties for Macdonald in passing legislation and future policies in which we shall discuss.

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The critics of the Labour administration during 1929-1931 suggest that Ramsey Macdonald was a key reason to the failings of the labour party. Macdonald could be seen as unlucky as “The Labour government did not compare favourably in terms of competence to other governments of the century, and lacked any ministers of real intellectual flair”.[10] As a government it was seen to fail in times where it faced the sternest challenges.  

Macdonald was seen as the most “inspiring orator in the Labour movement” and he was “helped by his magnificent physical presence and a baritone of rare beauty”[11] However ...

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