During the early years of the Labour Party, Labour and the Liberals cooperated to win parliamentary seats. The small group of Labour MPs cooperated with the liberals in Parliament against the Tories. Did they co-operate too much?
Ben Tillett thought so. he said the party has no teeth no claws and has lost its growl.
He argued that labour should stop supporting the liberals (so much) and start fighting unemployment.
Ramsay MacDonald at this time was a kind of secretary chairman and I think an unofficial leader. his strategy was to help the liberals so that the liberals would help labour get more MPs in the future. In this way, the Labour Party would have a much bigger representation in Parliament.
Perhaps McDonald's strategy worked?
I wonder...
Did Ramsay MacDonald have a bigger input to the development of the Labour Party that he's given credit for?
Would Ben Tillett's observations be quite pertinent now?
Should labour help the liberals again, in reverse this time? That is should Labour help the liberals get more MPs where they have a better chance of ousting a Conservative?
No comments:
Post a Comment