‘Comrade. I knew John Maclean. John Maclean was a friend of mine. Comrade, you’re no John Maclean.’
- James Maxton to Philip Snowden, 3 February 1931
The Congress of 1931
John Durham
Philip Snowden (foreground, right) with former Labour Party leader Ramsay Macdonald (foreground, left) as they prepare to enter Congress House
With the death of John Maclean in January 1931, what was expected to be another run-of-the-mill Congress with little debate or confrontation was turned overnight into a tooth and nail fight for control of the Union. The Maximists in particular were caught off-guard – Arthur James Cook was not in good health (he would die later that year) but remained the unquestioned head of the faction thanks to the loyal support of his eventual successor, Oswald Mosley.[1] While support for Cook remained strong within the faction (it is important to remember that as all political parties were banned, the Maximists were just an unofficial faction that was perfectly tolerated like any other) the Maximists had failed to make the ground they had hoped to among the key voters at the Congress – namely the Syndicate and Union leaders they believed would by now be disillusioned with the lack of progress being made by Federationist policies.
The difference between Federationism and Maximism could, at this point, not have been greater. Where Federationists supported the status quo of a somewhat powerful Federal Council that had reasonable power to mediate debate between Syndicates and dictate on national issues, the Maximists wanted to turn this into an all-powerful ‘Central Bureau’ that would dictate to each Syndicate exactly what it needed to build, produce or harvest. Federationists accused the Maximists of being ‘state socialists’ while Maximists themselves said Federationism was ‘the school of half-measures’. Maximism called for an end to 'wasted production' and the replacement of the Yearly Aims of early Federationism (targets dictated but not enforced or rewarded by the Federal Council) with 'Six Year Plans' that would see carefully calculated construction of industry and management of the eventual output become paramount over local concerns or regional differences. The Federationists, quickly rallying behind the unlikely leader Philip Snowden because of his experience in the second highest office in the land, began to lobby the attending delegates on a platform of preserving regional autonomy in the face of expanding the central power that the Maximists sought to produce.
Where the Maximists had had no trouble selecting their candidate - despite concerns about Arthur James Cook's health - the heir-apparent to the Federationist crown had a fight on his hands. Snowden, while popularly seen as competent and a capable administrator, was believed by some of the more radical elements of the Federationist movement to be 'too soft' and incapable of holding out against the pressure being put upon the Federal Council to implement some Maximist reforms by some of the most influential Unions in the country. It was this, along with his perceived 'improper background' (he had a relatively privileged youth and was the victim of some classism as a result) that lost Snowden the confidence of a section of the Federationist bloc. Seizing his chance, James Maxton announced his intention to stand for the Chair as a 'Radical Federationist' four days after John Maclean's death. Radical Federationism was, for all intents and purposes, Federationism with more fire in its belly[2]. Domestic policy was almost exactly the same with only a 'greater emphasis to be placed upon regional authority' being the doctrine's self-professed departure from Federationism proper. Foreign policy, however, was a call for 'an end to isolationism' and a promise to rebuild the Armed Forces as an offensive, rather than defensive, force. 'As our Comrades in Russia once said,' Maxton wrote, 'we must seek permanent, world revolution to share our prosperity and ensure our own survival.'
Arthur James Cook addressing Welsh miners during his tour of areas targeted by the Maximists, October 1930
While extremely alarming to the pacifistic Congregationalists (who traditionally voted with the Federationists on policy issues), this rhetoric appealed to many Maximists disgruntled that Mosley, seen as the man who stood a much better chance of winning than Cook, was not standing. The result was a shift in allegiance from some less extreme Maximist Unions to Maxton by the time of the Congress, and the emergance of a new Congregationalist candidate - the arch-pacifist George Lansbury. A former Labour MP with strong Christian values, he seemingly personified everything about the Congregationalist platform - except feminism. A supporter of women's rights he most certainly was, but ultimately, as a man, he was an acknowledgment by Annie Kenney, Christabel Pankhurst and Beatrice Webb that there was no chance of anyone being addressed as 'Chairwoman' any time soon. He was, however, the strongest candidate the Congregationalists had yet fielded, as he was very well-respected in all quarters of the leftist movement. His candidacy was not so much a threat to Snowden and Cook in the sense that Maxton was, but he would certainly take a number of votes away from both candidates, particularly Snowden himself. With the Congress looming and more and more Unions defecting to either Maximism or Maxton (the opportunity for poetry was not lost on satirists of the time), Snowden needed to think fast. Tom Mann, called in as acting Chair, had no love for the warmongering Maxton or the extremist Maximists. It is believed that he suggested to Snowden the move that would tip the balance in his favour.
