MIA > Archive > M. Philips Price
From International Press Correspondence, Vol. II No. 3, 10 January 1922, p. 20.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2019). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
It is just three years ago that Lloyd George rushed England into the turmoil of a general election on the cry, “Hang the Kaiser and make Germany pay for the costs of the war”. The moment was opportune for him. He could parade himself before the electors as the man, who had won the war and he knew that the psycho-neurosis of war was still gripping the minds of nine-tenths of the British public. The election ended in a complete victory for the Government Coalition of Liberal and Conservative parties and with the aid of this democratic majority Lloyd George was able to rule England, until he felt that the time was opportune for him to go to the country again.
Since that time England has enjoyed the fruits of the policy which Lloyd George pursued on the strength of his majority, obtained at the elections of Dec. 1918. The South Wales coal trade is ruined, nearly two million unemployed walk the street, the French bourgeoisie dominate the continent of Europe and the German workers produce goods, underselling those made by British labour in all markets of the world. The British Empire as been torn with convulsions in Ireland, India and Egypt and a dangerous naval rivalry, which threatened to develop into a new war with America, had all ready begun. The outlook for the ruling classes of England and for the Lloyd George coalition, which represented it, looked extremely dark during the summer of 1921. That being the case it was of course impossible for Lloyd George to hold a general election and to appeal to the country on the results of his policy. For it is one of the principles of parliamentary government in England that a Prime Minister only appeals to the country, when he is popular and if he happens to have made himself unpopular during his term of office, then he must not appeal but hold on at all costs, until he has found some sensational diversion, which will suddenly gain for him popularity. And as long as he has a “sound” press at his disposal, ready to cry “no election”, as long as an election would mean defeat for the government, and to cry “election”, as soon as it would mean victory, he has nothing to fear.
All during the summer Lloyd George has been busily seeking for a diversion, which would hypnotise the mind of the English “petty bourgeois”, and secure for him another victory at the elections. There is no doubt that he worked very hard to secure a settlement in Ireland. All through the terror of the Anglo-Irish war last year Lloyd George was secretly trying to find a solution, which would retain Ireland in the British Empire and at the same time satisfy Sinn Fein’s demand for independence. His former reputation as a radical democrat and as the man, who spoke out in favour of the Boers at the time of the Boer war, had not been forgotten, so that it was not difficult for him to appear in the role of a peacemaker in Ireland. The present Treaty with Ireland, which will in all probability be ratified by the Irish parliament before many days, is directly his work. Thereby the British naval and military forces are secured in the possession of the Irish coasts in the event of future wars, while the Irish petty bourgeoisie are put on the same level as the Canadian and Australian farmers, as partners in the British Commonwealth.
In Washington, moreover, Lloyd George has secured a success. It is true that he has had to submit to the unpleasant operation of having the British lions’ claws cut; for that is what happened with the abandonment of the Anglo-Japanese alliance and the acceptance of Mr. Hughes naval ratio. The old English song, Britannia rules the waves will have to be changed into Uncle Sam and Britannia rule the waves. Nevertheless the Washington Conference so far has removed the danger of an Anglo-American war, which would have meant the end of the British Empire, has avoided the danger of Irish-American cooperation at England’s weakest spot and has given Lloyd George the chance to appear before the British public as the man, who avoided conflict with America and reduced the naval program.
Again on the continent of Europe Lloyd George is trying now to play the role of the “man who saved Europe from bankruptcy”. In this he has the support not only of the small shopkeeper class and of the so-called “man in the street” but also of the big bourgeoisie and even to some extent of finance capital, whose economic power has been seriously threatened by the ruin of the German market and the military domination of France over the continent of Europe. His plan for the reconstruction of Europe by the aid of a huge international finance consortium is an attempt to save capitalism from the effects of post-war decay and at the same time to win the applause of pacifists, democrats and “Manchester-School Liberals”. Will it succeed? That will be decided at Cannes. But even if it does not succeed on an international scale, it will and has to a large extent already succeeded on a national scale in England, by rallying round him again all those elements of the population, who were beginning to become very discontented with his government and with the bad trade and unemployment, which followed the Versailles and Spa treaties.
Also in regard to Russian policy Lloyd George is trying to mobilize those people in England, who realise that the exclusion of Russia from the European markets is disastrous for British industry. It is an open secret that Lloyd George has all along been an opponent of military intervention and the war against Soviet Russia and even at the time when he was making anti-Soviet speeches, he was working to stop the intervention policy and to secure the recognition of the de facto government of Russia. All these ideas are popular now in English middle class and intellectual circles and Lloyd George, whose political sense is probably the keenest of any politician in Europe, has not been slow to make himself the mouthpiece of these ideas.
If he succeeds in carrying thorough and realizing all these plans in Europe (he has already realized, as I have shown, his plans in Ireland and America), his position in England will be so strong, that it will be comparable to that of William Pitt at the time when England headed the European coalition against Napoleon. Then will be time for him to appeal to the electors at a general election and secure a new lease of political life. The position of the British bourgeoisie is undoubtedly stronger than it was a few months ago. It is no longer threatened with a great war with America and, while it has serious troubles in Egypt and India, the outcome of which it is hard to foresee, it has at home beaten down the labor organizations and secured large wage reductions and a lowering of the standard of living of the working population. This last fact of course will tell against Lloyd George at the new election, when it comes. For there can be no doubt that the Labour party will be able to secure a large number of new supporters, as a consequence of increased labor discontent. But it is extremely doubtful if the Labour Party can do more than increase its representation in parliament. The vast majority of the small middle class, the rentiers and the unconscious elements of labor will vote for the “man who made peace with Ireland, prevented conflict with America and saved Europe from bankruptcy”. And many of them will not even have the political sense to do that but will vote for the man, who gives them the best glass of beer. Thus Lloyd George remains the dictator of England —the dictator however not with a mailed fist but with a velvet glove. It is meanwhile the task of the Labour and Communist parties of England to form a united front and make clear to the masses the shallowness and hypocrisy of the parliamentary regime in England.
January 4, 1922
Last updated on 2 September 2019