sign in sign up
<<
Home , Glee Club (UK politics), Young Liberals (UK)

God Gave the Land to the People the Liberal ‘Land Song’

It is Britain’s ‘best political song’, yet many political insiders have never heard it sung. More than a century old, ‘The Land Song’ dates back to the glory days of Lloyd George , and was revived from the 1960s by a new generation of Liberal radicals. History Workshop Journal editor Andrew United Whitehead pursues the Committee for song’s history, discovers the Taxation of Land its only commercial Values / Daily News song recording, and traces sheet, 1910 the song’s contemporary (reproduced courtesy echoes to the conference of Andrew Whitehead hotels of Bournemouth and and Liverpool. Caledonian University)

26 Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 God Gave the Land to the People the Liberal ‘Land Song’

hy should we be beg- hibernation at the end of the holi- about the Liberal song tradition, gars with the ballot in day season by attracting a party but my career took me away from Wour hand? God gave the conference. Although we imag- Westminster and party confer- land to the people! ine that the dominance of the two ences and my fleeting interest in These lines are the rousing cli- main parties has only recently been political song subsided. max to a song which is maintained, challenged, circa 1990 the caravan In September 2009, I headed by many who know it, to be Brit- of political correspondents rolled to the comfortable south-coast ain’s most stirring political anthem. relentlessly for weeks on end: the resort of Bournemouth, once again ‘The best political song I was ever Trades Union Congress, still a as a journalist, to attend my first taught to sing’, declared the for- ‘must attend’ event back then; two Liberal Democrat conference for mer leader of the Labour Party, centre-party gatherings, Liberals almost twenty years. I wondered . A radical anti-land- (later Liberal Democrats) and Social whether the Glee Club, hardly an lord song, it first became popular in Democrats; Labour; the Conserva- event to suggest a contemporary the Edwardian era and ‘stressed at tives; and sometimes a quick jaunt cutting edge, might have fallen the same time, in the same rhyth- north of the border to sample a victim to a party drive towards mic breath, the identity of the resurgent Scottish National Party. sobriety and the political centre real enemy and the means for his It was at this time that I first ground. It hadn’t. The evening was overthrow’.1 It was not a socialist came across the Liberal Demo- still organised by Liberator, a jour- song, however, but a liberal rally- crat Glee Club, a loud, late-night nal which regards itself as the dis- ing tune – and is still sung as such. and hugely well-attended revue ‘The best respectful, radical ginger group Every year, more than a century and ‘everybody join in’ evening of within Britain’s third-ranking after its heyday, ‘The Land Song’ song, skits, lampoons, and some political political party. As an aide to par- is the opening number at an event period pieces from the glory days ticipants, they publish a book of with good claim to be the country’s of liberal . Of these, song I was lyrics, underlining just how seri- best political sing-song, at the Glee ‘The Land Song’, rendered at a ously liberals, architects of commu- Club on the last night of the Liberal gallop to the tune of ‘Marching ever taught nity politics, take their community Democrats’ party conference. through Georgia’, was always the to sing’, singing. The 2009 edition was the My own familiarity with – first to be sung and the audience’s twentieth, ran to forty-eight pages, and indeed non-partisan affection favourite. Although I considered declared and had the words to more than for – ‘The Land Song’ dates back myself one of the political cogno- seventy songs. twenty years or more, to my time scenti, I had never come across this the former A little after ten o’clock at night, as a lobby correspondent. For sev- rousing song – nor, since my stu- the Glee Club got under way with eral years either side of the end of dent days at the ‘Greyhound’ on leader of the what those attending would regard the Thatcher era, I used to spend ’s Gloucester Green, had without question as the liberal a large part of the autumn traips- I encountered a lively forum for Labour Party, anthem – a song almost completely ing around those seaside resorts political song. I did a little light unknown outside party ranks. The which had managed to stave off digging and feature reporting Michael Foot. words read:

Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 27 god gave the land to the people