On 1 February, 1931, Tom Mann called the Congress of Trade Unions to order. It was a lengthy task, as a verbal altercation had broken out towards the back of the chamber and almost come to blows - a young Maximist Union representative from Southport had objected to a particularly confrontational Congregationalist (they did exist) calling him a 'Bolshie traitor'. Once order had been restored, Mann got through the business at the top of the agenda relatively swiftly, accurately gauging the atmosphere of the Congress as one that wanted to get to the elections as quickly as possible. Therefore, without much delay, Mann began by opening the floor to candidates who wished to stand for election, beginning with those standing for Chair[3]. For the first time since 1926, all the unofficial factions backed a separate candidate, and there were even some plucky independents standing on various local platforms. Here follows a list of the main candidates along with a choice quotation from each of their speeches to the Congress.
Philip Snowden (Federationist)
‘Having worked with the late, great John Maclean for five years in the construction and administration of our Union, I believe I share his vision, skills and ability – I therefore feel that I am best placed to continue his legacy of co-operation and improvement.’
James Maxton (Radical Federationist)
‘Philip Snowden said he “shares John Maclean’s skills and ability”. Comrade. I knew John Maclean. John Maclean was a friend of mine. Comrade, you’re no John Maclean. John’s radical spirit lives on in Radical Federationism, with greater power for local workers and the ability to look our foreign foes square in the eye, not avoid their gaze for fear of starting a conflict we cannot win.’
Arthur James Cook (Maximist)
‘The workers of this country today have a choice – carry on the stagnation we are subjecting our industry to by maintaining the hamstrung and compromising policies of Federationism, or move into a new age of mass construction to ensure better living conditions for each and every citizen of our republic!’
George Lansbury (Congregationalist)
‘I am here to show you that the rhetoric of these men is not the only choice you have. This country deserves peace and prosperity, yet all candidates here apart from myself support the maintenance of our Armed Forces. I say to you now, that if elected I would would abolish the whole dreadful equipment of war and say to the world "do your worst.”’
Niclas y Glais (Autonomist)
’Here we are again, Comrades. The same promises, the same plans and the same old Union. Comrade Maxton talks about greater power for workers within their own region – something I applaud. But where Comrade Maxton falls short is the idea of real freedom for the minorities in this country oppressed from London – the freedom that can only be achieved through independence for Scotland and Wales!’
It was impossible to gauge who had swung the delegates the most with their speech. In accordance with the Constitution, Tom Mann then opened the floor to questions and speeches from individual delegates and representatives. It was among these that Philip Snowden’s ‘secret weapon’ was deployed. Just after a planted question from Oswald Mosley had allowed Cook to tear into the ‘inefficiencies of the diversified state’, Tom Mann gestured to an elderly-looking man towards the back of the chamber. The man rose, and began to speak. ‘My name is Ramsay MacDonald, and I used to be leader of the Labour Party,’ he began. MacDonald continued with a reflection on how far the socialist movement had come since the Revolution. There was some consternation at his presence, as he had been a controversial figure to many trade unionists because of his alleged commitment to private ownership – something that was never to be tested after the Conservatives narrowly won the 1924 election on a platform of ‘Maintain Britain’s Honour’ – and association with the ‘failed’ Labour Party. However, men like Attlee and, of course, Maxton himself, had proved that former Labour MPs could make more than capable Socialists of the new regime. MacDonald, sensing the crowd had been won over somewhat by his words, turned to the matter of his endorsement for Snowden. ‘Accusing’ him of being too modest, MacDonald described the time he and Snowden had spent in Opposition, planning budgets and the like, declaring that Snowden was ‘the finest economist I have ever known’ and that he was indeed well-placed to continue the building of our Union that was begun under Maclean. ‘He has,’ MacDonald concluded, ‘all the credentials this country dearly needs at this time of consolidation. That is my take on this matter, Comrades – I now invite another to speak.’
