Ramsay MacDonald


MacDonald, Ramsay

(James Ramsay McDonald), 1866–1937, British statesman, b. Scotland. The illegitimate son of a servant, he went as a young man to London, where he joined the Social Democratic Federation (1885) and the Fabian Society (1886). He became (1894) a member of the newly formed Independent Labour party and was instrumental in organizing the Labour Representation Committee (later the LabourLabour party,
British political party, one of the two dominant parties in Great Britain since World War I. Origins

The Labour party was founded in 1900 after several generations of preparatory trade union politics made possible by the Reform Bills of 1867 and 1884,
..... Click the link for more information.  party), in which he served (1900–1912) as first secretary. MacDonald was elected to Parliament in 1906 and was leader of the Labour party in the House of Commons (1911–14) until he was discredited and labeled a traitor for his pacifist stand at the outbreak of World War I. He lost his seat in Parliament in 1918 but was reelected in 1922 and again chosen to lead the Labour party. In Jan., 1924, he became prime minister and foreign secretary of the first Labour government of Great Britain. Although unemployment benefits were extended, his minority government did not enact strong socialist measures. In foreign affairs, however, MacDonald helped secure acceptance of the Dawes PlanDawes Plan,
presented in 1924 by the committee headed (1923–24) by Charles G. Dawes to the Reparations Commission of the Allied nations. It was accepted the same year by Germany and the Allies.
..... Click the link for more information.  and sponsored the Geneva Protocol (later rejected by the Conservative government), which provided for compulsory arbitration of international disputes. A trade agreement with the Soviet Union and the government's withdrawal of charges against a Communist newspaper editor led to a vote of censure that forced MacDonald to call an election in Oct., 1924. Publication of the Zinoviev Letter (see under Zinoviev, Grigori EvseyevichZinoviev, Grigori Evseyevich
, 1883–1936, Soviet Communist leader, originally named Radomyslsky. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor party in 1901 and sided with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction after 1903 (see Bolshevism and Menshevism).
..... Click the link for more information. ) helped secure Labour's defeat. In 1929, MacDonald became prime minister in the second Labour government. Again it was a minority government and could not press a socialist program, and its strictly orthodox economic measures proved ineffective against the serious depression. In 1931, when proposed cuts in unemployment benefits split the Labour cabinet, MacDonald agreed to lead a coalition government (the National government), leaning heavily on Conservative support. This action was regarded as apostasy by most of the Labour party, which however was roundly defeated in the election that followed. Never completely trusted by his new Conservative allies, MacDonald was no more than a figurehead in the National government. In 1935 he resigned the prime ministership to Stanley BaldwinBaldwin, Stanley,
1867–1947, British statesman; cousin of Rudyard Kipling. The son of a Worcestershire ironmaster, he was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered the family business. In 1908 he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative.
..... Click the link for more information.  and became lord president of the council. He lost his parliamentary seat in the same year but was returned in a by-election and remained in the cabinet until his death. MacDonald's writings include Parliament and Revolution (1920) and Socialism: Critical and Constructive (1924).

Bibliography

See biography by D. Marquand (1977); study by D. Carlton (1970).