Reuter's admirable biographical summary of the career of Philip, 1st and only Viscount Snowden' of Tckornshaw, says that "but for his physical infirmity resulting from an accident" he would have been from the first the outstanding figure English political socialism That conveys a truth through inaccuracy. But for that bicycle ident. which caused irretrievable damage to his spine, Philip Snowden would not have retired. from the Civil Service to devote his life to political lecturing, for which in his early days he drew the princely wage of thirty shillings a week. He would have remained in the Service and although his outstand-_ {ng abilities would have probably brought him to the top, he would not have entered politics,. The British Civil Service permits the man or woman in the lower grades to step over the barrier of those grades by sheer force of efficiency and character, Sir Josiah Stamp is tone of the most notable examples of this "rise from the ranks", Philip Snowden would probably have been another had not that accident, combined with the growing strength of Labour in British polities, shown him another way. By his'victory at Blackburn in 1900.he won a place among the pioneers of Labour Parliamentary politics. He had been pressed in 1695 to stand but his caution led him to be content with propaganda until he felt that the country had been better prepared for the programme of the Gependent Labour Party of that lime. There could be no question of his claim to belong to the people. So, His father, a weaver, never earned more than 15s a week at the mill) and kept a hand-loom in his two-roomed cottage to weave cloth for the: family's use, The staple diet was porridge. The village of Cowling which gave him birth was on the edge of the Bronte country, It was a Radical and Nonconform-st community, hard,. independent and, perhaps, intolerant. When he came to write the story of his life, Lord Snowden with more justifiea~ tion: than' most could call upon' the present generation to note the pro-ress made "in the. last' seventy years". He knew.
Nor is it surprising'that Snowden grew to be a bitter opponent of Communism for, individualist as he was, he defined his. Socialism a: "ce-operation as distinct from competition"., He, was never sympathetic with his Trade Union colleagues who tended, in. his opinion, to subordinate high polities to Industrial questions. This. attitude was intensified by: his con sistent condemnation of the strike weapon, Indeed he put.on record his satisfaction at the defeat of the attempted General Strike in 1026:
The Trade. Unions needed lesson of the futility and: foolish= ness of such a trial of strength, teneral strike could' inno. elt= cumstances be successful. "A gone feral. strike is an attempt to: hold up the - community, and against uch an attempt the" community will mobilize all is resources, That did not prevent him' from vigorously opposing the passage the Act which in 1927- sought restrict Trade Union interference in polities." He described it as intended to "cripple the Trade' Unions: in. resisting" attacks, upon. their. stan dards of living". His. dislike. of Trade Unionist ' politicians' was further stimulated by his discovery' 4n'1931 when, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he -tried to introduce @rastic economies to stave off the crisis which he foresaw, and he found, as he told Mr. Ramisay Donald, then Prime Minister, that the 'Trade Union nominees.' were opposed to "practically all" the economies explained to them, 'To Mr. "Ramsay MacDonald he wa [never particularly friendly.. 'Thi two, men, were opposite in tempera. merit, Snowden's cold logic was impatient with the Scotsman's sometimes vapid emotions.. Strong in the sense of his own' honesty and unready to. compromise Snowden was apt to, attribute to hhis leader. insincerity and oppor tunism, This antagonism came-out {into" the open very forcibly in the General Election of 1985 when, no [longer in' the Government, Lord Snowden. supported. Mr," Lloyd George's bid for votes by a vitriolic broadcast attack on the National Government's claims to re-election, Although Mr. Baldwin was. then Prime Minister and Mr. MacDonald Lord President of the Council, the Dhilippic, as it was at once called, id_not conceal thior's. view that the "complacence and self satisfaction" "which it pilloried derived most-inspiration from Mr. MacDonald's surrender to. the Lord Snowden told the that to return that Government with "another uncontrotable majority" would be "a national misfortune and an international calamity".
Lord Snowden often appeared to revel in the antagonism which his individualist attitude evoked. This was more than'the mere product of his early experience when he fought so fiercely and effectively for the rights of Labour. "Tt:'was not entirely attributable to the physical infirmity which he so courageously endured. He records in his autobiography his amusement at finding himself a popular figure when, at The Hague, in 1929, he had cham~ piened England against the policy of France in discussing the question of Reparations, The unusual perience of being cheered in the streets of London. tickled his sardonic humour, Tt was compared with the remarkable tributes pald to him by the City of London on his orthodox, treatment, of the Budget as the first Socialist Chancellor of the Exchequer. No doubt Snowden's fervent -beliet in the principles of Free Trade assisted him in getting a better understand ing of the mind of the banking community than any: of his colleagues No-one more strongly or authorita. tively than Snowden. contradicted the - "left-wing" accusation that "the bankers" had engineered the gold standard crisis, in political hostility to the Labour' Government, especially toward the end of haig life, Snowden tended to find himself more in sympathy with the political views against "which he (Continued on page 205)"
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