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David Lloyd George As the "Hammer" of Dissent

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David Lloyd George As the DA VID LLOYD GEORGE AND WARTIME DISSENT, 1916-1918 \ \ \ \I \ DAVID LLOYD GEORGE AS THE "HAMMER" OF DISSENT: THE WAR PREMIERSHIP, 1916-1918 By PAUL HARKISON, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University (c) Copyright by Paul Harkison, March 1994 \ \ DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1994) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (History) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: David Lloyd George as the "Hammer" of Dissent: The War Premiership, 1916-1918. AUTHOR: Paul Harkison, B.A. (Toronto) M.A. (Toronto) SUPERVISOR: Dr. R.A. Rempel. NUMBER OF PAGES: viii, 261 ii ABSTRACT This dissertation will focus upon Lloyd George's relationship to wartime dissent. This is an important area of study no~ yet coherently, systematically, and thoroughly treated. This neglect is indeed evident in the transformation of the 'pro-Boer' Radical at the turn of the century into "the man who won the war" in 1918. There have been numerous studies on Lloyd George and the Labour Movement, Lloyd George and the Generals, and Lloyd George as social reformer, just to name a few. But, as yet, there has not been any scholarly examination of Lloyd George and wartime dissent, topics which encompass his views on such issues as censorship, propaganda, the containment of peace-by-negotiation organizations, specifically, the Union of Democratic Control (UDC), the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF). and the Independent Labour Party (ILP), and the imprisonment of conscientious objectors. Two wars were fought by Lloyd George from 1916 to 1918: the first was the arduous military effort on behalf of the "knock-out blow" for total victory. while the second was the domestic campaign to maintain public support for the war. By focusing upon the "domestic war", the Lloyd George Government employed a sophisticated array of tools to buy loyalty and crush dissent: first, by constructing a propaganda machine which pledged the creation of a new post-war Britain in order to justify the hardships at home, the British Government capitalized upon the depth of patriotism throughout the working classes, and, second, by applying iii the weapons of censorship and persecution. for instance. the trial and imprisonment of E.D. Morel. the secretary of the VOC. the Lloyd George Coalition punished the leading dissenter and demonstrated their willingness to subvert individual rights and liberties. Moreover. the campaign against dissent was aided when key German actions. for example. the decision by the German High Command to adopt a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, undermined the claims of the dissenters that German peace moves were sincere and that Germany was often willing to negotiate in good faith. In addition. the British Government exploited internal divisions within wartime dissent over the issues of civil liberties and industrial action which prevented the formation of a potentially powerful alliance between peace advocates, civil libertarians, and industrial militants which could pose as a legitimate political alternative to the constitutional government. This ambitious domestic campaign contributed to Lloyd George's reputation as ·'the man who won the war" and to the rout of dissent in the election of 1918. This examination of Lloyd George's proscription of wartime dissent has also highlighted the intellectual narrowness and deep internal divisions within the peace movement. the nature of German war aims chronicled by Fritz Fischer, the German historian, who traced the aggressive continuities in Germany's expansive foreign and military policy. and the paradox of Lloyd George's political ascendancy in 1918 and his vilification by the British Left as an enemy of the working classes. The failure of the peace-by-negotiation movement and the success of the iv "knock-out blow" policy was therefore facilitated by Lloyd George's readiness to devote his tireless energy and demagogic oratory to mobilize the nation's resources - human, material, and psychological - to the defence of the nation. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my thanks to the following institutions which kindly gave me permission to consult private papers in their collections: in London, the Public Records Office, the House of Lords Record Office, the British Museum, the British Library of Political and Economic Science, and the Society of Friends' House; in Oxford, the Bodleian Library; in Manchester, the John Rylands University Library; the Peter Liddle Collection of First World War Archive Materials in the Leeds University Library; the Brynmor Jones Library in Hull University; the University of Newcastle; in Edinburgh, the Scottish Records Office; and in Aberystwyth, the National Library of Wales. My thanks are also extended to Dr. H.A. Levenstein and Dr. P.S. Fritz for the time and care that they gave to reading the various drafts of this thesis, as well as for their pertinent criticism. I am also grateful for the' guidance and scholarship which my supervisor Dr. R.A. Rempel brought to this endeavour. