Common Wealth Party
Encyclopedia
The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom
in the Second World War
. Thereafter, it continued in being, essentially as a pressure group, until 1993.
, by the alliance of two left wing groups, the 1941 Committee
– a think tank brought together by Picture Post
owner Edward G. Hulton, and their 'star' writers J.B. Priestley and Tom Wintringham
– and the neo-Christian Forward March movement led by Liberal Party
Member of Parliament
(MP) Richard Acland
, along with independents and former Liberals who believed that party had no direction. It appealed to the egalitarian sentiments of the English populace and hence aimed to be more appealing to labour’s potential voters, rather than liberal leaning voters than to Conservative . Disagreeing with the electoral pact established with other parties in the wartime coalition, key figures in the 1941 Committee began sponsoring independent candidates in by-elections under the banner of the Nine Point Group, following the electoral success of Tom Driberg with this support in 1942, there was a move to form the Committee into a political party, through a merger with Forward March, though many disliked the idea of being a Party rather than a social movement, and through pressure from Priestley and Wintringham, the word 'Party' was never formally part of Common Wealth's name. Led by Sir Richard Acland, Vernon Bartlett
, J. B. Priestley, and Tom Wintringham the group called for common ownership, "vital democracy
" and morality in politics. Its programme of common ownership echoed that of the Labour Party but stemmed from a more idealistic perspective, later termed "libertarian socialist". It came to reject the State-dominated form of socialism adopted by Labour under the influence of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, increasingly aligning itself instead with co-operative, syndicalist and guild socialist traditions. One party proposal was that all incomes should be subjected to an absolute upper limit.
Initially chaired by Priestley, he stepped down after just a few months, unable to reconcile himself with the politics of Acland – who as a sitting MP had undue influence within the party. Wintringham was Priestley's natural successor but deferred to Acland, despite very real political differences between them.
Acland himself had a less easy-going approach, in his book The Forward March he had claimed that in Britain under an FM government:
Acland went on to say of these camps:
and these tensions which lead to Priestley's stepping down for the leadership, and gradual withdrawal from the party (though he continued to support and endorse individual candidates), were a source of continued tension between former 1941 Committee and Nine Point Group members on one side and Forward Marchers and Christian Socialists on the other.
These differences in underlying approach within Common Wealth were highlighted in a booklet by Tom and Kitty Wintringham in 1944 titled Fellowship or Morality?
During the war years, there was an all-party coalition government incorporating the Conservative
, Labour
, and Liberal Parties
, who agreed that casual vacancies should be filled unopposed. CW intervention allowed a radicalising electorate to return socialist candidates in Conservative heartlands, in Eddisbury
, Skipton
and Chelmsford
. John Eric Loverseed
, elected in Eddisbury, left the party in November 1944 and joined Labour in May of the following year. In the 1945 general election
, voters deserted CW for Labour and only Chelmsford (not fought by Labour) was held. In 1946 after Tom Wintringham finally left the party, Common Wealth's MP, Ernest Millington, crossed the floor to join the Labour Party.
conference in 1946, the party split. Two-thirds, including the original leadership, defected to Labour but were unable to persuade the remainder to disband. Many of the new leadership then elected had joined while serving in the armed forces and included a number of personalities who had played an active role in the Cairo Forces Parliament
. During the 1950s, CW made preparations to contest the Oxford
constituency, with Douglas Stuckey as prospective candidate, but these were never brought to fruition. For the remainder of its existence CW became, de facto, a pressure group, its organisation evolving, and generally contracting, as old age took its toll of the leading figures.
In the post-war period CW was active in a number of domestic and international campaigns and developed worldwide contacts. In the Middle East, it worked for a two-state solution to the Israel/Palestine issue. At home, it helped to form the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM) and campaigned with others in its situation for small parties to be allowed to make party political broadcasts. Through the latter campaign it developed close links with Plaid Cymru
and the Scottish National Party
. Common ground was found with Plaid Cymru’s syndicalist tradition. The high point of active collaboration was the joint publication in 1956 of Our Three Nations. This advocated the replacement of the United Kingdom by a ‘confraternity’ of self-governing states. CW also favoured regional government within England and was sympathetic to Mebyon Kernow
. Executive Committee members played an active, at times leading, role in English regionalist movements, especially during the 1980s. Other members were active in the environmental movement, including the Ecology Party.
In 1992, surviving members and political associates met in London for a 50th anniversary lunch. Shortly after, the death of W.J. ‘Buck’ Taylor, for many years CW’s secretary, called into question the organisation’s ability to continue. At a meeting in Cheltenham
in 1993, the decision was taken to dissolve.
The CW archives are deposited with the University of Sussex
. The early history of CW was the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr Angus Calder
. Later history was written up by John Banks in a series of articles in CW’s periodical, The Libertarian and its successor, Common Wealth Journal.
