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Ramsay MacDonald: A Biography
Ramsay Macdonald
859 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 1977
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About the author
David Marquand
28 books4 followersDavid Ian Marquand, FBA, FRHistS, FRSA, was a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP). Educated at Emanuel School, Magdalen College, Oxford, St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and at the University of California, Berkeley, his writings focused on issues surrounding British politics and social democracy.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 14, 2015
Though a key member of the early Labour Party and its first member to become prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald's reputation has long suffered as a result of the "great betrayal" of 1931. As a result of his resignation as head of a Labour government and his assumption of the premiership of a National Government he was reviled by party stalwarts as the man who broke his party and went over to the enemy. In this biography, David Marquand sets out to rehabilitate this long-reviled figure and restore him to his proper place in British history, giving him credit for the many accomplishment that were overshadowed by the legacy of his decision.
Born in 1866 to a single mother, young Ramsay grew up in Lossiemouth, a small fishing village in north-eastern Scotland. Excelling in school, he went first to Bristol, then to London, where he was quickly involved in radical politics. Joining the Independent Labour Party in 1894, he rapidly rose in their ranks and became secretary of what would become the Labour Party when it was formed in 1900. As secretary he stressed Labour's shared goals with the Liberal Party, a view that made the "Lib-Lab" electoral pact of 1903 (which paved the way for the party's foothold in the House of Commons in 1906) a natural fit. Marquand gives MacDonald considerable credit for his work in laying the groundwork for the Parliamentary Labour Party in the succeeding years, work that set the stage for Labour's emergence as the primary rival to the Conservatives in the 1920s.
In spite of his prominence, MacDonald nonetheless endangered his career by his opposition to Britain's entry into the First World War, with his stand forcing his resignation as leader of the party. Yet he soon recovered from this setback, as respect for his decision grew in tandem with dissent towards the conflict. By the end of the decade he was reinstalled as the head of the party, where he presided over the supplanting of the fragmented Liberal party as the dominant party of the left and Labour's victory in the 1923 general election. Their plurality in the House of Commons inaugurated the first of MacDonald's two periods as Prime Minister. Marquand gives MacDonald high marks for both his handling of economic issues and his foreign policies, which helped to establish Labour's legitimacy to hold office. Yet MacDonald remained withdrawn emotionally, isolated by the death of his wife Margaret in 1911.
This isolation became even more pronounced with the crisis of 1931. After Labour's defeat in 1924 MacDonald became Prime Minister again in 1929, just as the world's economies were entering the Great Depression. Faced with a falling pound, the government turned to American bankers; when they demanded cuts in public expenditure as the price for saving Britain's currency, the Cabinet refused and MacDonald resigned. He soon returned as the head of a National government comprised of members of all three parties but dominated by the Conservatives. While acknowledging MacDonald's indecisiveness and failures of judgment, Marquand sees the Prime Minister as a beleaguered figure facing pressure to decide and with nobody in whom he could confide. Increasingly little more than a figurehead, he continued to serve as Prime Minister before turning the office over to Stanley Baldwin in 1935 and retiring from public life.
Though published nearly forty years ago, this book remains the definitive work on its subject largely on its strengths. Well written, it uses a considerable quantity of archival material to present a persuasive case for MacDonald as a Labour Party founder and misunderstood Prime Minister. Yet there is little on MacDonald as party administrator, a glaring weakness given Marquand's argument for MacDonald's role in building the party. Nevertheless, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand this key figure in British political history, one whose reputation has suffered for too long from the many myths surrounding it.
Born in 1866 to a single mother, young Ramsay grew up in Lossiemouth, a small fishing village in north-eastern Scotland. Excelling in school, he went first to Bristol, then to London, where he was quickly involved in radical politics. Joining the Independent Labour Party in 1894, he rapidly rose in their ranks and became secretary of what would become the Labour Party when it was formed in 1900. As secretary he stressed Labour's shared goals with the Liberal Party, a view that made the "Lib-Lab" electoral pact of 1903 (which paved the way for the party's foothold in the House of Commons in 1906) a natural fit. Marquand gives MacDonald considerable credit for his work in laying the groundwork for the Parliamentary Labour Party in the succeeding years, work that set the stage for Labour's emergence as the primary rival to the Conservatives in the 1920s.
In spite of his prominence, MacDonald nonetheless endangered his career by his opposition to Britain's entry into the First World War, with his stand forcing his resignation as leader of the party. Yet he soon recovered from this setback, as respect for his decision grew in tandem with dissent towards the conflict. By the end of the decade he was reinstalled as the head of the party, where he presided over the supplanting of the fragmented Liberal party as the dominant party of the left and Labour's victory in the 1923 general election. Their plurality in the House of Commons inaugurated the first of MacDonald's two periods as Prime Minister. Marquand gives MacDonald high marks for both his handling of economic issues and his foreign policies, which helped to establish Labour's legitimacy to hold office. Yet MacDonald remained withdrawn emotionally, isolated by the death of his wife Margaret in 1911.