MacDonald’s impact on the election has been debated in many circles since the Congress, but the general consensus is probably that he did not actually win over any Maximists but instead shored up Snowden’s support among the Federationists, some of whom were drifting towards James Maxton. It is because of this, combined with Maxton’s perceived inappropriate hawkishness, that the results of the final count of the votes for Chair were as follows:
Total Votes Cast – 1203
Abstentions – 97
Arthur James Cook – 433 (36%)
George Lansbury – 91 (7.7%)
James Maxton – 153 (12.7%)
Philip Snowden – 475 (38.49%)
Niclas y Glais – 51 (4.3%)
The result was not met with cheers of adoration, but instead sighs of relief and shouts of anger[4] from different parts of the chamber. Mann invited Snowden to the Chairman’s box where he duly sat, without much ceremony (his small frame never gave him much gravitas). Addressing the assembled and still uproarious Congress, he thanked his voters while acknowledging he did not have the mandate his illustrious predecessor had usually enjoyed. Eager to move the work of government onwards, he announced his plans to make good on the Federationists’ claims to be more interested in regional issues by proposing a set of new posts for the Federal Council, including Commissary for Education and a number of Commissaries for Regional Relations. Gradually the tumult died down and voting on these posts being added to the Constitution could begin. James Maxton, angry and bitter at his loss, made much of declaring the posts to be ‘needless platitudes’ that hid the real ‘contempt’ for regionalisation felt by Snowden. Arthur James Cook, looking very pale and flustered, made an angry speech opposing the creation of the post of ‘Commissary for Regional Relations’ saying it was a ‘continuation of the crippling kowtowing that has held progress back in this country for too long’, but his fellow Maximist Sidney Webb was happy to speak in favour of the post of Commissary for Education, as a lifelong educator of workers he believed that the centralisation of the school curriculum and authority was an excellent move. Webb would later win the post when the elections were held.
The elections took place across the period of the Congress, with most candidates elected without a serious contest. There were some surprises – Ernest Bevin declined to run again for Foreign Affairs, saying he wanted a ‘well-earned rest’ from the business of front-line government, and pledging to return to the docksides of Gloucestershire where he intended to serve his comrades as a Union organiser. This opened the way for G.D.H. Cole, an unassuming but highly intelligent statistician who was known as an excellent diplomatic mediator between Syndicates, to become the new Commissary for Foreign Affairs. The other surprises came from Birmingham – little-known Tom Roberts, who had gained a powerful local reputation for his similar mediatory role since the Revolution, became the Regional Relations Commissary for the Midlands. His friend Jesse Eden, after much campaigning and support from the Feminist wing of the Congregationalists, became the first female member of the National Council through her bid to create and fill the post of Commissary for Female Workers. Eden had led and organised a 10,000 woman strike in the early 1920s against the car manufacturers of Birmingham to nationwide aplomb. The only post that saw a serious contest take place was that of Commissary for the Exchequer, the Union’s chief economic post. Arthur Horner vacated the post when he was unanimously elected as General Secretary[5]. Oswald Mosley of the Maximists stood and gained much support. Ramsay MacDonald nominated old Comrade J.R. Clynes to stand, gaining him Snowden (who had been struggling to find a suitable replacement for Horner from his own ranks) and the Federationists’ support. MacDonald’s support, as well as Snowden’s declaration that the Congress should not ‘let Maximism in the back door’, meant Clynes won with 