British Politics
| Published date | 01 December 1978 |
| Date | 01 December 1978 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1978.tb01318.x |
| Subject Matter | Books |
BOOKS
BRITISH
POLITICS
D.
C.
Moore,
The Politics of Deference:
A
Study
of
the Mid-19th Century English
D.
C.
Moore
has established
a
reputation
as
a
sociologically-minded historian with a series of
controversial articles on nineteenth century English politics, notably on the interpretation of the
Great Reform Act. His long-awaited book expands this work into an analysis of the nature
of the political system from the
1820s
to the
1870s.
Unfortunately one can only give
a
qualified
welcome
to
the
Politics
of
Deference.
It
is
far too long and the tendency
to
verbosity combined
with a convoluted style mars the clarity of the argument.
The force of his case
is
further weakened by
a
certain obtuseness in Moore’s reading of the
secondary literature. Moore asserts, for instance, that ‘those historians who in dealing with
nineteenth-century English elections, have focused
on what
the different voters voted for instead
of
with
whom
they voted have been asking the
wrong
question’ (p.
10
Moore’s italics). Fuzzled,
the reader turns to the accompanying footnote to find no such historians listed and instead a
reference to Talcott Parons who used the distinction ‘concerning recent American elections’
(p.
449).
The book opens with the statement, ‘historians have generally ignored an important
body
of
evidence [the poll books] which symbolizes an important social fact’, a claim which
would have been more convincing if Moore had shown a comprehensive knowledge of the
literature in the bibliography. Still more alarming
is
the (honest) admission
of
error at the end
of
the prologue. Noting Joyce’s article
(1975)
on
Lancashire factory politics Moore retracts his
‘insistence that poll books are only really valuable in dealing with the rural areas of the
countries (sic)’ (p.
15).
[There are many typographical errors.] ‘Obviously’, he continues with
dubious logic ‘the conditions which make them valuable.
. .
are also obtained (sic) in certain
towns’. This comes uncomfortably close
to
saying that poll books are important when they
support the
case
for the politics
of
deference but not otherwise.
No
one could
or
would deny
the significance
of
landed (and industrial) estates in voting patterns at this period and Moore
documents this in many interesting ways. However,
it
is by no means clear that the author has
greatly added to our understanding
of
the relationship between magnate and dependant by his
emphasis
on
deference-defined in terms
of
status hierarchies within
local
communities-
particularly since for him power
is
‘principally the function
of
social
status measured in the
constituency in which
it
was exercised’ (p.
401).
Those with
a
professional background in the
field will find plenty of wheat among the chaff but the non-specialist should approach this book
with caution.
political System
(Hassocks, Harvester,
1976),
xi
+
529
pp.,
E15.50.
T.
1. NOSSITER
R.
F.
Foster,
Charles Stewart Parnell: The Man and
His
Family
(Hassocks, Harvester,
1976),
xxf403
pp.,
E9.95.
That a prime product
of
Ireland’s protestant landed gentry shoulj emerge in the
1880s
as
leader
of
a radical nationalist movement of catholic tenants, priests and petit-bourgeoisie,
signified for one contemporary merely that the Parnell family was ‘all a bit touched’.
Dr.
Foster’s study is a detailed and learned analysis of Charles Stewart’s early years, family back-
ground and relationships, entry into local politics, and
role
as
a
landowner in Co. Wicklow
life:
whether
it
provides
a
better explanation is less clear. The book certainly constitutes
a
minor
classic from the school
of
historians currently liberating modern Irish politics from tales
of
giants, heroes and demons, and challenges particularly
a
whole range of traditional myths and
misconceptions: Parnell’s nationalism emerges more comprehensibly as a conservative faith
BOOKS
517
in the superior capacity
of
Ireland’s Local ruling class to govern its subjects compared with
England‘s incompetence, and socially radical insofar
as
the unprofitability
of
his own agri-
cultural holdings pointed towards the benefits
of
major land tenure reforms and the
encourageaent
of
native industries.
Yet, despite the continuity, Parnell’s Home Rule movement was not the staid affair of Isaac
Butt. Foster’s complex account
of
the Parnell family tradition shows independent, strongly-held
and often enlightened views, fully manifesr in the range
of
opinions among Charles’s siblings;
as a self-style ‘essay in contextual history’,
it
is
too
narrowly biographical to provide a
full
social analysis
of
contrasts within the Irish gentry. Excising,
too,
any study of the public career
to
which
it
provides the background,
it
leaves unclear the extent
to
which understanding the
personal context genuinely aids understanding of Parnell’s political behaviour. We have,
if
not
Humid
without the Prince,
at
least the hero’s role interpreted primarily through his off-stage
appearances.
RICHARD
JAY
Raymond Challinor,
The Origins
of
British Bolsheoisnr
(London,
Croom Helm,
1977),
291
pp.,
E8.50.
The most important argument of
Dr.
Challinor’s book
is
that Lenin’s advice
to
British com-
munists that they should seek affiliation to the Labour Party was mistaken. Firstly, it rested on
a
misunderstanding of the nature
of
the Labour Party-Lenin had an exaggerated impression of
the possibilities
for
revolutionary activism within that organization. Secondly, and crucially, in
giving this advice Lenin lent his immense authority
to
those elements in the post-war negotia-
tions for revolutionary unity whose political outlook,
on
more fundamental issues, was furthest
removed from the principles of the Third International. The consequence was a Communist
Party dominated from the outset by the (in this context) ‘right-wing’ British Socialist Party,
and excluding such leading British revolutionaries as John Maclean, Sylvia Pankhurst and,
above all, the Socialist Labour Party. The book is
a
history
of
the S.L.P.
(1’)03-22:
peakmember-
ship
1,250),
and
Dr.
