whom had been enlisted from Public Schools had no idea how to fight. Keir Hardie
and Ramsay MacDonald opposed Britain going into the war. They felt the working
classes would gain nothing from it. They sent food parcels and medical aid to the
soldiers. These food parcels were a welcome change from the bully beef and the weak
tea given to the soldiers by the catering corps of the army. The medical aid consisted
of bandages and plasters to help with minor injuries. At the end of the war Labour
suggested that war memorials should be placed in every town. This showed they cared
about the victims and the disabled, many who returned without limbs and could never work again. They said that widows should be having a pension. They criticised
executing men who ran away from war due to mental illnesses. These men, known as
deserters, had had breakdowns because of the situation they were in. The working
class were grateful to Labour for their help and were also against the Liberal Party for
taking them into war. This therefore made the Labour Party a more attractive
alternative for the working people then the Liberals
The Boer War from 1899-1902 showed that two out of every three men who signed
up were unfit due to being underweight, being crippled or having bad vision and
hearing. In York Rowntree showed the level of poverty that was York in 1901 and
Booth, through a similar study showed the same kind of poverty existed in London in
1891. Poverty was a massive problem at this time. In 1908 the Liberals passed the Old
Age Pensions Act which came into force where single people received five shillings a
week and married couples seven shillings six pence. To qualify for this an individual
had to be over 70 years of age. In 1911 the National Insurance Act was passed and
people who were absent from work received ten shillings a week for thirteen weeks.
However, people got taxed more to cover this Act which made it very unpopular. It
was called the 9d for 4d Act. This meant the people saw this as a wage cut. Between
1906-1914 despite the social reforms wages did not increase and people who no
money to live on had ended up in the workhouse. The trade unions hated the Liberals
because of the Taff Vale case, the Trade Disputes Act and the Osbourne Judgement.
By 1914 when World War One started one in three men were rejected for active
service. Although an improvement was made it was a small one. Labour however
wanted a minimum wage so that people knew what they were getting. They wanted
the sick not to contribute to the National Insurance Act. They wanted the old people to
receive fifteen shillings a week and retire at the age of 65. This was very popular as
the Liberal age limit of seventy was seen as too high. They wanted to abolish the
workhouses which were big problems because of the disgrace associated with going
into such a place. They wanted people to cope with their problems outside the
workhouse with state assistance. Labour wanted to give schoolchildren free school meals and medical care in order to give them the best possible start in life. They
wanted to give free dentistry for everyone. Labour wanted to introduce care for
children under the age of five. They wanted to increase the school leaving age to
fourteen. All of these ideas were popular with the people and so they voted Labour as
they were seen as the Party of the people.
Asquith, the Prime Minister, was Britain’s war leader and he took Britain into the war in 1914. However, Asquith did not understand the war and his tactics were useless. He believed the Generals should fight the war and it should not be a government issue. Asquith put privately educated men as Generals and they did not understand the war either. Nobody had ever fought trench warfare before and the casualties were high. Many died at the Battle of the Somme, Verdun and Ypres because they were being led be incompetent officers. There was even more casualties as the soldiers were ordered to go over the top of the trenches into a wall of bullets. They even lost limbs and many returned home as human corpses. This caused horrific injuries and many were blinded, could not walk or talk. Soldiers were mentally scarred and many lost their mind because of the strain of daily living. The people at home saw these men coming home injured or dead and they in turn blamed the Liberals. Asquith was a bad leader in the eyes of the British public. He had failed as a war leader and therefore was unelectable. He was blamed for all the injuries that had taken place in the war. Lloyd George forced Asquith to resign in 1916. After this a General Election was held and the Party was split. Lloyd George’s Liberals against Asquith’s Liberals and the Party never recovered from this. The votes were now split between them. Lloyd George became Prime Minister. Had this not happened Britain may well have lost the war. Britain was low on ammunition with only with only three days supplies left. They had very few guns or tanks’ coming out of the factories and this was a danger. Lloyd George reorganised this and the production of such things became better. Lloyd George worked quickly and effectively with Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister and advanced into Germany. They became great friends and could work together in order to get things done. They were both respected by Woodrow Wilson who too helped with the war after USA entry in 1917. Ludendorff’s offensive was forced back into Germany and the allies began to win battles in France. Lloyd George and Clemenceau organised the blockade that cut supplies to and from Germany, which greatly helped the eventual outcome, of the war.
At this time Labour helped the war effort despite the fact that they were against the war. They spoke out against the people being sent out to the trenches. They brought wounded soldiers back to British hospitals. Labour got special training to get these people to cope with their injuries. They protested against mentally ill men who had nervous break downs and ran away from the trenches. These men were being executed as cowards when in fact they were ill and could not cope with the situations they found themselves. They gave children of the soldiers Christmas parties which were really appreciated by all concerned. Labour proposed war pensions for widows which were a great help to them at this time. They sent medical aid to the troops. They sent bandages and First Aid material to try and help those with minor injuries. Labour wanted to erect war memorials to honour those who had died fighting. All these things made the Labour Party popular with soldiers and their families. It made them electable as they were seen as caring and considerate people.
Between 1900-1914 many people were making the move from the countryside into towns as there were more jobs available to them. Jobs in the countryside had become few as new technology had made the old jobs redundant. The farm labourer was a thing of the past, as machines were doing their jobs. However, these jobs were poorly paid and the workers had no rights. They could not demand wage increases and had no trade union protection at this time. The conditions in their homes were cold, damp and miserable. This caused disease and the conditions were bad for people’s health. The death rate was high and the life expectancy was only thirty seven for a male and forty two for a female in 1900. The Liberals had no solution to this and were not willing to raise taxes to solve the problem.
Labour however wanted to nationalise all the coal, land, railways and electricity thus creating more jobs. These jobs would be government funded jobs and would have safety nets for workers. Raising taxes would give more government money to the situation and this is what was needed. They were going to set up Old Age Pensions, in order to give the elderly up to fifteen shillings a week. They were going to give the sick free hospitals and doctors. In addition they were going to pass laws to help children especially in education. Labour wanted power and they were making themselves popular by making this move. They were making themselves popular with the people. They also wanted a national wage rate this was seen as fair. Labour spread propaganda through street speakers, newspapers and town hall speeches. Every Sunday morning men would gather to hear the speeches of the Labour Party on the street corners. They gave a vision of the future. In 1918 the Representation of the Peoples Act said that eight out of ten men had the vote and men voted Labour. Labour appeared to have a vision for the future with a fair and equal society and the working class liked this. They wanted things to be fair and they felt they had given the Liberals and Conservatives their chance and they had failed. Now they wanted a new political vision to take them into a new century.
Asquith did not understand the working class issues at this time. Asquith had never
been to an inner city slum before. He had not experienced the poverty that the
majority were experiencing. Asquith would have never seen ‘Back to Back housing’
with outside toilets and badly running water. He was upper class and so did not
understand the needs of the working class people. Fundamentally Asquith had nothing
in common with the working class man. He did not understand unemployment, low
wages and problems faced by the elderly. Asquith believed that the workhouse was an
adequate place for the elderly to live out their final years. His advice to those who
wanted pensions was to save ten percent of their wages each week. He felt that the
Poor Law covered all eventualities for the poor. The working class people however
could not afford to save this money each week as they needed it to buy food for
themselves and their families. He was being attacked also by the soldiers wounded in
the war. They blamed Asquith for the trenches and bombs. They blamed him for the
injuries that were sustained. Asquith led the Liberals until 1926 with his ‘Wait and
See’ policy. This was a failure because people felt nothing was being done and people
no longer trusted him.
Lloyd George came from South Wales and he was born into poverty. He had lost his
popularity because he sided with the Conservatives at the 1918 ‘Coupon Election’.
The Liberals were split and he had no option but to do this. Lloyd George had been
out of the country for a long time due to the Versailles Peace Treaty and the League
of Nations. He was almost based abroad as he tried to work for European peace.
Lloyd George was beginning to visit American Universities at the time. At these
Universities he talked about world peace. He was being paid to do this and therefore
he was becoming wealthy thus making himself unpopular with the working class.
People felt he had forgotten his roots. By 1922 he had lost 15 by-elections and the
Liberals were struggling. He was seen as a major problem as in 1916 he forced the
Liberal Party to split between himself and Asquith. Lloyd George was seen as the
man who brought this split about.
While Lloyd George and Asquith were seen as old fashioned by the people, Ramsay
MacDonald was seen as being a forward thinker with a vision of the future. He
wanted a new education system where children stayed on at school until the age of
fourteen. He wanted pensions for the elderly to the tune of fifteen shillings per week
for married couple. He wanted change in the role of women and allowances for the
sick. He objected greatly to the people who had to pay for the medical insurances out
of their wages. All these plans made him very popular with the working class people
as there is a policy for everyone. He appealed to all and he was popular. Ramsay
MacDonald was brought up in the north of Scotland. He was an illegitimate child and
working class people liked him and felt he deserved to be where he was in politics. He
was the man of the workers. His mother was a fisherwoman and so he had
experienced poverty at first hand. His mother had to pay for his education as it was
not free at this time. She had to work long hours in cold conditions to afford this. He
attended Glasgow University and was seen as the people’s friend.
He was a self made man and this appealed to all working class voters.
All this shows is that the Liberals had failed for a number of reasons. The suffragettes had caused many problems for the Liberals as they were determined on achieving equality between men and women and securing the vote. Asquith did not agree with this. World War One was a big failing for the Liberals as they had told the soldiers the war would be over by Christmas and they believed them. Asquith was blamed as he controlled the army and put incompetent Generals in charge. The split of the Liberal Party in 1916 between Lloyd George and Asquith factions made many people turn to Labour. Ramsay MacDonald was becoming a hero by offering a policy for everyone compared to the Liberals social policy of ‘Wait and See’. This policy failed to impress anyone and the Labour Party looked attractive as a result. Labour on the other hand was putting forward new ideas for everyone and had a vision for the future. All these important events led to the decline of the Liberal Party between 1906-1918. A decline which they never returned from.
Bibliography
In writing this essay I have used the following books:
- A History of Britain From 1867 by John Martell
- Mastering Modern Britain by John Lowe
- British History 1815-1893 by J.R Edwards
- The Last Year of Liberal Britain 1900-1914 by K.W.W Aikin
