How to Read Great Figures in the Labour Movement: The Commonwealth and International Library: History Division DOC
Great Figures in the Labour Movement is a historical account of ten leading persons involved in the British Labor Movement. The book describes great personalities of the labor movement and their contributions to the movement. The ideas of Robert Owen can be considered Utopian but he makes some Socialist dogmas practicable in British industry. William Morris adds beauty and art to the Socialist Movement. The founder of the Labor Party, Keir Hardie, leads the common worker out from eternal bondage. If there are thinkers and idealists, Tom Mann is considered an agitator; his parliament is in the factories and street corners. The book also gives credence to Beatrice and Sydney Webb, who believe that change is possible through political and social opportunism or what is today known as influence or lobbying. George Lansbury is the propagandist for Socialism. His work on the Poor Law has improved the living conditions of the poor, and becomes a personification of the ideals of the Labor Party. Amidst all such greatness, the book describes a man synonymous with treachery to the Labor Movement—Ramsay Macdonald. He sacrifices his principles to get adulations of greatness. Clement Attlee becomes the man who can steer the Labor Movement in the center, between those who want the Socialist rebels to fail and those who want the rebels to succeed. Herbert Morrison is known as the ""Labor's apostle to the Middle Classes,"" while Aneurin Bevan is considered as a statesman. English politicians and political science and history students will find this book entertaining and informative.