Sound the call for boys, the items it contains. Those dat- and sound it far and wide, ing from the Liberals’ wilderness March along to victory for God years need little explanation: ‘Los- is on our side, ing Deposits’ sung to the tune of While the voice of nature thun- ‘Waltzing Matilda’, for instance. ders o’er the rising tide, Others are weary recognition of ‘God gave the land to the the effort involved in outreach poli- people!’ tics, such as ‘Climb Every Stair- case’ to the music of ‘Climb Every Chorus: The land, the land, ‘twas Mountain’. God who made the land, The swathe that date from the The land, the land, the ground convulsions and excitements of on which we stand, the rise of the SDP in the 1980s, in Why should we be beggars with alliance with the Liberals, some- the ballot in our hand? times need a little more context: God made the land for the ‘If you were the only Shirl in the people. world, and I were the only Woy’, for example, refers to two of the Hark the sound is spreading ‘’ prominent Labour from the East and from the defectors who founded the SDP, West, and later were prominent in the Why should we work hard and Liberal Democrats. The Glee Club let the landlords take the best? crowd tended to regard the Social Make them pay their taxes on Democrats as ‘soggies’, that is insuf- the land just like the rest, ficiently radical and too concerned The land was meant for the about their political careers. The people. alliance and subsequent merger prompted, a little like grit in the Clear the way for , the oyster, some pearls of the modern land must all be free, satirical political song. Liberals will not falter from the Of ‘The Land Song’, the Libera- fight, tho’ stern it be, tor Song Book briefly records that its ’Til the flag we love so well will origins lay in the American land tax fly from sea to sea movement. ‘Liberals adopted the O’er the land that is free for the song in the two general elections of people. 1910, following the rejection by the House of Lords of Lloyd George’s The army now is marching on, 1909 People’s Budget, which pro- the battle to begin, posed a tax on land.’ That made the The standard now is raised on Bournemouth sing-song a cente- high to face the battle din, nary rendition. Revitalised by the We’ll never cease from fighting occasion, I sought to discover the ‘til victory we win, song’s inception, the extent of its And the land is free for the popularity among Lloyd George- people. era Liberal land campaigners, and the reasons for its restitution by It’s never sung sitting down. On Liberal radicals two generations the chorus words ‘the land’, those later in part as a statement of politi- assembled gently punch the air cal lineage. In the course of this – and as they sing ‘why should quest, I have come across the only we be beggars with the ballot in commercial recording of ‘The Land our hand’, everyone waves their Song’ – a 78-rpm disc from 1910. songbook as if an imaginary bal- What I have failed to understand is lot paper. As I left the Glee Club why such a resonant anthem, which at coming up to one o’clock in the evokes strong identification and morning, about 300 cheery confer- loyalty among those who still sing ence delegates were singing ‘The it, has such an inconspicuous place Land Song’ for a second time – in the winder pantheon of politi- there’s a video of a rather bacchana- cal song. lian rendition on You Tube. Any song so loved, so carefully nurtured as an emblem of radical- From Chicago to Trafalgar ism, must have quite a story. The Square Liberator Song Book provides, as The words of ‘The Land Song’ befits such a serious-minded move- appeared in a single-tax publica- ment, a brief historical note of all tion in Chicago in 1887. No author

28 Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 god gave the land to the people was cited.2 It was to be sung to the revival of the last two decades of become a pamphleteer, a propa- tune of ‘Marching through Geor- the century.3 Henry Hyde Cham- gandist and a missionary. … Ever gia’, the stirring march composed a pion, an army officer who became since 1905 I have known ‘that there generation earlier at the end of the a key figure within the SDF and was a man from God, and his name American Civil War which quickly at the founding of the Independ- was Henry George’. I had no need became popular among veterans of ent Labour Party, was one of sev- henceforth for any other faith.’6 the northern Union army. The lyr- eral activists impressed both by The Liberal landslide in that ics have changed barely at all since George and the arguments he general election offered an oppor- that early published version. presented in Progress and Poverty. tunity for implementing a land The campaign for a single tax on ‘For many thoughtful people in tax. Josiah Wedgwood took upon the unimproved value of land was the early eighties’, Champion’s himself a role as a parliamentary indelibly associated with Henry biographer has argued, ‘George’s leader of the ‘single taxers’. He did George, whose 1879 book Progress writings were the catalyst which so with energy and a fair meas- and Poverty was immensely influ- changed their whole conception ure of success. The Parliamentary