’s The Managerial Revolution (1941). Burnham argued that the rise of a salaried managerial class, accompanied by the withdrawal of shareholders from active involvement in the running of businesses, had transformed the nature of capitalism, creating a split between ownership and control. CW used this idea to develop a modified Marxist analysis, interposing managerialism as a new mode of production between capitalism and socialism. This proved to be a powerful tool for understanding the Attlee government’s nationalisation programme. In 1948, CW set out its critique in a pamphlet, Nationalisation is not Socialism.
Many features of Labour’s programme appeared to confirm the theory that power, in ‘socialised’ economies as much as market ones, was now in the hands of a largely unaccountable managerial class serving the owners of capital at arm’s length. Private owners were not expropriated; in many cases their shares were replaced by loan stock at inflated valuations, the interest on which was paid from the profits of now State-run industries. Ministers refused to answer Parliamentary questions on operational matters, meaning in effect that the managements of nationalised industries were not subject to ongoing democratic control. Worker representation at board level was either token or non-existent. The official explanation for not extending worker involvement was that workers did not yet possess the organisational skills required, an unconvincing argument given the record of the co-operative movement, the trade unions and the Labour Party itself. The extent to which former military leaders were appointed to run the nationalised industries led Common Wealth to warn throughout the 1950s and 1960’s against trends towards regimentation in society and later the growing cult of the ‘expert’ technocrat.
CW was active in publicising successful examples of workers’ control in industry, notably the Scott Bader Commonwealth. It was also an admirer of the system of workers’ self-management introduced in Yugoslavia
under Josep Tito (see Economy of SFR Yugoslavia), though not of the Communist regime itself. Although sympathetic to the non-aligned movement, it was critical of dictators from whatever part of the political spectrum and some members were active in Amnesty International
.
Other influences during this era included humanistic psychology. Noted psychologists Dr Don Bannister and Dr James Hemming
were CW members. CW enthusiastically adopted the 'executive-sensory nexus' model of organisation, derived from left/right brain theory. Under this model, the Executive Committee, responsible for current decision-making, is shadowed by a scrutiny panel, known in CW as the Sensory Committee, whose role is monitoring and review, research and longer-term development. CW's interest in optimising social organisation consistent with its principles also led it to develop close links with the School of Integrative Social Research at Braziers Park
, Oxfordshire
.
Town and Country Review 1943-44
Common Wealth Review 1944-49
Common Wealth News 1949
The Libertarian 1950-1988
Common Wealth Journal 1989-1990
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Thereafter, it continued in being, essentially as a pressure group, until 1993.
The war years
Common Wealth was founded in July 1942, during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, by the alliance of two left wing groups, the 1941 Committee
1941 Committee
The 1941 Committee was a group of British politicians, writers and other people of influence who got together in 1940. Its members comprised liberals, and those further left, who were not generally involved with a political party. Its immediate purpose was to press for more efficient production in...
– a think tank brought together by Picture Post
Picture Post
Picture Post was a prominent photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months...
owner Edward G. Hulton, and their 'star' writers J.B. Priestley and Tom Wintringham
Tom Wintringham
Thomas Henry Wintringham was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was an important figure in the formation of the Home Guard during World War II and was one of the founders of the Common Wealth Party.-Early life:Tom Wintringham was born 1898...
– and the neo-Christian Forward March movement led by Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) Richard Acland
Richard Acland
Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland, 15th Baronet was one of the founding members of the British Common Wealth Party. He had previously been a Liberal Member of Parliament and joined the Labour Party in 1945...
, along with independents and former Liberals who believed that party had no direction. It appealed to the egalitarian sentiments of the English populace and hence aimed to be more appealing to labour’s potential voters, rather than liberal leaning voters than to Conservative . Disagreeing with the electoral pact established with other parties in the wartime coalition, key figures in the 1941 Committee began sponsoring independent candidates in by-elections under the banner of the Nine Point Group, following the electoral success of Tom Driberg with this support in 1942, there was a move to form the Committee into a political party, through a merger with Forward March, though many disliked the idea of being a Party rather than a social movement, and through pressure from Priestley and Wintringham, the word 'Party' was never formally part of Common Wealth's name. Led by Sir Richard Acland, Vernon Bartlett
Vernon Bartlett
Charles Vernon Oldfield Bartlett CBE was an English journalist, politician and author who served as a Member of Parliament from 1938 to 1950.-Life:...
, J. B. Priestley, and Tom Wintringham the group called for common ownership, "vital democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
" and morality in politics. Its programme of common ownership echoed that of the Labour Party but stemmed from a more idealistic perspective, later termed "libertarian socialist". It came to reject the State-dominated form of socialism adopted by Labour under the influence of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, increasingly aligning itself instead with co-operative, syndicalist and guild socialist traditions. One party proposal was that all incomes should be subjected to an absolute upper limit.
