1929! Has nothing changed? Make your mind up time!
The 2015 General Election now approaches at a fast pace and I am feeling increasingly confident that the Tories are seeing their last few days in government. With this in mind I thought it would be interesting to share with you some details of an address made just before an earlier General Election. This talk was given to the Tamworth and District Labour Party by my father’s sister, Miss Doris Mabel Downes JP on February 10th 1929. I think you will agree that Aunty Doris was a great influence on the young Kevin Downes. At the time of this talk Aunty Doris was 25 years old and this was just one year after an amendment to the Representation of The People Act gave women over 21 the same voting rights as men. It seems rather apt that the title of Aunty’s talk should be “A Young Woman’s View of Politics”. I think that some of the questions raised 86 years ago are still valid today. Here is a flavour of her talk:
“How shall we, as newly enfranchised women, vote? Time and again people are told that winning or losing this General Election will depend solely upon the votes of we newly enfranchised women. The majority of us are working women, but will we use our votes, and if so how will we use them? In most constituencies there is a choice of three candidates- Labour, Liberal and Conservative.
Should we vote for the Conservatives? A great many without thinking would answer “yes” to this question. There exists today the same idea, even among some of the new voters, that we should vote as our fathers and grandfathers voted. These are not our own views. These people are expressing the views of 50 years ago. The Chairman of the Conservative Party has stated that the Conservatives should get the “flapper” vote because Mr Baldwin has given us the vote. He does not say that it was given only because they knew it was one of the first things the Labour Party would have done when they got into power. He does not say anything about voting for Tories on their merits. What matters is not what the Conservatives have done but what they are promising to do if we women put them back into power again. Some of us newly enfranchised voters will vote Conservative believing they are voting for a patriotic government. The Tories will also get the votes of some of the women of their own class, but these are in a minority.
It has been said that the average woman of 21 is not capable of using her vote but working women of 21 and upwards are just as sincere in their politics as a man of 21. It is occasionally heard, “I shall not vote, I shouldn’t know what to vote for.” But to such persons, to each other, and to the Conservative candidates, they should say; “Have you or your Government anything in common with us working women? You have been in power for four years. Has it been to our advantage or disadvantage? What have you done for me and working class people while you have been in power? Has our home life been happier because you have helped to drive poverty from our homes? What have you done for the people who are unemployed? What have you done with regard to housing, education and pensions? While you have been in power has your party helped to raise or lower the standard of living among our people? And if they could say in all sincerity that the Conservative Party had done all they could for us with regard to working class interests then I would have no hesitation in saying that the newly enfranchised women voters may vote Tory. But the question is have they done this?
Should women vote for Liberalism? We can not remember what the Liberals did when they had charge of affairs; it is rather vague, but we know what they are promising to do if we put them in power this time. The Liberal Party is a half and half party, and it is rarely that they are mentioned by younger women voters. It is only a shadow of a former party and voters now regard Liberalism as dead. It has had its chance and has died a natural death. In spite of the talk of a Great Liberal revival I do not think that women will risk their votes on the Liberal Party. Neither Toryism nor Liberalism hold out any hope for a brighter future.
We still have a Labour Party. Shall we vote for them? The Labour Party were in power once and things certainly seemed brighter while they had charge. But what are their views? There are no big gifts of rate cuts for people who have already more than enough- this will not affect us….. But old age pensions sufficient to live on, a better education for boys and girls, an allowance to parents for keeping children at school from 14 to 16. Will not children from 14 to 16 who can not find work be better off at school? Will a new old age pension scheme and an extension to school leaving age not help towards solving our unemployment problem?
Finally, which of the three parties is going to help us most as a working class community? Certainly not the Tories, we know their past record. Liberalism is dead and we will not revive it. If we newly enfranchised voters realise our responsibilities and know that on us depends the result of the General Election and having in mind the well being of our community, we will vote for a brighter and better day, and the only party we can trust and rely upon for this is the Labour Party”
Later in 1929 Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Labour Party, went on to become the Prime Minister with a minority government shored up with the support of Lloyd George and the Liberals.
“How shall we, as newly enfranchised women, vote? Time and again people are told that winning or losing this General Election will depend solely upon the votes of we newly enfranchised women. The majority of us are working women, but will we use our votes, and if so how will we use them? In most constituencies there is a choice of three candidates- Labour, Liberal and Conservative.
Should we vote for the Conservatives? A great many without thinking would answer “yes” to this question. There exists today the same idea, even among some of the new voters, that we should vote as our fathers and grandfathers voted. These are not our own views. These people are expressing the views of 50 years ago. The Chairman of the Conservative Party has stated that the Conservatives should get the “flapper” vote because Mr Baldwin has given us the vote. He does not say that it was given only because they knew it was one of the first things the Labour Party would have done when they got into power. He does not say anything about voting for Tories on their merits. What matters is not what the Conservatives have done but what they are promising to do if we women put them back into power again. Some of us newly enfranchised voters will vote Conservative believing they are voting for a patriotic government. The Tories will also get the votes of some of the women of their own class, but these are in a minority.
It has been said that the average woman of 21 is not capable of using her vote but working women of 21 and upwards are just as sincere in their politics as a man of 21. It is occasionally heard, “I shall not vote, I shouldn’t know what to vote for.” But to such persons, to each other, and to the Conservative candidates, they should say; “Have you or your Government anything in common with us working women? You have been in power for four years. Has it been to our advantage or disadvantage? What have you done for me and working class people while you have been in power? Has our home life been happier because you have helped to drive poverty from our homes? What have you done for the people who are unemployed? What have you done with regard to housing, education and pensions? While you have been in power has your party helped to raise or lower the standard of living among our people? And if they could say in all sincerity that the Conservative Party had done all they could for us with regard to working class interests then I would have no hesitation in saying that the newly enfranchised women voters may vote Tory. But the question is have they done this?
Should women vote for Liberalism? We can not remember what the Liberals did when they had charge of affairs; it is rather vague, but we know what they are promising to do if we put them in power this time. The Liberal Party is a half and half party, and it is rarely that they are mentioned by younger women voters. It is only a shadow of a former party and voters now regard Liberalism as dead. It has had its chance and has died a natural death. In spite of the talk of a Great Liberal revival I do not think that women will risk their votes on the Liberal Party. Neither Toryism nor Liberalism hold out any hope for a brighter future.
We still have a Labour Party. Shall we vote for them? The Labour Party were in power once and things certainly seemed brighter while they had charge. But what are their views? There are no big gifts of rate cuts for people who have already more than enough- this will not affect us….. But old age pensions sufficient to live on, a better education for boys and girls, an allowance to parents for keeping children at school from 14 to 16. Will not children from 14 to 16 who can not find work be better off at school? Will a new old age pension scheme and an extension to school leaving age not help towards solving our unemployment problem?
Finally, which of the three parties is going to help us most as a working class community? Certainly not the Tories, we know their past record. Liberalism is dead and we will not revive it. If we newly enfranchised voters realise our responsibilities and know that on us depends the result of the General Election and having in mind the well being of our community, we will vote for a brighter and better day, and the only party we can trust and rely upon for this is the Labour Party”
Later in 1929 Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Labour Party, went on to become the Prime Minister with a minority government shored up with the support of Lloyd George and the Liberals.