Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-20
Riddle of Macdonald
tcontinued PROM FIRST page.)


responding with and speechifying among
international Socialist circles that hao
gone to seed since the advent of the
Red international conferred in Moscow
took all the meaning out of the pale
timid- stalking international in which
,Juares. Branting and Macdonald cut
such figures before the war. And the
mistake would be yours. CHANGING
around, YOU would perceive with q start
of amazement the defeatist paciflst at
the head Of national ministry which
contains-good God--the leaders OF the
militant imperialist Tories in subordi-
nate positions. 1t seems incrediole, ano
the only explanation Is that life Is in
credible.
You eye him mere closely. He makes
q more distinguished figure than any
of his colleagues, although they now in.
clIide q bevy of earlS, marquiseS and
baronets. He looks as II he has taken
on more ballast.
Two spells of ONCE and its response
bility have left their mark on him. II
he ever unconsciously dramatized him
self as the Socialist he has discarded
the role, and the man who confronts
the world now is the conscious states
man. You remember he always had
rather the air of professor moving
among his students, one who was AFFECT
ing the confidence he wished to gain
but not unbending too far because he
did not wish to endanger discipline, and
also because he felt superior in spiritual
experience, knowledge and mental cali
Der. You observe now that his gracious
slightly aloof air is distinctly enhanced
You look around for the Labor party
which was his basis and which i'm
parted to him his power. 1t is missing
Once again you find that it has left
him I'D in the air. But while in 1914
it dropped him and, led by Arthur Hen
derson, rushed into the shambleS, IN
1881 the party has ironically chosen to
play his own old defeatist role and
thereby to incur the odium of all
patriotic elements by marching out and
leaving him to make common cause
with the Liberals and Tories and rally
the nation against the world assault on
the pound.
Difference Of Ideas.
Surveying this study in irony and
paradox 1t may occur to the detached
observer that mems ideas as to what
constitutes a national emergency oif1er
widely, and that the man who Is horror
stricken at the idea Of blood flowing In
a Quarrel for national survival may
quite as easily persuade himself that he
is performing a duty to mankind In
fighting to defend the gold system
which other men, as conscientious per-
hsps and even better mentally equipped.
believe to be Fastening the collapse OF
western civilization.
Sidetracking this philosophical specu-
Iation, we may examine more closely
this enigmatic Scotsman. spotngnt
on salient facts of his character reveals
that II It is true to anything or any one
a. L. &rr., AF, fke Ran9gQV Mac
Donald, the defeatist in war, the patriot
in peace. is still running evenly in the
groove Of his basic character.
His grandmother brought him up In
a two-roum matched cottage IN the
little Morayshire fishing village OF Los
sien1outh Ordinarily he would have
gone to work on the fishing smacks or
in the fields along the foothills back
of the village, but his schoolmaster
fellows and got him pupu-teachers
lob which enabled him to maintain
himself as adequately as If he had gone
20 work with his hands for 81 week.
Like all good young Scots with
fortune to make, he came TO LONDON.
He was is. He explains his early ca
reer Ia the British capital IN these Ia
comic words: IT searched through the
advertisements In the newspapers ana
at length found position rs clerk
At is shillings q week. I wasn't salts"
fied. though. I remember asking the
conductors Of the ornnihuses If 1t were
POSSIBLE to get Q Job as conductor and
thew told me TO go back 70 GLASGOW.
But I presevered, and at length
GAINED uart of my desire. wrote po-
iitical articles for various newspapers
and SO. as years passed, wormed my
way into politics.
It was an advantageous time Tor sucn
q Young man to worm his way INTO
politics. Trade unions were oIgannlL .!as
The Labor movement was just begin
ming TO get politically conscious. ~
had become aware that to achieve It's
aims without revolt It must get repre-
Eaatation IN Parliament ana acnleve
POLITICAL power. international Social
ism also was In process Of growth. ~
soaight adequate contacts in England
which until the advent Of the student
politician Macdonald It had failed 70
md.
First Labor Man to Get Seat.
Arthur Henderson was the first La
For man to achieve a seat in Parna-
ment. That was in 1908. Macdonald,
who had been made secretary OF the
new infant Labor party in 1900 when
be was "a, followed Henderson three
years later and became chairman OF the
party. These two between them puas
up the political machine which py lSz4
gave Labor a parliamentary majority
Bic enough for its leaders to claim the
right to form England's flrst LABOR
government. Henderson, solid, aorolG
and with more personal contacts tnan
Macdonald, attended to the detallS o.
organization and personnel, Wnlle ME-
Donald. a man with wider mentai
range, attended TO the political strategy,
supplied the oratory and the plauorn1
personality and brought the natlonal
party prestige by his finmpns N u az
derson. of the national machine
was simply a North Engnsnman
abroad: but Macdonald was the cosmo-
politan the internationalist, tne WoLto
Socialist. who only happened py ~
accident of geography TO represent Ihe
British movement.
He developed parliamentary man
rer and a conciliatory touch In the as
sembly. He felt at home IN parilanen!.S
and assemblies az none III O3g ~,
NET rooms and council chambers. ~
has not changed in that respect, whlcn
isToeIy accounts for his failure 70 carry
his COLLEAGUES with him on sundry oc-
rasions. He was always liable to pre-
cent them with the result OF MS men
TAI processes without explaining those
processes or endeavoring 10 persuaoe
the group Of his colleagues In any
warm intimate way. -,
Meantime ne travelled widely, MI
friends and the Labor movement sup.
rlying tire funds He has moved about
the world so necessarily that today NJ
Is the most Travelled Of all statesmen
with the exception, perhaps, OF Heroer'
Hoover, and certainly he is the only
one who, at the sight Of the Broadway
ravine. could have sought comparison
and found it in the canal at Corlntn.
In seeking to understand the Mac,
Donaid OF today. of yesterday and o.
Tomorrow. 1t Is necessary to recollec'
that since boyhood he has known TN