Initially chaired by Priestley, he stepped down after just a few months, unable to reconcile himself with the politics of Acland – who as a sitting MP had undue influence within the party. Wintringham was Priestley's natural successor but deferred to Acland, despite very real political differences between them.
Acland himself had a less easy-going approach, in his book The Forward March he had claimed that in Britain under an FM government:
the community as a whole which must decide whether or not a man shall be employed upon our resources, and how and when and in what manner he shall work...[the community shall] run camps for shirkers on very tolerable conditions.
Acland went on to say of these camps:
[Hitler] has stumbled across (or has needed to make use of) a small part, or perhaps one should say one particular aspect of, what will ultimately be required of humanity.
and these tensions which lead to Priestley's stepping down for the leadership, and gradual withdrawal from the party (though he continued to support and endorse individual candidates), were a source of continued tension between former 1941 Committee and Nine Point Group members on one side and Forward Marchers and Christian Socialists on the other.
These differences in underlying approach within Common Wealth were highlighted in a booklet by Tom and Kitty Wintringham in 1944 titled Fellowship or Morality?
During the war years, there was an all-party coalition government incorporating the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, and Liberal Parties
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, who agreed that casual vacancies should be filled unopposed. CW intervention allowed a radicalising electorate to return socialist candidates in Conservative heartlands, in Eddisbury
Eddisbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Eddisbury is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.- Boundaries :...
, Skipton
Skipton (UK Parliament constituency)
Skipton was a county constituency centred on the town of Skipton in Yorkshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
and Chelmsford
Chelmsford (UK Parliament constituency)
Chelmsford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From the 2010 general election it has elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
. John Eric Loverseed
John Eric Loverseed
John Eric Loverseed AFC was a pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force in 1930s, with Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, and with the RAF again the Battle of Britain, before being elected as a wartime Member of Parliament MP for the Common Wealth Party...
, elected in Eddisbury, left the party in November 1944 and joined Labour in May of the following year. In the 1945 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, voters deserted CW for Labour and only Chelmsford (not fought by Labour) was held. In 1946 after Tom Wintringham finally left the party, Common Wealth's MP, Ernest Millington, crossed the floor to join the Labour Party.
Post-war development
The inability to maintain a Parliamentary presence created a crisis for Common Wealth and at the HastingsHastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
conference in 1946, the party split. Two-thirds, including the original leadership, defected to Labour but were unable to persuade the remainder to disband. Many of the new leadership then elected had joined while serving in the armed forces and included a number of personalities who had played an active role in the Cairo Forces Parliament
Cairo Forces Parliament
The Cairo Forces Parliament was a meeting of British soldiers in Cairo, Egypt in February 1944 which voted for the nationalisation of banks, land, mines, and transport in the United Kingdom. Among those that took part was Leo Abse who later became an MP....
. During the 1950s, CW made preparations to contest the Oxford
Oxford (UK Parliament constituency)
Oxford was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom. It comprised the city of Oxford in the county of Oxfordshire, and elected two Members of Parliament from its creation in 1295 until 1881...
constituency, with Douglas Stuckey as prospective candidate, but these were never brought to fruition. For the remainder of its existence CW became, de facto, a pressure group, its organisation evolving, and generally contracting, as old age took its toll of the leading figures.
In the post-war period CW was active in a number of domestic and international campaigns and developed worldwide contacts. In the Middle East, it worked for a two-state solution to the Israel/Palestine issue. At home, it helped to form the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM) and campaigned with others in its situation for small parties to be allowed to make party political broadcasts. Through the latter campaign it developed close links with Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
and the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
. Common ground was found with Plaid Cymru’s syndicalist tradition. The high point of active collaboration was the joint publication in 1956 of Our Three Nations. This advocated the replacement of the United Kingdom by a ‘confraternity’ of self-governing states. CW also favoured regional government within England and was sympathetic to Mebyon Kernow
Mebyon Kernow
Mebyon Kernow is a left-of-centre political party in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It primarily campaigns for devolution to Cornwall in the form of a Cornish Assembly, as well as social democracy and environmental protection.MK was formed as a pressure group in 1951, and contained as members activists...
. Executive Committee members played an active, at times leading, role in English regionalist movements, especially during the 1980s. Other members were active in the environmental movement, including the Ecology Party.
In 1992, surviving members and political associates met in London for a 50th anniversary lunch. Shortly after, the death of W.J. ‘Buck’ Taylor, for many years CW’s secretary, called into question the organisation’s ability to continue. At a meeting in Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
in 1993, the decision was taken to dissolve.
