The Labour Governments of 1924
and 1929-31 Demonstrated that the Labour Party was Fit to Govern
In March 1924, the Conservative party lost of vote of confidence, and
a minority Labour government came into power for the first time in
their history. Again, in 1929, the Labour government came in to power
as a minority government. The main focus of their reigns in power, was
not as complicated as how well they improved the country, but just,
simply whether they could rule at all. By 1931, and the fall of the
Labour government, after the Wall street crash, the country was in
serious economic problems, and appeared that the Labour government had
failed, but was it there fault, was there anything they failed to do
to stop the depression, and did they succeed in proving that they had
become a major political force, which could directly compete with the
Conservative party.
Labour, the party set up for the working class, by trade Unionists,
was an idealistic Socialist party. It was a centre-left party, who
were not as extreme as the Socialists or Communists, and not as
central as the shattered Liberals. This meant, that although, their
efforts would primarily be aimed at improving the lower classes
standards of living, they would not persecute or destroy the upper
echelons of society. This won them support from several, socialist
middle and upper class voters.
The Labour governments had many domestic achievements, which did
primarily help the poor. The obvious examples are the John Wheatley's
Housing Act and the Hadow report in the first Labour governments. The
first, providing £9 million p.a. to pay local councils to build homes.
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George, to create public work schemes, or to listen to the proposal
made by Oswald Mosley and the economist Keynes, to restrict imports,
they stuck with traditional conservative views, which worsened the
crisis.
Not only was the Depression, a serious problem for Labour, even had
they have wanted to introduce radical reforms; they may have been
blocked, by the Liberals or Conservatives, as they were a minority
government.
Therefore, I believe that the Labour government proved that it could
be a successful government, and should have been taken seriously, as a
major political party. However, their failure to deal with the high
unemployment levels, caused by the recession and worsened by the Wall
Street Crash, meant that they were correctly removed from power, and
replaced by a coalition National Government.
It must be considered when viewing the achievements of Labour that in 1924, the Labour government was not in a position to push ahead with radical policies, as a minority in the house of commons a Conservative vote and abstinence of a liberal support would have brought the government down. A heavy reliance on the liberals existed in the first labour government which some argue restricted them heavily, policies such as nationalisation and disarmament had no chance of being implemented. Also due to its reliance on the Liberals its relationship with trade unions was damaged as they felt they were not being represented as well as promised. To labour this was a large problem as trade unions provided most of their funds, however to be too sympathetic to the unions would make it difficult to project an image of their party as genuinely national. Labour theorised that a gradual series of changes would be more beneficial to their aims, and using their rise to power in 24 as foundation stone to prove their capability in government, their socialist views were still present, however were a realistic take on Labours ability to bring change to Britain, which was at this point vastly limited.
Why People Voted for Roosevelt in 1932 There were many reasons why people voted for Roosevelt in 1932. These were to do with the effects of the great depression the unpopularity of Hoover and the appeal and promises of Roosevelt. Firstly an important reason that affected the fact that people voted for Roosevelt was the great depression and the Wall Street crash. The world wide economic slump began in October 1929 with the Wall Street crash and continued through to the 1930s. During 1920S while business in the United States prospered farmers did not.
In 1929, the stock market crashed, bringing great ruin to our country. The result, the Great Depression, was a time of hardship for everyone around the world. The economy in the US was lower than ever and people were suffering immensely. During these trying times, two presidents served- Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (F.D.R.) Both had different views on how the depression should be handled, with Hoover believing that the people could solve the issue themselves with no government involvement, and with F.D.R. believing that the government should work for their people in such difficult times.
In the run up to the election therefore the Liberals won the working class support. It was perhaps the working class who had the biggest effect on the result of the election, this proved to be in favour of the Liberal Party.
The Great Depression tested America’s political organizations like no other event in United States’ history except the Civil War. The most famous explanations of the period are friendly to Roosevelt and the New Deal and very critical of the Republican presidents of the 1920’s, bankers, and businessmen, whom they blame for the collapse. However, Amity Shlaes in her book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, contests the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism failed, and that it ended because of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Shlaes, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a syndicated financial columnist, argues that government action between 1929 and 1940 unnecessarily deepened and extended the Great Depression.
