Editing Ramsay MacDonald (section)

== Prime Minister (1924)<span class="anchor" id="First premiership"></span><!-- linked from redirects [[First premiership of Ramsay MacDonald]], [[First prime ministership of Ramsay MacDonald]] --> ==
=== First term: January–October 1924<!-- linked from redirects [[First premiership of Ramsay MacDonald]], [[First prime ministership of Ramsay MacDonald]] --> ===
{{Further|First MacDonald ministry}}
[[File:Første Labour-regering.jpg|thumb|MacDonald with ministers of his first government, January 1924]]
[[File:Ramsay MacDonald-TIME-1924.jpg|thumb|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, 18 August 1924]]

MacDonald had never held office but demonstrated energy, executive ability, and political astuteness. He consulted widely within his party, making the Liberal [[Lord Haldane]] the [[Lord Chancellor]], and [[Philip Snowden]] [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]. He took the foreign office himself.<ref name="Gill Bennett 2014"/> Besides himself, ten other cabinet members came from working-class origins, a dramatic breakthrough in British history.{{sfn|Taylor|1965|p=209}} His first priority was to undo the perceived damage caused by the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]], by settling the [[World War I reparations|reparations]] issue and coming to terms with [[Weimar Republic|Germany]]. King [[George V]] noted in his diary, "He wishes to do the right thing.... Today, 23 years ago, dear Grandmama {{bracket|[[Queen Victoria]]}} died. I wonder what she would have thought of a Labour Government!"<ref>Sir Harold Nicolson, ''King George V: His life and reign'' (1952)</ref>

While there were no major labour strikes during his term, MacDonald acted swiftly to end those that did erupt. When the Labour Party executive criticised the government, he replied that "public doles, [[Poplarism]] [local defiance of the national government], strikes for increased wages, limitation of output, not only are not Socialism, but may mislead the spirit and policy of the Socialist movement".{{sfn|Taylor|1965|pp=213–214}} The Government lasted only nine months and did not have a majority in either House of the Parliament, but it was still able to support the unemployed with the extension of benefits and amendments to the Insurance Acts.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3672123&seq=245&q1=farmers The British labour government in contemporary opinion / by Marjorie Ruth Clark, 1925, P.22-26]</ref> In a personal triumph for [[John Wheatley]], Minister for Health, a [[Wheatley Housing Act|Housing Act]] was passed, which greatly expanded [[municipal housing]] for low-paid workers.<ref name="MacDonald">Morgan, Kevin. (2006) ''MacDonald (20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century)'', Haus Publishing, {{ISBN|1904950612}}</ref> Several other reforms were carried out during MacDonald's first premiership in areas such as education,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.506982 ''Policy & Progress In Secondary Education 1902-1942'' by John Graves, 1943, P.122]</ref> social security,<ref>[https://www.historyisnowmagazine.com/blog/2024/6/17/the-first-british-labour-government-what-did-it-achieve ''The First British Labour Government – What did it Achieve?'' By Vittorio Trevitt, Published by History Today on the 17th of June 2024]</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Social_Policies_for_Old_Age/ufJEAQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Labour+government+1924+old+age+pensions&pg=PA92&printsec=frontcover ''Social Policies for Old Age A Review of Social Provision for Old Age in Great Britain'' By B. E. Shenfield, 2013, P.92]</ref> agriculture,<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Agriculture_in_England/DXa7AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Labour+government+1924+minimum+wage+agriculture&pg=PA83&printsec=frontcover ''Agriculture in England A Survey of Farming'', 1870-1947 By Jonathan Brown, 1987, P.83]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ifBYAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=Glasgow+Herald+Labour+Chancellor+1924+agriculture&article_id=4223,1106427&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1vajQi9OMAxWmRUEAHdcOECYQ6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=Glasgow%20Herald%20Labour%20Chancellor%201924%20agriculture&f=false ''The Glasgow Herald'' 8 Jul 1929]</ref> and taxation.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/In_Defense_of_Public_Debt/QHs_EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Philip+Snowden+free+breakfast+table+budget&pg=PA114&printsec=frontcover ''In Defense of Public Debt'' By Barry J. Eichengreen, Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves, Kris James Mitchener, 2021, P.114]</ref>

=== Foreign affairs ===
{{further|International relations (1919–1939)|History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom|Interwar Britain}}

MacDonald had long been a leading spokesman for internationalism in the Labour movement; at first, he verged on pacifism. He founded the Union of Democratic Control in early 1914 to promote international socialist aims, but it was overwhelmed by the war. His 1917 book, ''National Defence'', revealed his own long-term vision for peace. Although disappointed at the harsh terms of the Versailles Treaty, he supported the [[League of Nations]] – but, by 1930, he felt that the internal cohesion of the British Empire and a strong, independent British defence programme might turn out to be the wisest British government policy.<ref>Keith Robbins, "Labour Foreign Policy and International Socialism: MacDonald and the League of Nations," in Robbins, ''Politicians, Diplomacy and War'' (2003) pp. 239–272</ref>

