Welsh Journals

WALES AND 'THE NEW LIBERALISM', 1926-1929* IN 1924 the Liberal Party suffered a crushing defeat at the polls. Enjoying a new-found unity in 1923, the Party had won 158 seats in a general election fought on the issue of Free Trade, traditionally one of the cardinal tenets of the Liberal faith, and had supported the formation of the first minority Labour Government. A year later it found itself plunged into yet another general election, totally unprepared for a further trial of its strength. The Liberals had no distinctive policies or programme to lay before the electorate, nor, indeed, was there a definite role for them to occupy in British politics. Their desired position as the party of moderate reform had fallen to Labour; their stance in 1923, that of the party of the status quo, opposed to drastic innovation, was firmly taken up by the Conservatives. They had gained no support from putting Labour into office, and yet were blamed for the failures of the administration which had just ended. Moreover, Liberal organization in the constituencies was decadent and sterile, and the Party displayed marked lethargy in selecting candidates. At the Dissolution of Parliament, only three candidates had been selected in the whole of Wales.1 The comment of the Cambria Daily Leader could well have been extended to the whole of the Principality and, indeed, beyond: 'Liberalism in West Wales has been caught napping. The battle has come much sooner than anyone had anticipated.'2 Ultimately the Party succeeded in fielding candidates in no more than twenty- one of the Welsh divisions. Since the election was fought on the alleged extremism of the Labour Party- Constitutionalism against anti-Constitutionalism the Liberals had no positive contribution to make to the campaign. They could advance only the same argu- ments as the Conservatives, denying that Tory rule meant stable government and portraying themselves as the true bulwark against the perils of Socialist legislation: 'It is futile to look to the Tories to give us a stable government. They had a chance a year ago The only safeguard and bulwark against such a dire contingency (a majority Labour Government) is the staunch maintenance of the Liberal faith.'3 Welsh Liberals were as vociferous in their attacks upon the Labour Party as were the Conservatives, and it must have appeared to the mass of the electorate that there was little to choose between the two 'anti-Socialist' Parties. Further evidence of the apparent identity of interest between the Conservative and Liberal Parties seemed to be provided by the existence of a large number of 'Lib-Con' pacts. In all the South Wales mining divisions, Labour was either returned unopposed or else faced a single 'Capitalist' opponent,4 while many Liberal candidates in North Wales enjoyed straight fights.5 Both sides strenuously