54.3% of the vote. The final area that saw reform of the elections was the military – Tom Wintringham made much of declaring that the Armed Forces were now ready to operate independently from his Commission and proposed individual heads of each branch to be elected. Military men who had either pledged ‘apoliticism’ or socialist support themselves led the Army and Navy, but Oswald Mosley, although a civilian, had served in the ‘Royal’ Air Force during the Great War and put himself forward as a candidate of reconstruction for the Republican Air Force position. To the consternation of Snowden, he defeated his opponent and announced he would seek to use the post to show what Maximism could really achieve, through the development and construction of new aircraft to defend the Union. After all the elections had been settled, the new Federal Council of the Union of Britain looked like this:
Chairman of the Congress of Trade Unions Philip Snowden
General Secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions Arthur Horner
Commissary for the Exchequer J.R. Clynes
Commissary for Foreign Affairs G.D.H. Cole
Commissary for Home Infrastructure Jimmy Thomas[6]
Commissary for Industrial Relations Harry Pollitt
Commissary for Education Sidney Webb
Commissary for Regional Relations (Scotland) William Gallacher
Commissary for Regional Relations (Wales) Niclas y Glais
Commissary for Regional Relations (Northern England) JB Priestley
Commissary for Regional Relations (Midlands) Tom Roberts
Commissary for Regional Relations (Southwest England) John Spargo
Commissary for Regional Relations (Southeast England) William Wedgwood Benn
Commissary for Female Workers Jesse Eden
Chairman of the Home Defence Committee Tom Wintringham
Chief of Staff (Army) Walter Kirke
Chief of Staff (Navy) Ernle Chatfield
Chief of Staff (Air Force) Oswald Mosley
There was some other business to attend to, of course – various new infrastructure agreements were signed (as a sign of the rising star of Clement Attlee, it was he who chaired the discussion) and the Congress voted to maintain the Ports Independence Motion put forward by Maclean in his final months (see previous chapter). William Wedgwood Benn made a potentially controversial suggestion that was surprisingly voted for with little opposition. The Congress, Benn said, should be held in September around the date of the Revolution, as February was not the best time for some parts of the country to attend. Results of the harvest would also be ready, and so on, and the current date of February had only been chosen because the first Congress had been held as soon as possible after the Revolution. The motion passed, with an addendum that this did indeed mean there would be longer than a year until the next Congress. Another proposal came from James Maxton, who spoke with genuine passion and without a hint of prior bitterness as he proposed that the Union’s first airship, under construction in Kent under the name ‘Revolution’, should instead be named ‘John Maclean’ in honour of the great man. The motion passed unanimously.
On the final day of the Congress, Snowden attempted to bring together all the quarrelling factions for what he thought would be a politically-neutral discussion – the matter of a new flag for the Union. In the only countries where Britain had formal representation (the Sicilies, France and Bengal), the old Union Flag was used. In Britain itself, the Red Flag was flown at Congress and at official Syndicate events across the country. Since 1926, the workers of Britain had been debating among themselves whether a new national flag should be adopted. John Maclean had thought the idea frivolous and never granted it time at Congress, even going so far as crossing off of Snowden’s (in his capacity as General Secretary) draft agenda for the Congress of 1929. Snowden, now in control of a Congress that looked like it might rip itself apart if it had to elect one more controversial new official, turned to the matter as a means of seeking unity.
As it happened, the Congress was more than happy to continue arguing with itself over this new issue. Some die-hard Revolutionaries like Maxton (who was at this point an exceptionally bitter man) opposed the incorporation of any British symbols onto ‘the people’s flag’, and put forward the case for retaining the existing pain red design. Eric Blair of the Maximists argued that the Union was a fundamentally British undertaking and its flag should display this. As a compromise, he tabled a joint motion with John Spargo to include the emblem of the Congress on the flag as well, in traditional gold on the existing red background. Snowden kept out of the negotiations, maintaining his role as Chair meant he would take responsibility for commissioning an artist, but would seek no input in the design itself. The question of, if depicting the Union flag, including the cross of St Patrick on it given the departure of Ulster from British jurisdiction was raised. Mosley and Cook both argued vigorously for the maintenance of the cross, saying to remove it was to remove ‘this Union’s link with our forefathers who lived under imperial yoke – did they not have good ideas?’[7]. A more convincing argument was put forward by Niclas y Glais – back from the political wilderness after his election as Regional Commissary for Wales – who said that such a move should be embraced and applauded. ‘To remove those two archaic crossed lines from our country’s flag would be to remove our claim to a people we never rightfully ruled,’ he declared during the debate. It was quickly accepted that he was attempting to make a link between the withdrawal of British rule over Ireland and his own Autonomist agenda, which called for the same thing in Wales and Scotland[8]. While the gist of his latter intention was not embraced by the Congress, his initial proposal was. It was agreed that a designer should be selected by the Federal Council and given a brief to ‘produce a flag that incorporates the following three elements:
i) the Union Flag as it appeared between 1707 and 1801
ii) the emblem of the Congress of the Trade Unions
iii) the current unofficial Red Flag of the Union of Britain’
The motion passed by a heavy majority, with even the most loyal of Cook’s Maximist supports agreeing to the idea. A designer named Charles Perrion, known for his progressive and groundbreaking designs of patterns and furniture, drew up a flag for the Federal Council which, finding the flag to its liking, voted to adopt it.
The Congress ended, therefore, on something of a high note. These were not the halcyon days of 1926 by any stretch of the imagination, but the vote and debate on the flag had been considerably more cordial and collaborative than the previous days’ frantic and bitter struggles. The pervading mood was not one of optimism, but of acceptance that the outcome had been the best of a bad bunch – the frightening centralisation plans of Arthur James Cook had been marginally rejected, the fiery and ‘dangerous’ James Maxton’s radical ideas had been exposed as somewhat poorly thought out, and the uninspiring but proved-to-be capable Philip Snowden now held the reins, taking the unprecedented step of declaring he would only hold the post for five years of what he called ‘consolidation’ before acknowledging the need for a ‘new, younger and more dynamic’ Chair to take his place. The Union’s representatives returned to their home towns and Syndicates and prepared for five years of ennui and more of the same. It was better this, they thought, than a venture into the unknown. By 1936, they would be more than ready for the latter.
[1] It has been argued that Mosley’s attachment to Cook and his close association with him from the beginning of the Revolution until Cook’s death was intended by Mosley as a means of purging his own aristocratic background from the public mind. With Mosley seen time and time again at the side of this plain-speaking proletarian, and using his own eloquent speaking style to compliment and praise his and his movement’s efforts, it certainly had the successful result of making people think of ‘Mosley, the man of the people’ rather than ‘Mosley the Baronet’. For more on this subject, see ‘Reinventing a tyrant’ by Eric Hobsbawm, available in the JSTOR online archives for
History Today.
[2] Maxton wrote and circulated 'The Radical Federationist Manifesto' a week before the Congress, explaining his platform.
[3] The Constitution stipulated that the Chair is always the first post to be elected, followed by General Secretary, Exchequer, Foreign Affairs and Home Infrastructure. Other, or newly created posts, could be appointed by the Chair and passed by a simple majority in whatever order the Congress agreed on.
[4] Nye Bevan,
Diaries (Cardiff: Cymru Publications, 1971) p.461.
[5] According to Tom Mann, an agreement was reached between Horner and Snowden that saw the former allow the latter to stand unopposed for the Federationists. If true, this adds greater meaning to Snowden’s pledge (that he kept) to stand down after five years.
[6] Replaced in 1932 by Clement Attlee.
[7] Oswald Mosley,
The Sayings of Arthur James Cook (London: Forward Books, 1935) p.93.
[8] Ian Kershaw,
Struggle Unending: The Autonomism Question (Sheffield: Blade Publishing, 1991) p.42.
. Something you made up?
