9. War and Revolution¶
Core Argument¶
Chapter 9: War and Revolution
The First World War was no historical accident but the violent eruption of imperialist contradictions that had been building for decades. Britain’s lost industrial monopoly, challenged by the rising economic might of the USA and Germany, intensified clashes over markets and spheres of influence. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand provided only the pretext. What followed was the historic betrayal of the Socialist International: labour and trade union leaders, with few exceptions, lined up behind their ruling classes, supporting war credits and recruitment drives. The opportunist leadership had long accommodated to capitalism, prioritising reforms over revolution. Only the Russian and Serbian parties opposed the war on class lines. In Britain, the Labour and TUC leaderships surrendered to jingoism, suspending strikes and trade union conditions. The class struggle halted, opposed only by isolated figures like John MacLean and James Connolly.
Yet the war itself transformed the relationship between the trade union apparatus and the state. Leaders such as Ernest Bevin sat on government committees; unions signed the Treasury Agreement, introducing industrial conscription. The Asquith Coalition drew in Labour leader Arthur Henderson, passed the Munitions Act, and made strikes illegal. Within days, 200,000 South Wales miners struck, forcing concessions. On Clydeside, the Clyde Workers’ Committee shouted down Lloyd George and Henderson; the government responded by banning its newspaper, arresting leaders, and deporting six shop stewards. MacLean was imprisoned for sedition. By July 1916, over 1,000 workers had been arrested under the Munitions Act.
Rank-and-file shop steward committees spread, forming the National Shop Stewards’ and Workers’ Committee Movement. In 1917, engineering strikes peaked, involving over 300,000 workers. The February Revolution in Russia had an enormous impact; the Leeds Convention in June passed resolutions hailing the revolution and calling for soviets in Britain. The October Revolution, led by Lenin and Trotsky, had an electrifying effect. The Labour Party and TUC moved toward semi-opposition; Henderson resigned from the Cabinet. The Labour Party adopted Clause Four, pledging common ownership. The German Revolution ended the war. The British government sent an expeditionary force to Archangel to overthrow the Bolsheviks; the “Hands off Russia” Committee mobilised working-class opposition. In the 1918 general election, Labour won 57 seats and 2.5 million votes. MacLean became a world-renowned figure, praised by Lenin and Trotsky, and later appointed Bolshevik Consul in Britain.