MacDonald moved in March 1924 to end construction work on the Singapore military base, despite strong opposition from the [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]]. He believed the building of the base would endanger the [[Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments|disarmament conference]]; the [[First Sea Lord]] [[David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty|Lord Beatty]] considered the absence of such a base as dangerously imperilling British trade and territories East of [[Chief Commissioner's Province of Aden|Aden]] and could mean the security of the British Empire in the Far East being dependent on the goodwill of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]].{{sfn|Marquand|1977|pp=315–317}}

In June 1924, MacDonald convened a conference in London of the wartime [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] and achieved an agreement on a new plan for settling the reparations issue and [[Occupation of the Ruhr|French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr]]. German delegates joined the meeting, and the London Settlement was signed. It was followed by an Anglo-German commercial treaty. Another major triumph for MacDonald was the conference held in London in July and August 1924 to deal with the implementation of the [[Dawes Plan]].<ref name=Marks248>{{cite journal | last1 = Marks | first1 = Sally | year = 1978 | title = The Myths of Reparations | journal = Central European History | volume = 11 | issue = 3| pages = 231–255 | doi=10.1017/s0008938900018707| s2cid = 144072556 }}</ref> MacDonald, who accepted the popular view of the economist [[John Maynard Keynes]] of [[World War I reparations|German reparations]] as impossible to pay, pressured French Premier [[Édouard Herriot]] until many concessions were made to Germany, including the evacuation of the [[Ruhr]].<ref name=Marks248/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Steiner|first=Zara|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/86068902|title=The lights that failed : European international history, 1919–1933|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0191518812|location=Oxford|oclc=86068902}}</ref>
[[File:Ramsay MacDonald Christian Rakovsky 1924.jpg|left|thumb|290x290px|Ramsay MacDonald and [[Christian Rakovsky]], Head of the Soviet diplomatic delegation. February 1924.]]
A British onlooker commented, "The London Conference was for the French 'man in the street' one long Calvary ... as he saw M. Herriot abandoning one by one the cherished possessions of French preponderance on the Reparations Commission, the right of sanctions in the event of German default, the economic occupation of the Ruhr, the French-Belgian railroad Régie, and finally, the military occupation of the Ruhr within a year."<ref>Marks, "The Myths of Reparations", p. 249</ref> MacDonald was proud of what had been achieved, which was the pinnacle of his short-lived administration's achievements.{{sfn|Marquand|1977|pp=329–351}} In September, he made a speech to the [[League of Nations]] Assembly in [[Geneva]], the main thrust of which was for general European disarmament, which was received with great acclaim.<ref>Limam: ''The First Labour Government'', 1924, p. 173</ref>

MacDonald recognised the [[Soviet Union]] and MacDonald informed [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in February 1924 that negotiations would begin to negotiate a treaty with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book|author=Curtis Keeble|title=Britain and the Soviet Union 1917–89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGGxCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117|year=1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|page=117|isbn=978-1349206438}}</ref> The treaty was to cover Anglo-Soviet trade and the repayment of the British bondholders, who had lent billions to the pre-revolutionary Russian government and been rejected by the Bolsheviks. There were, in fact, two proposed treaties: one would cover commercial matters, and the other would cover a fairly vague future discussion on the problem of the bondholders. If the treaties were signed, the British government would conclude a further treaty and guarantee a loan to the Bolsheviks.  The treaties were popular neither with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] nor with the Liberals, who, in September, criticised the loan so vehemently that negotiation with them seemed impossible.<ref>Lyman, ''The First Labour Government, 1924'' pp. 195–204</ref>

However, the government's fate was determined by the "[[Campbell Case]]", the abrogation of prosecuting the left-wing newspaper the ''[[Workers' Weekly (UK)|Workers' Weekly]]'' for inciting servicemen to mutiny. The Conservatives put down a censure motion, to which the Liberals added an amendment. MacDonald's Cabinet resolved to treat both motions as [[motion of confidence|matters of confidence]]. The Liberal amendment was carried, and the King granted MacDonald a dissolution of Parliament the following day.  The issues that dominated the election campaign were the Campbell Case and the Russian treaties, which soon combined into the single issue of the Bolshevik threat.<ref>{{cite book|author=A.J.P. Taylor|title=English History, 1914–1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sb0RDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA217|year=1965|pages=217–20, 225–226|publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0198217152}}</ref>

=== Zinoviev letter ===
{{Main|Zinoviev letter}}
On 25 October 1924, just four days before the election, the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' reported that a letter had come into its possession which purported to be a letter sent from [[Grigory Zinoviev]], the President of the [[Communist International]], to the British representative on the [[Executive Committee of the Communist International|Comintern Executive]]. The letter was dated 15 September and so before the [[Dissolution of the Parliament of the United Kingdom|dissolution of parliament]]: it stated that it was imperative for the agreed treaties between Britain and the Bolsheviks to be ratified urgently. The letter said that those Labour members who could apply pressure on the government should do so. It went on to say that a resolution of the relationship between the two countries would "assist in the revolutionising of the international and British proletariat ... make it possible for us to extend and develop the ideas of [[Leninism]] in England and the Colonies".

The government had received the letter before its publication in the newspapers. It had protested to the Bolsheviks' London chargé d'affaires and had already decided to make public the contents of the letter with details of the official protest but it had not been swift-footed enough.{{sfn|Marquand|1977|p=382}} Historians mostly agree the Zinoviev letter was a forgery, but it closely reflected attitudes current in the Comintern.