ACID COMMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 98, 23 October 1934, Page 8

ACID COMMENT

SNOWDEN ON LABOUR

THE RISE OF A NEW PARTY

FRANK CONFESSIONS

All the best autobiographies are short. 'Tis pity, therefore, that some friend did not whisper this saving truth in Lord Snowden's ear before ho planned the double-volumcd enterprise of which the first volume is published, writes J. B. Firth in the "Daily TeleB graph." Yet, after all, only the first seventyodd pages are true autobiography. These present a fascinating picturo of tho ' author's early days, when he was ono of "the lads of tho village," though always, it would seem, with a difference, and when a pupil-teachership in i the village school was the immediate ! object of his ambition. , The rest of tho book is the faithful chronicle, too often overburdened with ' detail, of a vivid and stormy career. Lord Snowden has now reached not ; port but the roadstead outside. There i ho grimly cruises about and shows no . desire for the haven under the hill. Ho finds his old friends harder to bear than ' his old enemies. Tho Prime Minister will not relish the frequent sarcasms on his idiosyn- . crasies, such as his "facility for danc- . ing round the mulberry-bush" instead of saying plain "Yea" or "Nay." Mr. 1 Henderson will not like tho reference, to his "fiery temper" and tho acidulated comments on his membership of Mr. Lloyd George's War Cabinet and the painful incidents of his resignation. Lord Snowden gives repeated proof of his acutely sensitive perception of tho intellectual imperfections of his old comrades-at-arms. These pages, therefore, do not mirror a tranquil mind, however sclf-compla-ecnt. They suggest disappointments and disgruntlemcnts as deep as thoso which vexed the lato Lord Morley and Lord Curzon. Tho one had philosophy to sustain himj tho other pride. We may perhaps learn from the second volume what sustains Lord Snowden. NOT READ MARX. Certainly, it is not the pure Socialist faith. It is more probably a rooted conviction that Philip Snowden has always been right and his judgment, as tho policeman said, "infalliable." He has not even read the Socialist Bible. Hero are his own words: — "I havo never read Karl Marx. I have read many synopses of his teaching and that has been quite enough for me. I havo met a few men who claim to have read arid studied the threo volumes of 'Das Kapital,' but the fact that they were still alive makes me inclined to east some' doubt upon their claim." I like' that, and all the more because it will cause the Socialist pedants to blaspheme. But how typical of the man who was destiucd to bo tho missionary of a new gospel. If he had been born in 1814 instead of 1864 a preacher he must have been. But ho would certainly have quarrelled with the- Articles and have founded a new sect. In point of fact ho was at one time "almost persuaded." It was at ono of tho Methodist Revival services which broke the drab monotony of social life at Cowling on the Yorkshiro moors. "One winter all my mates 'got converted,' and I was feeling rather lonely. So I decided to join them, but alas! as I was proceeding to the penitent form my father, unaware of my intention, stopped mo and said it was my bedtime, and I had better go home. What would havo happened if I had succeeded in my purpose I don't know. I might have become a Wesleyan minister—possibly a president of tho conference." I fancy that was the only time when Lord Snowden came within range of a penitent-form of any sort or size. A second chance was vouchsafed him ' when ho was nursing tho wounds which unfortunately crippled him for life. Suf- ' fering might then have made another Loyola of him or another Wesley. The dedication came, but it was to advance causes far different from theirs. ' BORN A MISSIONER. Nevertheless, the key of Philip Snow- , den's career and success lies in tho fact . that he was born a missioncr. He was , the inspired town and field preacher of j the British Labour movement. Though s generous in his praise of Koir Hardie ( as the pioneer and founder of tho 1.L.P., | he is always conscious that he was him- ( self tho "vital spark" of the move- . ment in the crucial days from 1895 to ■ 1905. f It was he who got the crowds. It ( was he who inspired the branches. He was the wind which sot the dry bones dancing, and by far tho best pages in this book aro those in which he tells the story of his tireless journeyings. It is a misfortune that he kept no journal or diary. It might havo rivalled John Wesley's. "I walked with difficulty, with the aid of a stick, every step a deliberate effort, carrying my bag in tho other hand. I made all the journeys alone. I spoke in practically every large town in Great Britain, and in hundreds of smaller towns and villages. I often had to travel long, distances between meetings, and frequently was unable to get *- food between breakfast time and even- C ing, except sometimes a railway refresh- C ment cup of tea and a sandwich. a "Cabs wore a luxury we seldom could afford, and I usually had to walk cou- n siderable distances to and from the c meetings." k His pecuniary reward did not average 30s a week, with 8s a week extra for running tho part)' journal. The real , reward, of course, was that tho movement spread like fire among the stubbles. It was a new evangel, tho i message of a new hope. n Here w.'i-s a political religion for the ' present life, with rich promise of *' "divvies" cashable on demand when j* seats were won at elections. , IDEALISM. t n Lord Snowden dwells eloquently on tho "idealism" of those early days. Ho t knows the change and feels it. Instead n of founding a "new order" ho and his j, friends merely founded a new party, j. no more exempted from the frailties, tho passions, tho ambitions, and the cove- a tousness of humanity than the old. j Lord Snowden has more than his share t of the intellectual man's strong con- a tempt for the inferior instruments t necessary to his designs. He cannot %1 hido it. The Labour Party, being a de- . mocratic party, works through conferences and resolutions. Ho has thriven on them. Yet he turns and rends them: "Conferences will talk; let them talk. Governments, including Labour Governments, dispose of conference resolutions. . . . Every four years the party is presented with a new programme, while not an item in the old ono has been carried into effect. Wo g had tho now social order, Labour and 0 the nation, and wo are now being pre- j] Rented piecemeal with another more s revolutionary than the last." 0

