The Anti-Corn Law League, 1838–1846, by Norman McCord The Advent of the Labour Party, by Philip P. Poirier

[p031] The Anti-Corn Law League, 1838-1846, by Norman McCord (Allen and Unwin, 25s.) The Advent of the Labour Party, by Philip P. Poirier (Allen and Unwin, 25s.) THOUGH one of these books deals with events in the second quarter of the nineteenth century and the other with events in the opening years of the twentieth, both throw light upon the struggle to form an independent class party of the British workers. The first book is laid in the period of Chartism, that great anticipation; the.second shows the working class, after the long period of tailing behind the bourgeois parties, mainly the Liberals, that followed the fall of Chartism, taking its first tentative steps towards reassertion of political independence. I recall an incident at a Communist Party summer school during the popular front period when a lecturer on the history of the working-class: movement was a little embarrassed by being asked whether it was not terribly sectarian of the Chartists to fight the Anti-Corn Law League. Would it not have been wiser for them to have formed a broad alliance with this progressive ‘bourgeois movement, seeking maximum unity behind the demand—of common concern to workers and manufacturers—for abolishing the tariffs on food imports? Norman McCord’s book shows clearly the high degree of class-consciousness of the leaders of the Anti-Corn Law League, in relation both to the landed interest and to the workers, and the fierce struggle that raged between them and the Chartists. 29