The CW archives are deposited with the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
. The early history of CW was the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr Angus Calder
Angus Calder
Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder was a Scottish academic, writer, historian, educator and literary editor with a background in English literature, politics and cultural studies.-Education:...
. Later history was written up by John Banks in a series of articles in CW’s periodical, The Libertarian and its successor, Common Wealth Journal.
Managerialism
CW’s later political philosophy was pervasively influenced by James BurnhamJames Burnham
James Burnham was an American popular political theorist, best known for his influential work The Managerial Revolution, published in 1941. Burnham was a radical activist in the 1930s and an important factional leader of the American Trotskyist movement. In later years he left Marxism and produced...
’s The Managerial Revolution (1941). Burnham argued that the rise of a salaried managerial class, accompanied by the withdrawal of shareholders from active involvement in the running of businesses, had transformed the nature of capitalism, creating a split between ownership and control. CW used this idea to develop a modified Marxist analysis, interposing managerialism as a new mode of production between capitalism and socialism. This proved to be a powerful tool for understanding the Attlee government’s nationalisation programme. In 1948, CW set out its critique in a pamphlet, Nationalisation is not Socialism.
Many features of Labour’s programme appeared to confirm the theory that power, in ‘socialised’ economies as much as market ones, was now in the hands of a largely unaccountable managerial class serving the owners of capital at arm’s length. Private owners were not expropriated; in many cases their shares were replaced by loan stock at inflated valuations, the interest on which was paid from the profits of now State-run industries. Ministers refused to answer Parliamentary questions on operational matters, meaning in effect that the managements of nationalised industries were not subject to ongoing democratic control. Worker representation at board level was either token or non-existent. The official explanation for not extending worker involvement was that workers did not yet possess the organisational skills required, an unconvincing argument given the record of the co-operative movement, the trade unions and the Labour Party itself. The extent to which former military leaders were appointed to run the nationalised industries led Common Wealth to warn throughout the 1950s and 1960’s against trends towards regimentation in society and later the growing cult of the ‘expert’ technocrat.
CW was active in publicising successful examples of workers’ control in industry, notably the Scott Bader Commonwealth. It was also an admirer of the system of workers’ self-management introduced in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
under Josep Tito (see Economy of SFR Yugoslavia), though not of the Communist regime itself. Although sympathetic to the non-aligned movement, it was critical of dictators from whatever part of the political spectrum and some members were active in Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
Other influences during this era included humanistic psychology. Noted psychologists Dr Don Bannister and Dr James Hemming
James Hemming
Dr. Clifford James Hemming FBPS FRSA , better known as James Hemming, was a British child psychologist, educationalist and humanist.-Biography:...
were CW members. CW enthusiastically adopted the 'executive-sensory nexus' model of organisation, derived from left/right brain theory. Under this model, the Executive Committee, responsible for current decision-making, is shadowed by a scrutiny panel, known in CW as the Sensory Committee, whose role is monitoring and review, research and longer-term development. CW's interest in optimising social organisation consistent with its principles also led it to develop close links with the School of Integrative Social Research at Braziers Park
Braziers Park
Braziers Park is a country house and Grade II* listed building located near Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. The house is owned and operated by a charitable trust as a residential adult education college, and centre for the School of Integrative Social Research.-History:Braziers Park was built in...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
Members of Parliament
- Richard Acland (Barnstaple 1942-1945)
- Vernon BartlettVernon BartlettCharles Vernon Oldfield Bartlett CBE was an English journalist, politician and author who served as a Member of Parliament from 1938 to 1950.-Life:...
(Bridgwater 1942-1945) - John LoverseedJohn Eric LoverseedJohn Eric Loverseed AFC was a pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force in 1930s, with Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, and with the RAF again the Battle of Britain, before being elected as a wartime Member of Parliament MP for the Common Wealth Party...
(Eddisbury 1943-1945) - Hugh LawsonHugh McDowall LawsonHugh McDowall Lawson was a politician in the United Kingdom's short-lived Common Wealth Party, which was founded to contest parliamentary by-elections during World War II....
(Skipton 1944-1945) - Ernest Millington (Chelmsford 1945-1946)
Pamphlets – First series 1943
- Why We Fight By-Elections (1)
- Notes on Common Ownership (3)
- Common Wealth and the Political Parties (6)
- What is Common Wealth? (7)
- No Unemployment Under Common ownership (8)
- We Answer Your Questions (10)
- India (11)
- Danger and Opportunity (12)
- Common Wealth and the Beveridge Report (13)
- Open letter to the Labour Party (16)
Magazines and Journals
Left 1942-1947Town and Country Review 1943-44
Common Wealth Review 1944-49
Common Wealth News 1949
The Libertarian 1950-1988
Common Wealth Journal 1989-1990
Archives
Large Library collections
- University of Sheffield
- National Library of Scotland
- London School of Economics