After the depression America was in a state mass hysteria as the Wall Street crash had caused a massive crisis among the American public because the impact of the wall street crash caused 12 million people out of work, it also caused 20,000 companies to go bankrupt and there were 23,000 suicides in one year because of the wall street crash this was the highest amount of suicides in a year ever. The main aims of the new deal were Relief, Recovery and Reform, Relief was for the Homeless and Unemployed, recovery was for Industry, Agriculture and Banks and Reform was to prevent the depression form happening again. The structure of The New Deal was the First Hundred Days (1933) where he would focus on relief by helping the homeless and unemployed and recovery by helping industry, agriculture and banks, there was also the Second New Deal where he would focus on Reform, preventing the depression from happening again. Roosevelt believed that the government should help those people worst affected by the depression, this is why he created over 50 alphabet agencies to deal with the problems caused by the depression, this is why he introduced the new deal because he wanted to ease the pressure
When the Great Depression occurred right around 1930, William Lyon Mackenzie King and his government did not respond strongly . Although the depression was evidently obvious, King believed that the economic crisis was temporarily and only patience was needed to overcome it . It took a while for King to realize how the depression was affecting the politics . King believed that welfare was a provincial responsibility and no one else’s . During the depression, all provinces wanted to increase the tax in Ottawa, but he did not understand the concept of it since other provinces were going to use the tax for themselves. King thought that it was necessary for the provinces to take initiative and increase their taxes . As the depression hit rock bottom many Canadians were unemployed. As Canada was changing right in front of his eyes, King’s perspectives did not show change. In one of his speeches he declared, “I submit that there is not evidence in Canada today of an emergency situation which demands anything of that kind” . King did not face with depression in the most orderly matter but he was a great Liberal leader, he kept the Liberals together when the Conservatives were falling apart and new political parties were developed to compete for the votes . During the depression, King held an election that was one of the most important events that occurred in...
The early 1900s were filled with many new social ideas and changes. New faces arose during this time, and many new ideas changed the shape of society. Among these were race relations, the role of women in society, and the ever-heated modernism versus fundamentalism debate.
before, and when the war was over a lot of these jobs were not needed
The New Deal sought to create a more progressive country through government growth, but resulted in a huge divide between liberals and conservatives. Prior to the New Deal, conservatives had already begun losing power within the government, allowing the Democratic Party to gain control and favoring by the American people (Postwar 284). With the Great Depression, came social tensions, economic instability, and many other issues that had to be solved for America’s wellbeing. The New Deal created a strong central government, providing the American people aid, interfering with businesses and the economy, allowing the federal government to handle issues they were never entrusted with before.
One of FDR greatest achievements was the New Deal. Although it failed to end the Great Depression, it helped bring about the beginning of a national recovery. The Roosevelt’s administration had good intentions and some of the programs came out of the New Deal benefited the U.S. economy in the long run. The New Deal redefined the role of the federal government, and its willingness to assist the poor, the elderly, and the working class. In 1935, he signed the Social Security Act into law, creating the nation’s first pension system for retired workers age 65 or older. Social Security has grown to become a crucial aspect of modern life. Likewise, some of the government agencies created during his presidency still stand today. His commitment to assisting the working class and the poor shifted political loyalties. The New Deal also strengthened the Democratic Party as the working class became one of the most loyal supporters. FDR’s social and economic reforms dramatically changed the two major parties in the United States, which continue to dominate American politics up until now. In addition, his administration “generated as New Deal liberalism, that remained a source of inspiration…that helped shape the next major experiments in liberal reform” (Brinkley, 2010, pg. 62). The New Deal allowed the economy to recover by creating more jobs for the people and started the foundation of different social
The Great Depression was one of the greatest challenges that the United States faced during the twentieth century. It sidelined not only the economy of America, but also that of the entire world. The Depression was unlike anything that had been seen before. It was more prolonged and influential than any economic downturn in the history of the United States. The Depression struck fear in the government and the American people because it was so different. Calvin Coolidge even said, "In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope—nothing of man." People were scared and did not know what to do to address the looming economic crash. As a result of the Depression’s seriousness and severity, it took unconventional methods to fix the economy and get it going again. Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration had to think outside the box to fix the economy. The administration changed the role of the government in the lives of the people, the economy, and the world. As a result of the abnormal nature of the Depression, the FDR administration had to experiment with different programs and approaches to the issue, as stated by William Lloyd Garrison when he describes the new deal as both assisting and slowing the recovery. Some of the programs, such as the FDIC and works programs, were successful; however, others like the NIRA did little to address the economic issue. Additionally, the FDR administration also created a role for the federal government in the everyday lives of the American people by providing jobs through the works program and establishing the precedent of Social Security...
In short, despite other uncontrollable factors, US government could have done a better job of preventing the Great Depression from happening. The depression was not inevitable in some sense. And the effects of the New Deal is questionable. The purpose of studying the past is to learn from the mistakes and move on. Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. -----George Bernard Shaw h
But economically, Roosevelt and his “brains trust” had no idea what they were doing. They attempted one failed intervention after another. The Great Depression was a disaster, and sadly an avoidable one.” (Edwards, 2005)
" The real meaning of the New Economic policy is that we have met a