[p032] LABOUR REVIEW Fear of the workers seriously inhibited League propaganda. In 1840 Bowring criticized a speech by James Acland in which the latter spoke of ‘the right of the people to eat’, as this ‘could easily be construed into a recommendation to help themselves’. In 1840-41 the League made use of Irish workers, deluded followers of the reactionary Daniel O’Connell, as strong-arm men against the ‘red’ Chartists. Norman McCord has used the papers of the League’s president, George Wilson, which were rediscovered only in 1955. He is able to make out a case for the view that the League was not responsible for the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and certainly demonstrates how strong the resistance to it was. Repeal, he argues, could never have been carried against a united landed interest. Besides the violent hostility of the farmers, there was the indifference of the London bourgeoisie. Unlike the Manchester men, these had no special interest in expanding the export market or in cheapening labour. Being largely, moreover, beneficiaries of various monopoly privileges themselves, they were ‘somewhat fearful of loosening the wedge that holds all the rotten rubbish of corruption together’. v Philip Poirier’s book shows the working class re-emerging as an independent force in politics, primarily as a result of the changing attitude of the capitalists themselves. In the 1890s the comparative willingness of the ruling class to make concessions to the aristocracy of labour and accord them a certain recognized though lowly status, which had prevailed since the 1850s, gave way to a new harshness, consequent on the weakening of British capitalism’s domination of the world market. The engineers suffered defeat in 1897 and the miners in 1898, at the hands of employers better organized and tougher than themselves. By 1900 it was clear that local Liberal associations were markedly less ready than they had been to accept working-men candidates. The need for independent political action was being forced upon the working class, and the propaganda in this sense which had been carried on by the small socialist groups at last bore fruit in the Labour Representation Committee, which developed within a few years into the Labour.Party. ‘The Advent of the Labour Party’ soundly debunks the exaggerated claims of the Fabian Society regarding their role in the formation of the independent working-class party based on the trade unions. The Fabians entirely underestimated the trade unions—‘Fabian. Essays’ -(1888) hardly alludes to them—-and until very late they were concentrating on the ‘permeation’ of the Liberals. They saw the creation of the Independent Labour Party not as a step in the right direction but as the emergence of a ‘wrecking party’ of ‘irreconcilables’: the epithets, which are Beatrice Webb’s, have an oddly familiar ring in 1959. It was the Boer War, and more par- ticularly the defeats suffered by the British Army in that war, that gave a decisive jolt forward to socialism and class feeling generally—and the Fabians, who supported the war, were isolated from this development. Vv The papers of Herbert Gladstone, the Liberal Chief Whip, are the most interesting source used by Philip Poirier. They reveal how James: Ramsay MacDonald and his associates secretly intrigued to keep JLabour’s independence merely nominal while continuing in reality the traditional enslavement to Liberalism. ‘Sensitive’ to criticism by the socialists within the Labour ranks of their electoral bargaining with the Liberals, MacDonald and Co. ‘did much of their work behind the scenes, so that very often only a dim line separated their opportunism from deception’. As for the capitalist partner in. this. bargaining, ‘such strength and prominence had the Labour Representation Committee gained in the eyes of key men in the Liberal machine, even at this 30 April-May 1959 early date, that they not only welcomed its friendly gestures; they believed in and feared its power to destroy them at the polls’. When Henderson in 1903 beat both Liberal and Tory at Barnard Castle, MacDonald, while welcoming the result as strengthening his hand in bargaining with Herbert Gladstone, nervously hoped that it would not result in a big increase in Labour candidates! This was already in essence the same MacDonald whom Strachey described as getting more and more worried as ‘Labour gain’ followed ‘Labour gain’ in the 1929 general election and showing anxiety that the Liberals should ‘do weil’. BP. Room for Rebellion A Room in Moscow, by Sally Belfrage (André Deutsch, 15s.) THERE has rarely been a book of descriptive reportage about Russia of such interest as this. The author, who wrote it immediately upon her return to Britain, was scarcely 21 when she arrived in Moscow full of the insatiable curiosity of youth. Her preoccupation was to see for herself and form her own conclusions, in defiance of her elders in every political camp. This is an attitude common to her generation. What is uncommon about Sally Belfrage is her intelligence, per- ception and humanity as well as a natural talent for putting down her observations in a lively and readable form. The daughter of progressive parents—her father was deported from the USA to Britain—she had the advantages of harsh political experience in her own life. On the other hand, as she says at the start, she was also in revolt against her elders and by no means willing to accept their views without question. It was this very rebelliousness which enabled her to spend several months in Russia. Defying all advice and warnings that she was attempting the impossible, she managed to stay behind in Moscow after the Youth Festival in 1957, got herself work permit, job and accommodation and proceeded to explore. The Festival and her visit to China on a delegation ammediately afterwards had immunized -her- against official spectacles. Her concern now was to live like an ordinary Russian and meet ordinary Russians of her own age. Vv This she achieved to a remarkable extent. That she did not altogether succeed is hardly surprising. Her job was editing English translations for a publishing house. -This meant that she would in the first instance meet intellectuals and white- collar workers. The language difficulty meant that her acquaintances and friends would be those who had the opportunity of learning English. Very few appear to have been ordinary factory workers. In other words she seems to have mixed, in the main, with the sons and daughters of the Soviet bureaucracy and intelligentsia. But her account of their lives is extraordinarily revealing. The cynicism and antics of the ‘stiliagi’ in their constant search for excitement are all here. There is also the dis- illusionment and confusion of those who have suffered persecution. The ‘aggressively pro-Soviet’, she says, were of little value to her. ‘They felt compelled to push their beliefs strenuously at any opportunity, becoming defensive about things I hadn’t even mentioned. They were for everything, everything was wonderful, and I can’t believe anyone who is for everything.’ The book is full of comic accounts of the subterfuges and disguises forced upon her by young Russians, eager to show off their prized acquaintanceship with a real live American girl, but fearful of official disapproval. One of her strongest impressions was the prevalence of fear and suspicion, even among the sons and daughters of the influential. But she herself, she believes, was not followed and she concludes that

[p033] BOOK REVIEWS. the fears of her friends were usually groundless. On the Jewish question she found ‘the general individual attitude of prejudice was often terribly discouraging. . . . As bad as anti-Semitic attitudes can be elsewhere, they seemed to me often worse in Russia’. In her descriptions of the ordinary routine of daily life Miss Belfrage is full of humour and insight. Hilarious rides on crowded Moscow buses; vain searches in shops which seldom stocked what she wanted; the human consequences of the appallingly overcrowded housing conditions—all these are described with a warm affection for the Russians. Her admiration for the rapidly expanding Soviet economy is undisguised. Her own healthy bias on the side of humanity and peace is revealed on every page. No pretence is made of inquiring into the political background of what she saw, nor does she reach any political conclusions. — It is clear to the reader, however, that this is a completely truthful account of the way of life of the more fortunate in a society which is not socialist, but where a vast bureau- cracy appropriates a very large share of the benefits arising from a planned economy. ‘A Room in Moscow’ will please neither those who hate nor those who whitewash all things Soviet. P. McGOWAN Fairy-tale Queen