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Robert and Margaret, for their constant encourage ment and loving support. vi ABBREV I AT IONS ASE: Amalgamated Society of Engineers BSP: British Socialist Party BWL: British Workers' League CID: Com mittee of I mperial Defence CWC: Clyde Workers' Committee DORA: Defence of the Realm Act FOR: Fellowship of Reconciliation FSC: Friends' Service Committee HL: Herald League ILP: Independent Labour Party IWW: International Workers of the World JAC: Joint Advisory Council MSA: Military Service Act NAC: National Administrative Council NCCL: National Council for Civil Liberties NCF: No-Conscription Fellowship NW AC: National War Aims Committee PNC: Peace Negotiations Committee SLP: Socialist Labour Party TUC: Trades Union Congress UDC: Union of Democratic Control WSPU: Women's Social and Political Union vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I --THE JANUS FACE OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE: 1 1899-1914 CHAPTER II -~ THE ADVENT OF WAR TO THE PREMIERSHIP: 23 4 AUGUST 1914 -7 DECEMBER 1916 CHAPTER III --THE REVOLUTION IN GOVERNMENT: THE FIRST 66 ONE HUNDRED DAYS, DECEMBER 1916 - MARCH 1917 CHAPTER IV --SPRING IN CRISIS: MARCH - MAY 1917 109 CHAPTER V --THE COUNTER-ATTACK ON DISSENT: 150 JUNE - AUGUST 1917 CHAPTER VI --THE NEMESIS OF DISSENT: SEPTEMBER 1917 - 188 JANUARY 1918 CHAPTER VII--THE MAN WHO WON THE WAR: DISSENT IN 232 DISARRAY, FEBRUARY - NOVEMBER 1918 BIBLIOGRAPHY 254 viii 1 Chapter I: The Janus Face of David Lloyd George. 1899-1914 "Will anyone write The Real Lloyd George?". Frances Stevenson. his political secretary and mistress. asked herself. in her diary on 9 February. 1917. Lloyd George. along with James Ramsay MacDonald and Winston Churchill. must be considered as one of the most controversial British politicians of this century. As Michael Fry has asserted. Lloyd George was "subject to both passionate and even scurrilous attack. and romantic adulation. He could at~fact and repel in dangerous proportions." There have been numerous studies on Lloyd George and the Boer War. Lloyd George and social reform. Lloyd George and the Labour Movement. and Lloyd George as "the man who won the war". to name a few.l Although a number of these have made passing reference to Lloyd George's assault on wartime dissent. defined by such anti-war groups as the Union of Democratic Control (UDC) and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) who campaigned for a "peace-by negotiation". there has been no scholarly examination of why Lloyd George viewed this coalition as one of his most formidable enemies in his struggle to maintain popular support behind the war effort. This dissertation will examine the methods by which Lloyd George sought to contain. divide. and then crush his opponents. By espousing the "knock-out blow" policy. advocating the extension of the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) to restrict individual liberties and collective rights. utilizing the weapons of patriotism and propaganda. and developing close ties to the "hard men" of the Unionist party. Lloyd George's pursuit of victory dealt his reputation as a pre-war hero of Radical dissent irreparable damage. Despite his tireless contribution in the mobiliZation 2 of Britain's entire resources to the defeat of Germany. L1.2):'d George's willingness to disregard traditional Liberal principles and exploit divisions within the anti-war movement earned him the reputation as the "hammer" of dissent and he became the implacable foe of the British Left. To his contemporaries. the marvel of Lloyd George's pre-war career lay in his ability to portray himself as a Welsh nationalist. a 'pro-Boer' Radical. and the architect of the British welfare state. By virtue of his opposition to the South African War. his legislative accomplishments at the Exchequer. and his peace offensive during the winter of 1913 -14. it is not surprising that his support for the British declaration of war on 4 August 1914 effectively ended Lloyd George's vocation as a domestic reformer. He was thereafter projected "into the role of frockcoated warrior with which he is most readily identified." When he refused to resign from the Cabinet to lead a peace party in opposition to the war. did Lloyd George betray his earlier reformist and dissenting reputation as the champion of the working classes? By turning his attention from the task of social amelioration. to which aU his energies had been harnessed for eight years. and applying his vigour to the militarization of civilian life. Lloyd George became vilified as a ruthless dictator by the members of his traditional constituency. the ranks of organized labour. Nonconformity. and advocates of social change. 2 A.J.P. Taylor's definition of dissent in modern British foreign policy is the clearest description of those organizations which criticized the pre-war Liberal government's foreign policy. opposed Britain's entry into the war.
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