True enough, no doubt. But what a commentary on his democratic principles! Ho cannot suffer fools gladly, and all aro fools who reject his lead.

The inner story of Ihe- capture of the trade unions for Socialism aud for the Labour Party, is told here for those who can read between the lines. It was artfully and cleverly done. The unions were "jollied along," being more than.

half-conscious of their destination. They were baptised Socialists on a card vote.

Lord Snowden does not love the beefy brethren of the movement. He tartly complains that tho T.U.C. has always been an exclusive body, jealous of encroachments upon what it considers its own sphere, but always ready to encroach on the provinces of other organisations. Yet, as ho cynically observes, "The Labour Party is not likely to quarrel with the T.U.C. so long as the income of the Labour Party is derived from tho trade unions." Even the purest idealists know on which side their bread is buttered and whence the butter comes. THE INTELLECTUALS. But if Lord Snowden disdains the slothful Labour M.P.s, who are not "diligent in business," docs he love tho bustling intelligentsia who havo come up the ladder after him —tho Crippses and Laskis of - the Socialist League? Not at all. These also share his frowns and scowls. There is no need to refer to his attitude towards tho war or to the part he played during tho long agony of 1914----18." He retracts nothing. He regrets nothing. He allows no mistake. And yet in 1917 he once prophesied that the whole country would be Red over the weekend. "No man," says Lord Snowden, "has been more criticised for bitterness in speech than I have." His reply is rather an excuse than a denial. "What my critics have called bitterness was earnestness or indignation. I cannot tolerate insincerity, dishonesty, deceit or evasiveness in a speaker. Such things fill me with contempt or disgust, which I never inako any great effort -to suppress. "I have several styles of speaking adapted to different occasions. AVhen my opponent is obviously insincere or dishonest ho gets tho stylo I havo just described. If he be honest but foolish, I deal with him generally in a light bantering way. But the speech I like to deliver is the quiet, argumentative expository statement." There one has tho perfect expression of the superiority complex—both moral and intellectual. And yet tho dogs will bark! Lord Snowden's forthcoming story of the two Labour Governments in which he occupied an exalted position will be awaited with universal interest if he deals as frankly with his associates on their arrival in high places as in the present volume, when they were still on the dusty high road.