Challinor
is
concerned to show that this party was more important, less
sectarian and less derivative in
its
ideology than previous historians, notably Walter Kendall,
have assumed. There
is
force in this thesis. Unfortunately
Dr.
Challinor’s treatment-marred
by a high density
of
cliche, and
an
obtrusive, a-historical concern with the technology
of
revolutionary politics-does less than justice
to
the basic argument.
In
particular his claim that
the pre-war S.L.P. arrived independently at
a
recognizably Bolshevik theory
of
the party is
unconvincing. It appears to rest more on a desire
to
find historical precedent for his own politi-
cal position, than on a disciplined historical analysis
of
S.L.P. theory.
A
polemical essay, with
some interesting insights: not a satisfactory history
of
the S.L.P.
JAMES HINTON
John Campbell,
Lloyd
George: the Goat
in
the Wilderness 1922-1931
(London,
Dr.
Campbell has written an enthusiastic
apologia
for Lloyd George in the last significant years
of his career. Though in parts frankly partisan (Lloyd George ‘was infinitely more serious than
those self-conscious posers’ his opponents), his book is attractively written and
fills
the gaps in
our knowledge of the post-prime ministerial years
of
one who was, at least at Westminster and
in the view of the media, still an important politician.
Dr.
Campbell’s chief interest is
in
Lloyd
George as the popular prophet of Keynesianism and the Liberal Summer School. He regards
as axiomatic the viability of the programme
of
The Yellow
Book
and, despite the events and
literature
of
the past decade, states that
The Genrml Theory
‘irrevocably’ discredited orthodoxy.
This view requires argument and demonstration as well as the reiterated assertion which it
receives in this book. But,
if
this major premise is allowed,
Dr.
Campbell’s account
of
Lloyd
George’s final phase is evocative.
n.
c.
G.
MATTHEW
Jonathan Cape,
1977),
xii
+
383
pp.,
E1O.OO.
518
BOOKS
R.
P.
Shay,
Jr.,
British Rearmament in the Thirties, Politics and
Profits
(Princeton,
Rearmament is a growth subject and much has
been
published since Dr. Shay went to press-
notably N.
H.
Gibbs’
Rearmament
Policy
(H.M.S.O.,
1976).
So
much of Shay’s account is
no
longer new, and it must be judged by comparison with others. Shay’s strength is in the chronic-
ling of bureaucratic politics, on some (though not all) aspects of which he sheds new light;
in
his use
of
Treasury files, in particular, Shay cast his net wider than Gibbs (though he could
not gain access to e.g. Neville Chamberlain’s papers). Shay also has rather more to say on the
Government’s relations with industry; but the story of its dealings with trades unions has been
taken further in an as yet unpublished paper.
On
the debit side, the account is strictly insular.
Foreign policy seldom obtrudes, nor is its handling impeccable. We learn less than we might of
the extent of production delays,
of
the nature of the weapons produced or
of
the type of war to
be
fought. This bears on Shay’s critique
of
the Treasury: for given that Britain was always
envisaging a long war largely conducted by blockade, finance really was a ‘fourth arm’
unless
the United States could be depended
on
to supply it. Shay is certainly aware
of
this, but (to my
mind) he does not give it sufficient weight and
so
tends to under-rate the British predicament.
The choice is not clear; but
I
shall still direct students to Gibbs’ blander, more cumbersome,
and rather more expensive, but more comprehensive, book.
Princeton University Press,
1977),
xiii
+
315
pp.,
f14.20.
J.
P.
D.
DUNBABIN
C.
J.
Bartlett,
A
History
of
Postwar Britain
1945-1974
(London, Longmans,
1977),
There has long been a need for an up
to
date study to supplement the histories by Mowat and
A.
J.
P.
Taylor which ended at
1940
and
1945
respectively. Bartlett has now produced a clear
and authoritative account of the first thirty years
of
British post-war history. He strikes a fair
balance between domestic politics, the economy and foreign policy, though he is
less
sure
on
social and cultural matters. The book reminds one of the unity
of
the period
1945-70.
The
changes since then-entry to the
E.E.C.,
nationalism and the weakening of the two-party sys-
tem-suggest a new beginning. The arguments in the text would have been relieved by a
presentation of statistical data in tabular
or
graphic form. The author’s thoroughness in
covering events and personalities also limits the appropriate emphasis on the larger themes.
But this
is
a very useful contribution
to
contemporary history and is strongly recommended
for students.
viiit
360
pp.,
f7.60
boards,
f4.50
paperback.
DENNIS
KAVANAGH
Dennis Kavanagh and Richard
Rose
(eds.),
New Trends
in
British Politics: Issues for
Research
(Beverly
Hills,
Sage,
1977),
254
pp.,
€2.95
paperback.
The political events of
19734
convinced the editors of this book that the assumptions
of
the
1950s
and
1960s
would
no
longer be a sufficient guide to the future of British politics. Taking
advantage of the
I.P.S.A.
Congress in August
1976,
therefore, they convened a small conference
at which ‘papers were written
by
British residents; American visitors were invited to pose
awkward questions’.
The resulting collection lives up to the book’s subtitle. Indeed, as well as providing a research
agenda,
it
will stimulate the most jaded lecturer’s palate. A particularly valuable feature of the
book
is
the detailed bibliographical information which seems to cover almost everything
of
interest published in the last five years in the areas with which it deals. The most successful
chapters are those
on
devolution by Richard Rose and
on
‘Whitehall-Structures and People‘
by
L.
J.
Sharpe,
but
the general standard is high. It
is
to be hoped that a book
of
this kind
evaluating current problems and recent literature,
will
become a regular event.
VERNON
BOGDANOR
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