ential on both sides of the Atlantic. of what might be done to end the Land Values Group claimed 280 There was a crusading air to the poverty and injustice which was members, though most supported Georgite movement. The cam- being exposed.’4 Yet while George a land valuation to allow a mod- paign for a land tax was not simply helped to attract young radicals est tax on land rather than the full a fiscal measure, but was intended towards socialism, many quickly rigour of a ‘single tax’. In Novem- to challenge the large landowners moved away from his single- ber 1908, Wedgwood presented and their influence and so promote minded focus on a land tax. to the Prime Minister a petition the social and economic interests There is nothing to indicate in favour of the taxation of land and political empowerment of the that Henry George and his fol- values signed by 241 Liberal and working class. There was also an lowers brought ‘The Land Song’ Labour MPs. The land tax cam- Arcadian aspect to the movement, to Britain during his lifetime, or paign was pursued vigorously at seeking to break up land ownership that it found any echo among Brit- local and national levels, and won and so encouraging homesteads and ish socialists of that era. The song the support of several of the main a return to the land. Some social- achieved a resonance as part of a Liberal newspapers. ists argued that taxing rather than different political tradition, Liber- nationalising land was inadequate, alism, which proved a more con- and that an emphasis on land rather genial home to land taxers. Henry Lloyd George and the ‘People’s than industrial ownership was out George and his work attracted Budget’ of date, but George was a char- some determined partisans among The breakthrough came in Janu- ismatic figure and a substantial Liberal radical activists. His ideas ary 1909 when the chancellor, political economist and he became ‘appealed to their dissenting , promised a beacon around whom American natures and brilliantly touched on that the taxation of land values and British radicals gathered. His all the big issues that were close to would be implemented in his next unsuccessful campaign in 1886 as their hearts. With an analysis of budget. He favoured a one penny the United Labour Party candidate poverty and deprivation that was in the pound tax on all land and a for mayor of New – on a dem- simple, it identified an obvious national land valuation to make ocratic platform which extended enemy and offered a clear solution. that possible. By the time the far beyond the land issue – attracted George believed in the underlying budget was delivered, the scope of huge attention. One of the issues goodness of human nature, dis- the tax had been watered down, arising from that contest was the liked bureaucracy and saw feudal, and agricultural land was specifi- demand for uniform printed bal- rather than capitalist, oppression cally exempted from the proposed lot papers, a theme reflected in ‘The as the source of all evil. ‘He pro- capital value tax, but the principle Land Song’. vided a faith, not simply a political of land taxation had been estab- Henry George visited Brit- belief.’5 lished and the national valuation ain five times in the course of the made it feasible. 1880s to campaign on land issues. To the delight of the single tax There was a long British tradition 1905–06 Liberal landslide lobby, in July 1909 Lloyd George of emphasis on land reform, both One of the most enthusiastic devo- followed up his budget with a vitri- within mainstream politics and, on tees was Josiah Wedgwood, a mem- olic speech at Limehouse denounc- the radical fringes, from Thomas ber of the pottery dynasty, who ing large landowners. Two weeks Spence to the Chartist Land Plan entered parliament as a Liberal rep- later, a Great Land Reform Dem- and the small but influential group resenting Newcastle-under-Lyme onstration provided a powerful of followers of Bronterre O’Brien. in the general election at the close display of support for the taxa- Henry George’s ideas and activities of 1905. He had by then, accord- tion of land. According to Josiah attracted the attention of several of ing to his memoirs, already been Wedgwood, one of the sponsors those who were to become leading won over to the single tax. ‘Henry and principal speakers, 100,000 members of the most important of George’, he wrote, ‘gave me those demonstrators marched from the the socialist organisations of the sure convictions on and Embankment to be addressed from 1880s, the Social Democratic Fed- Left: Liberal the taxation of land values which twenty speaking platforms in Hyde eration. Indeed, his influence has Democrat have been at once my anchorage Park. ‘It was on a river trip to cel- been recognised as one of the fac- conference Glee and my object in politics. Even ebrate this demonstration’, Wedg- tors behind the British socialist Club before I reached Parliament I had wood recalled in his Memoirs, ‘that

Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 29 god gave the land to the people the “Land Song” was born to the ‘At the gen- cover of the sheet music was graced … Alas, young men who tune of “Marching through Geor- with portraits of liberal heroes cheered me did not put in any gia”.’7 Josiah Wedgwood and his eral elec- (, spade work, and most of them wife were certainly guests on a and, of course, Henry George) and had not even votes under the law steam launch which embarked from tion of of leading figures in party and gov- as it then was. When it came to Richmond on the Sunday after the ernment, Asquith, Lloyd George, the count … I could hear them demonstration to mark its success, January 1910’, Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Wil- all singing the land song and though the account of the trip in liam Harcourt and the single-taxer cheering my name as the piles of the land taxers’ journal makes no recalled Alexander Ure. Mallaby-Deeley’s ballot papers reference to any song.8 How exactly Christo- Pride of place was given to ‘The mounted up, out-numbering it was devised Wedgwood does not Land Song’. A second song was mine by thousands.12 explain – though as an enthusiast pher Addi- also included, ‘Land Monopoly for the Northern side in the Ameri- Must Clear!’ – again an adapta- Josiah Wedgwood, however, was can Civil War, he would have son, later a tion of an American Civil War song re-elected. Long before the polls been familiar with the tune. It was – with lyrics which certainly made opened, he recalled, there were clearly an adoption of the American Labour Cabi- the message evident: processions ‘of elderly respect- Georgite song rather than a new able Nonconformists’ through the birth, and Wedgwood’s account net minister, Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys towns and villages of his constitu- appears to have some basis for from are marching ency singing the ‘eternal refrain’ late 1909, references start to appear ‘we went All along the line we’ll make of ‘The Land Song’. There wasn’t a to the singing of ‘The Land Song’ at them clear single meeting which he attended political meetings. round sing- On this principle we stand, between 1909 and 1914, he wrote, The 1909 budget prompted That the values of the land which ended without the song. one of the most profound con- ing ‘God gave Shall be paid into the Treasury Indeed, Wedgwood often insisted stitutional crises of the century. ev’ry year on it being sung: The House of Lords defied con- the Land for vention by rejecting the budget, On the rear cover, the publishers When he is at the country home largely because of the measures the People!’ took pains to assert that a land tax … it is his custom to invite his to tax land. In November, Parlia- would penalise ‘speculators and poorer constituents in batches, ment Square became a gathering We called monopolists’ rather than farmers. to come and spend the afternoon point for protestors. On the last day ourselves The taxation of land values, it was … they are regaled with a sump- of the month, a crowd again gath- argued, would place the tax burden tuous tea, followed by a conver- ered in spite of a ban on demonstra- Radicals in not on agricultural districts, but ‘on sational speech’ and music, in tions there. ‘It was not till after 9 towns and cities, where bare land which the Land Song is always o’clock that the partisanship of a those days, rises to a value of tens of thousands included … These meetings do section became apparent by cheer- of pounds per acre’. more than many pamphlets to ing and ‘booing’. The “Land Song” and I am not Of the two general elections in popularise the cause.13 was started but was soon stopped 1910, the first was dominated by the by police, and mounted officers sure that we land tax proposals and the second Wedgwood told an anecdote about were used to clear away one or two by the constitutional ‘peers ver- his like-minded wife, who closed groups of men who attempted to had not more sus people’ issue. ‘The Land Song’ a political meeting she had chaired stand their ground in the Square.’9 became the Liberal campaign tune. with the words: ‘We will now con- A few days later, demonstrators of the real ‘At the general election of January clude with the usual song’. A soli- gathered in Trafalgar Square, pass- 1910’, recalled Christopher Addi- tary voice began: ‘God save …’, ing time by ‘singing popular politi- democratic son, later a Labour Cabinet minis- prompting a burst of irreverent cal songs, the chief being “The ter, ‘we went round singing ‘God laughter.14 Land Song”, with its constant stuff in us gave the Land for the People!’ We The conventional wisdom refrain “God save the land for the called ourselves Radicals in those among those who sing ‘The Land people” [sic].’10 In the excited politi- that some days, and I am not sure that we had Song’ today is that the anthem has cal atmosphere, the song became not more of the real democratic never been commercially recorded. enormously popular as a rallying who call stuff in us that some who call them- But it was. The issue of Land Val- call for supporters of the Lloyd selves Socialists these days.’11 This ues for April 1910 reported that ‘the George budget and the radical themselves enthusiasm did not always translate Edisonic Works’ had, by arrange- agenda it represented. Socialists into votes, as discov- ment with the land campaigners, In January 1910, at the start of ered when he contested Harrow as issued a ‘discaphone’ of ‘The Land a year which saw two keenly con- these days.’ a Liberal: Song’ and ‘Land Monopoly Must tested general elections, the journal Clear!’. It reported that the ‘ren- Land Values reported the publica- I never had before or since such dering of the songs by Mr. George tion by the main single-tax lobby splendid meetings as I had at that Hardy gives an exceptionally good group, the United Committee for election. Every night outside my record’. You can judge for yourself. the Taxation of Land Values, of committee rooms in Willesden Even by the standards of 78-rpm Land Songs for the People. This was hundreds of young men would discs of a century ago, George Har- issued as a leaflet with just the lyr- await my return signing and dy’s rendition of ‘The Land Song’ ics or as four pages of sheet music cheering. … At every meeting is difficult to track down – but with with the melody. Produced in col- my supporters would sing with the help of a specialist collector in laboration with the Daily News, the gusto the land song. … Australia, both songs have been

30 Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 god gave the land to the people located, a little breezier in style Song”. Gradually the refrain of the ‘re-dedicated to Labour’s Agricul- than the manner in which the song song drew nearer the House and tural Campaign’. In the following is now sung and worth a listen. Mr Hogge [Liberal M.P. for Edin- decade it was customised to serve [The recordings can be accessed at burgh East] and others entered the Labour’s purpose in a Welsh rural http://www.historyworkshop.org. Chamber singing “The Land, the by-election campaign.19 But there uk/the-land-song/.] Land, ‘twas God who made the was little sustained interest in a While the land taxers were keen land”. The incident was greeted land tax. ‘In spite of Labour con- to state that the Liberal govern- with some laughter and cries of ference resolutions calling for the ment was re-elected in January 1910 “Order”.’17 The land taxers could taxation of land values, the Land- to the strains of ‘The Land Song’, only summon up the support of Taxers had little real influence in the true story was more complex. about seventy members of parlia- the trade union-dominated party, Asquith’s administration emerged ment, of whom Colonel Josiah where land values taxation was much diminished from the two Wedgwood was one of the most either poorly understood of writ- elections of that year, and reliant on outspoken. ten off as an irrelevancy in a world Irish nationalists for a majority in The song, however, survived of socialist class struggle, and by parliament. In the first contest, the into the 1920s, and was sung at the late 1920s they were reduced to Liberals lost more than half their demonstrations and public meet- a small minority voice within the rural seats, which put something of ings. Michael Foot heard it sung party.’20 a brake on the party’s enthusiasm then. He was taught the song by his In 1931, however, a Labour for a land tax. The single-taxers father, a radical Liberal Member Chancellor of the Exchequer, remained active and were buoyed of Parliament in south-west Eng- Philip Snowden, proposed a penny by the success of their candidates land. Many decades later, he still Snowden in the pound tax on land values. in two high-profile by-elections regarded ‘The Land Song’ – for its Lloyd George, no longer in har- in 1912, one in rural Norfolk and vibrancy and rhythm as well as for spoke with ness with the Conservatives, made the other at Hanley in the Potter- its simple democratic message – as a fiery Commons speech in sup- ies district. Josiah Wedgwood cam- a more effective political anthem pride of the port of the measure. ‘The land, paigned enthusiastically at Hanley, than such socialist stalwarts as the value of which has been cre- with the help of George Hardy’s ‘ Arise’, ‘The Internation- land tax ated by communal enterprise disc. ‘It was a hot summer. All ale’, and ‘The Red Flag’. and expenditure, should make its day and all night we declaimed in measures contribution to taxation on the the [Hanley market] square to the ‘The Land Song’ was the one of 1909–10, basis of its real value. That is the accompaniment of the ‘Land Song’ which really seemed to strike principle.’ He spoke with pride of on my gramophone’.15 terror into the hearts and minds and men- the land tax measures of 1909–10, At around this time, the of the landlords – as it should, and mentioned Henry George by UCLTV republished the lyrics because it was directed at them. tioned Henry name. The measure was passed of ‘The Land Song’ as a leaflet – a … It’s not only a land song, and and the strains of ‘The Land Song’ reflection of its importance to the it’s much more than a Liberal George by were once more heard in the divi- single tax campaign.16 But when in song, it’s a song that summa- sion lobbies, but the government the following year Lloyd George rises the democratic case – how name. The fell before the measure was imple- launched his land campaign and in fact, in order to achieve what mented.21 That was the last occa- pledged to tackle the land monop- people wanted, they should use measure was sion on which a government put oly, the centrepiece was an agricul- their democratic powers, they before parliament a measure to tax tural minimum wage rather than were only just getting those passed and land values. a land tax. The single-tax lobby democratic powers, to ensure If memory of ‘The Land Song’ managed to persuade the govern- there was a proper division of the strains lingered, it was as an emblem of the ment to move towards site value the landed property in the coun- high-water mark of Liberal radi- rating, a form of taxation of the try … It wasn’t a song sung only of ‘The Land calism in the years before the First land, but implementation was by Liberals. I can assure you that World War. For as long as Lloyd derailed by the declaration of war. socialists were singing that song Song’ were George’s ‘people’s budget’ was part even more rightly and justly of living memory, so too was the than Liberals were doing.18 once more song. In his 1946 budget, Labour’s The land taxers lose out heard in the Hugh Dalton announced a national The rump of land tax MPs were While there may be some special land fund and wove into his speech keenly aware of the irony when in pleading here from a socialist poli- division lob- a taunt to the Conservative leader, 1920 a Conservative-dominated tician of radical Liberal pedigree, Winston Churchill, who in 1909–10 national government headed by it is hardly surprising that when bies, but the had been a senior cabinet minister Lloyd George rescinded the meas- so many of the leading land taxers in the Liberal government. ures towards a land tax he had and their supporters – among them government introduced as chancellor. The Josiah Wedgwood – eventually Mr Dalton: Finally, I have a remnants of the single-tax lobby moved over to the Labour party, so fell before word to say about the land, went down to defeat to the tune too did the song. In the 1920s and and about the special fund to they had made their own. ‘While 1930s, Labour sought to take over the measure which I have already referred. In the division was being taken’, The the Liberal mantle of rural radi- 1909, 37 years ago, David Lloyd Times reported, ‘supporters of the calism. ‘The Land Song’ featured was imple- George introduced a famous amendment in the division lobby in a Daily Herald song sheet pub- Budget. Liberals in those days were heard singing “The Land lished around 1927, where it was mented. sang the ‘Land Song’ – ‘God

Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 31 god gave the land to the people

gave the land to the people.’ I of land nationalisation. He referred think that the right hon. Mem- approvingly to Henry George and ber for Woodford used to sing to the Lloyd George budget of 1909 that song. and cited at length the words of Mr Churchill: I shall sing it ‘The Land Song’ before conclud- again. ing: ‘We should sing the Land Song Mr Dalton: Then I hope for again.’24 the right hon. Gentleman’s full support in the proposals I am about to make. The strains of The revival that song have long since died By the time Dingle Foot invoked away. But much land has passed, ‘The Land Song’, some were since then, from private into indeed singing the anthem once public ownership and ‘t is the more. It’s not clear whether the declared policy of the Labour song was sung continuously at Lib- Party that much more should so eral Party events from the Lloyd pass.22 George era into the 1960s – if so, it was a frail and tenuous tradition. Twenty years later, a new genera- The Young Liberals who blew new tion of Labour leaders still on occa- life into the anthem were resur- sion harked back to ‘The Land recting ‘The Land Song’ rather Song’ to make a partisan point. than reviving it. From the mid- Harold Wilson, addressing the 1965 1960s, the Young Liberals became Labour Party conference as Prime the radical conscience of the party Minister, proposed a Land Com- – advocating direct action (most mission ‘to deal once and for all notably in opposition to apartheid- with racketeering in the price of era South African sporting tours land’, which he said would make a of Britain), taking left-wing posi- reality of ‘a basic theme of socialist tions on social and foreign policy belief, that profits arising through issues, and championing commu- The first Young at Scarborough the action of the community should nity politics. Liberal song as a landmark in the restoration accrue to the community.’ Wilson The psephologist sheet, c. 1965/66 of ‘The Land Song’ as the pre- contrasted that with the more cau- was a student Liberal at (reproduced eminent Liberal radical song. Viv tious Liberal Party policy on land from 1959 and then at Oxford into courtesy Micheal Bingham, a one-time president which, he argued: the mid-1960s. There was a tradi- Steed) of the Liberal party, recalled that tion of Liberal and other political he first attended the party annual … places its present leadership songs at Oxford, he recalls, but he conference in 1973, and it was a some years behind the Liber- has no clear recollection of ‘The little later ‘in 1975 when I first als of some sixty years ago. In Land Song’ from that time. He heard the Land Song at Scarbor- 1909 and 1910, they filled the was active in the Young Liberals ough. That year there were two land with song – ‘God gave the and became their national vice- impromptu sing-songs in the con- land to the people’ … While chairman. In 1965 or the follow- ference hotel – one a very select [Liberals] would not intend to ing year, he and Mary Green put band of about a dozen of us in the throw doubt on the Almighty’s together what they believe to be ballroom with Liz R[orison] play- intention in this respect, their the first Young Liberal song sheet. ing the piano; one on the staircase researches suggest he did not It was a duplicated foolscap sheet and the hall with Michael Steed intend this declaration to be bearing the words of four songs, leading. Both, to my memory, taken too literally. (Laughter).23 among them ‘Red Fly the Banners- sang “The Land”.’ He sees the Oh’ to the tune of ‘Green Grow song’s ‘reincarnation’ in part as ‘The Land Song’ was cited several the Rushes-Oh’ with distinctly a morale-boosting reminder to a times in the parliamentary debate hard left sentiments (‘One is Work- party with a handful of MPs of the on the setting up of the Land Com- ers’ Unity and ever more shall be it period when it led a great reform- mission – and has been quoted in so’). Pride of place, however, was ing government, and also to a the chamber in more recent years, given to ‘The Land Song’ – a trun- revived interest in site value rating notably by Labour MPs (an online cated three-verse version. Neither and reform of property taxation. search of Hansard shows that the Michael Steed nor Mary Green can From these late night singing words of the song have been cited recall how they come across the sessions, the Glee Club developed, in the Commons by Austen Mitch- song or the lyrics. and was from almost its incep- ell in 1981 and 1985, by Greville At around this time or per- tion aligned to the Liberator group. Janner in 1992 and by Tony Benn in haps a little later, groups such as The annual songbook followed. 1996). In 1974, Dingle Foot – who the Young Liberals and the Welsh Over the years, the Glee Club has had served as both a Liberal and a Liberals began to hold infor- been transformed from an event Labour MP and was Michael Foot’s mal singing evenings. Several on the fringes of the party confer- older brother – devoted a substan- of those who have burnished the ence to one of the highlights, con- tial article in The Times to advocacy tradition of Liberal song recall a vened in the biggest banquet room

32 Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 god gave the land to the people of the main conference hotel. As information about ‘The Land Song’ – Brian Short, Land and Society in Edwardian a result, ‘The Land Song’ is often [email protected]. Britain, Cambridge, 1997 sung in venues which don’t entirely C.V. Wedgwood, The Last of the Radicals: chime with its radical lyrics, with Josiah Wedgwood, M.P., , 1951 the party leader often in attend- Josiah C. Wedgwood, Memoirs of a Fighting ance. Although the organisers Acknowledgments Life, London, 1941 would be horrified by the thought, This article has been written with the Glee Club, and the rendition the help and encouragement of the of ‘The Land Song’, have become historians Kenneth Morgan, Paul Endnotes so hallowed that they are part of Mulvey and Ian Packer; of John 1 The Guardian, 18 Oct. 1990. the party establishment. There are Powles at what was the Centre for 2 Philip S. Foner, American Labor Song even signs that the younger ele- Political Song at Glasgow Caledo- of the Nineteenth Century (University ments within the party are becom- nian University; and of the political of Illinois Press, 1975), pp. 261–2. ing disenchanted. At the 2009 activists and singers Viv Bingham, 3 Henry Pelling, Origins of the Labour autumn conference, Liberal Youth, Gwynoro Jones, Michael Meadow- Party, 1880–1900 (Oxford, 1965), pp. the latest incarnation of the Young croft, Mary Pendlebury, Stewart 10, 18–25. Liberals, staged a rival event at a Rayment, Liz Rorison, Michael 4 John Barnes, Socialist Champion: por- Bournemouth nightclub. ‘Have Steed and Simon Titley. trait of the gentleman as crusader (Mel- you sung ‘The Land’ far too many bourne, 2006), pp. 20–23. times?’, their flyer asked. ‘Then 5 Paul Mulvey, ‘Radicalism’s Last THE GLEE CLUB ALTERNA- References and bibliography Gasp?: the British Liberal Party and TIVE is for you!’ Lord [Christopher] Addison, A Policy for the taxation of land values, 1906– British Agriculture, London, 1939 1914’, http://www.schalkenbach.org/ Leo Amery, My Political Life, [1953] scholars-forum/Radicalisms-Last- ‘The Land John Barnes, Socialist Champion: portrait of Gasp.html The Land Song revisited the gentleman as crusader, Melbourne, 6 C. V. Wedgwood, The Last of the Rad- A year later, and coincidence took Song’ was 2006 icals: Josiah Wedgwood, M.P. (London, me back to the Liberal Democrats’ Roy Douglas, Land, People and Politics: a 1951), p. 60. autumn conference, again out sung again history of the land question in the United 7 Josiah C. Wedgwood, Memoirs of a of professional duty rather than Kingdom, 1878–1952, London, 1976 Fighting Life (London, 1941), p. 68. political loyalty. Liverpool was by a party of Philip S. Foner, American Labor Song of the 8 Land Values, Aug. 1909. the venue, and the occasion was Nineteenth Century, Univ. of Illinois 9 The Times, 1 Dec. 1909. the party’s first big conference in government, Press, 1975 10 The Times, 6 Dec. 1909. government (wartime coalitions demonstrat- Clare V. J. Griffiths,Labour and the Coun- 11 Lord [Christopher] Addison, A Policy excluded) since the Lloyd George tryside: the politics of rural Britain, 1918– for British Agriculture (London, 1939), era. Liberator had produced its ‘big- ing its stay- 1939, Oxford, 2007 p. 5. gest ever’ songbook, and in the Percy Harris, Forty Years in and out of Par- 12 Percy Harris, Forty Years in and out of perhaps unlikely venue of the Liv- ing power liament, London, [1947] Parliament (London, 1947), pp. 44–5. erpool Hilton some 500 Liberal Peter d’A. Jones, Henry George and British 13 Profile of Josiah Wedgwood inThe Democrats – among them a former and provid- Socialism, London, 1991 Standard: a journal to advocate the leader, , and the Elwood P. Lawrence, Henry George in the of people in the land, 15 Jan. 1914. I owe deputy leader, – ing a tenuous British Isles, East Lansing, 1957 this reference to Dr Paul Mulvey. sang themselves hoarse. The mood Liberator Song Book, Liberator Publica- 14 C. V. Wedgwood, The Last of the was decidedly upbeat, as if entering link between tions, London, 2009 Radicals, p. 68. a Conservative-led coalition had Graham Lippiatt, ‘Red Guard versus Old 15 J. Wedgwood, Memoirs, pp. 83–4. given the radical wing of the party the radical- Guard? The influence of the Young 16 Brian Short, Land and Society in an issue around which to rally, or Liberal movement on the Liberal Edwardian Britain (Cambridge, 1997), at least to rail and make jibes. ‘The ism of the Party in the 1960s and 1970s’, Journal p. 17. Land Song’ was sung again by a of Liberal History, 2010, 68, pp.37–40 17 The Times, 15 July 1920; Leo Amery, party of government, demonstrat- last Liberal Paul Mulvey, ‘The Single-Taxers and the My Political Life [1953], p. 342. ing its staying power and providing Future of Liberalism, 1906–14’, Jour- 18 Michael Foot interviewed by a tenuous link between the radical- majority gov- nal of Liberal Democrat History, 2002, Andrew Whitehead, 12 Nov. 1990, ism of the last Liberal majority gov- 34/35, pp.11–15 deposited at the British Library ernment and the ambitions of those ernment and Paul Mulvey, ‘Radicalism’s Last Gasp?: Sound Archive – C1377. who stand today in the same politi- the ambi- the British Liberal Party and the 19 Clare V. J. Griffiths,Labour and the cal tradition. taxation of land values, 1906–1914’, Countryside: the politics of rural Britain, tions of those http://www.schalkenbach.org/ 1918–1939 (Oxford, 2007), p. 69. Andrew Whitehead is a news jour- scholars-forum/Radicalisms-Last- 20 Mulvey, ‘Radicalism’s Last Gasp?’. nalist and an editor of History Work- who stand Gasp.html 21 Hansard, HoC, 3 July 1931; The Times, shop Journal, where this article first Ian Packer, Lloyd George, Liberalism and 4 July 1931. appeared online (http://www.history- today in the the Land: the land issue and party politics 22 Hansard, HoC, 9 Apr. 1946. workshop.org.uk/the-land-song/); it in England, 1906–1914, Woodbridge. 23 The Times, 29 Sept. 1965. is reproduced here with the kind per- same politi- 2001 24 The Times, 14 Sept. 1974. mission of the author. He is keen to Henry Pelling, Origins of the Labour Party, hear from anyone with recollections or cal tradition. 1880–1900, Oxford, 1965

Journal of Liberal History 76 Autumn 2012 33