This isolation became even more pronounced with the crisis of 1931. After Labour's defeat in 1924 MacDonald became Prime Minister again in 1929, just as the world's economies were entering the Great Depression. Faced with a falling pound, the government turned to American bankers; when they demanded cuts in public expenditure as the price for saving Britain's currency, the Cabinet refused and MacDonald resigned. He soon returned as the head of a National government comprised of members of all three parties but dominated by the Conservatives. While acknowledging MacDonald's indecisiveness and failures of judgment, Marquand sees the Prime Minister as a beleaguered figure facing pressure to decide and with nobody in whom he could confide. Increasingly little more than a figurehead, he continued to serve as Prime Minister before turning the office over to Stanley Baldwin in 1935 and retiring from public life.
Though published nearly forty years ago, this book remains the definitive work on its subject largely on its strengths. Well written, it uses a considerable quantity of archival material to present a persuasive case for MacDonald as a Labour Party founder and misunderstood Prime Minister. Yet there is little on MacDonald as party administrator, a glaring weakness given Marquand's argument for MacDonald's role in building the party. Nevertheless, this book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand this key figure in British political history, one whose reputation has suffered for too long from the many myths surrounding it.
March 3, 2015
A well researched deep biography the UK's first Labour Prime Minister whose achievement was destroyed by the collapse of the 1929-1931 adminstration and his subsequent leadership of the National Government. MacDonald was a complex and somewhat strange man of considerable political courage whose early achievement was blighted by his later time in office.
June 6, 2019
David Marquand goes a long way in salvaging the legacy, or at the very least promoting a better understanding of, Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister of Great Britain. In a book chocked with facts and figures from the early Labour movement through MacDonald's National Government in 1931, Marquand provides us with a portrait of a leader less scheming than many have accused the man of, but one who, in the context of the early 1930s, was not able to break out of orthodoxy and blaze a new path towards prosperity like Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
From a hardscrabble upbringing, MacDonald leaps forward in these pages to one of the early leaders of the Labour Party. In that role, MacDonald sees a vision of a party supported by all classes, rather than the more narrow focus of some of the trade union die-hards who insist on a class-based party and ideology. In 1924, MacDonald ascends to 10 Downing with a minority government, achieving a few foreign policy triumphs but ultimately not accomplishing much on the domestic front.
In 1929, MacDonald again ascends to the top of the Parliamentary heap. Unfortunately, the timing could not have been worse, as the Great Depression is commencing, leading to ever higher unemployment numbers and an economy at risk of total collapse. Here, Marquand shows that MacDonald was increasingly boxed in by his framing the choices at his disposal within the gold standard context and balanced-budget paradigm of the day, rather than embracing the government spending programs and other programs now known as Keynesian Economics. In 1931, MacDonald faces the choice of economic collapse or massive cuts to unemployment, and ultimately chooses the cuts over his own party.
MacDonald is never likely to be regarded as a great prime minister - his legacy on disarmament and orthodox approach to the Great Depression have already prevented that. But what Marquand does in this book is show that MacDonald was not a Machiavelli, but rather a patriot, or at least one guided by something higher than mere party politics. MacDonald most assuredly made mistakes, and perhaps stayed in office well past his usefulness. But his contributions to Labour should not be shrouded in the "betrayal" narratives composed in the heated aftermath of his decision to join with the Conservatives under a National Government.
From a hardscrabble upbringing, MacDonald leaps forward in these pages to one of the early leaders of the Labour Party. In that role, MacDonald sees a vision of a party supported by all classes, rather than the more narrow focus of some of the trade union die-hards who insist on a class-based party and ideology. In 1924, MacDonald ascends to 10 Downing with a minority government, achieving a few foreign policy triumphs but ultimately not accomplishing much on the domestic front.
In 1929, MacDonald again ascends to the top of the Parliamentary heap. Unfortunately, the timing could not have been worse, as the Great Depression is commencing, leading to ever higher unemployment numbers and an economy at risk of total collapse. Here, Marquand shows that MacDonald was increasingly boxed in by his framing the choices at his disposal within the gold standard context and balanced-budget paradigm of the day, rather than embracing the government spending programs and other programs now known as Keynesian Economics. In 1931, MacDonald faces the choice of economic collapse or massive cuts to unemployment, and ultimately chooses the cuts over his own party.
MacDonald is never likely to be regarded as a great prime minister - his legacy on disarmament and orthodox approach to the Great Depression have already prevented that. But what Marquand does in this book is show that MacDonald was not a Machiavelli, but rather a patriot, or at least one guided by something higher than mere party politics. MacDonald most assuredly made mistakes, and perhaps stayed in office well past his usefulness. But his contributions to Labour should not be shrouded in the "betrayal" narratives composed in the heated aftermath of his decision to join with the Conservatives under a National Government.
March 25, 2024
This biography does a great job of rehabilitating Macdonald, at least as a human being but also as a politician. Marquand argues that he not only had a lot to do with Labour's establishment as a political party but also with its replacement of the Liberals. He also argues that Macdonald thought he was doing the right thing when he formed the National Government. Macdonald ends up as a tragic and sympathetic figure. Reading up on Marquand, though, the cynic in me can't help wondering how much his central thesis had to do with his own relationship with Labour at the time. Still, an excellent biography of a fascinating figure.
February 7, 2019
Excellent biography and a re-evaluation of the life of Ramsay MacDonald the man who for so long was limited to a small paragraph in the Labour Party official history. Although the book was written in 1977 its a very readable account not like some political biographies of that time
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews