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Hugh Gaitskell

39 quotes

“[Chartism] might have become purely proletarian—in which case there would always have been a tendency towards revolution—or it might have progressed by a middle and working class alliance—in which case a pacific policy was almost essential. In fact...the extremists undermined the case of the moderates and the moderates queered the pitch of the extremists. Nevertheless it is unlikely, even if their respective fields had been clear, that either could have succeeded.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chartism: An Introductory Essay (1929), p. 85
“The success of the middle class alliance depended on the acceptance by the working class element of middle class leadership and middle class ideas.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chartism: An Introductory Essay (1929), p. 85
“The destruction of this inequality, the creating and maintaining of a society in which it cannot exist becomes the essential and direct purpose of all Socialist activity.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Socialism and Wage Policy' (1933), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 41
“[T]he fundamental objective and criterion by which policy must be judged [is] the achievement of Economic Equality... [W]ithout it Labour policy becomes merely opportunist, distinguishable only from the policies of other parties by the suggestion of attractive means to 'Prosperity', a greater humanitarianism, and, as some would have it, far less favourable circumstances in which to take action... A failure to advance in the direction of that ideal [of social justice] is bound to appear little short of betrayal.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Socialism and Wage Policy' (1933), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 41
“I was a witness of two civil wars and their ghastly and tragic consequences, and I learnt, as never before, to value the freedom of British political traditions.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chatham News (28 December 1934), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 59
“It must be admitted that politically communism is the same [as fascism].”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notes for a speech on Fascism at Chatham on May Day 1935, quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 44
“Socialists should understand that it is their duty to do anything in their power directly or indirectly to assist the revolutionary opposition within fascist countries.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Report on Labour's foreign policy summer school in Geneva (2 October 1935), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 59
“So long as production is left to the uncontrolled decisions of private individuals, conducted, guided and inspired by the motive of profit, so long will Poverty, Insecurity and Injustice continue.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1937 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Why I Am a Socialist', South Leeds Worker (December 1937), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 68
“Fascism has become the last defence of a crumbling economic system. It is the last bulwark of Capitalism.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Notes for Lecturers to the LLY [Labour League of Youth]' (1938), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), pp. 84-85
“While prepared to fight for the democratic ideals as such and for the ideal of collective security as such there is little to attract us in fighting merely to preserve the territorial integrity of the British Empire.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memorandum (5 October 1938), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 85
“Peace can only be secured by re-establishing the rule of law in international affairs...neither a neo-nationalism nor a cowardly surrender to Fascism will be accepted by the vast mass of our people. For the moment rearmament is also essential...the scandalous gaps in our defences have become a byword.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Beeston Democrat (November 1938), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 88
“In recent years, hours of work have been reduced, holidays have been increased, the age of entry into employment has gone up, and above all, our general health and expectation of life as a people have markedly improved. It is a natural corollary of these changes that we should work longer and retire later.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Budget speech in the House of Commons (10 April 1951)
“I am not easily roused to anger but I must say that this latest cry to cut back the spending of worse off people to cure a crisis mostly caused by too much spending by better off people is intolerable.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Daily Herald (7 October 1955), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 360
“I just cannot share this Gandhi outlook... If people have more money to spend they may, it is true, gamble or smoke or drink it away. But a lot of them will also enjoy nicer holidays, which is a very good thing for them. We really must keep under control, and pretty strict control, the area within which "the man in Whitehall knows best".”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to the Socialist Union (14 October 1955), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 392
“We cannot forget that Colonel Nasser has repeatedly boasted of his intention to create an Arab empire from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf. The French Prime Minister, M. Mollet, the other day quoted a speech of Colonel Nasser's and rightly said that it could remind us only of one thing—of the speeches of Hitler before the war.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons after Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal (2 August 1956)
“The fact is that this episode must be recognised as part of the struggle for the mastery of the Middle East. That is something which I do not feel that we can ignore. One may ask, "Why does it involve the rest of the Middle East?" It is because of the prestige issues which are involved here. ... [P]restige has quite considerable effects. If Colonel Nasser's prestige is put up sufficiently and ours is put down sufficiently, the effects of that in that part of the world will be that our friends desert us because they think we are lost, and go over to Egypt.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons after Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal (2 August 1956)
“I have no doubt myself that the reason why Colonel Nasser acted in the way that he did, aggressively, brusquely, suddenly, was precisely because he wanted to raise his prestige in the rest of the Middle East. ... He wanted to challenge the West and to win. He wanted to assert his strength. He wanted to make a big impression. Quiet negotiation, discussion around a table about nationalising the Company would not produce this effect. It is all very familiar. It is exactly the same that we encountered from Mussolini and Hitler in those years before the war.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons after Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal (2 August 1956)
“All I can say is that in taking this decision the Government, in the view of Her Majesty's Opposition, have committed an act of disastrous folly whose tragic consequences we shall regret for years. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] Yes, all of us will regret it, because it will have done irreparable harm to the prestige and reputation of our country.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons against the Suez conflict (31 October 1956)
“I don't believe the present Prime Minister can carry out this policy. His policy this last week has been disastrous and he is utterly, utterly discredited in the world. Only one thing now can save the reputation and honour of our country. Parliament must repudiate the Government's policy. The Prime Minister must resign.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Broadcast on the Suez Crisis (4 November 1956), quoted in The Times (5 November 1956), p. 4
“It is wholly untrue that I deplored the strategy of the [general] strike. I did not honestly think a great deal about it. I knew that once the chips were down my part was on the side of the strike. I considered the Government had behaved badly to the miners and that was that.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to J. P. O'Donnell (5 November 1958), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 19
“You can be assured of this. There will be no increase in the standard or other rates of income tax under the Labour Government so long as normal peacetime conditions continue.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Newcastle during the general election campaign (28 September 1959), quoted in The Times (29 September 1959), p. 10
“[Clause Four] lays us open to continual misrepresentation... It implies that we propose to nationalise everything, but do we? Everything?—the whole of light industry, the whole of agriculture, all the shops—every little pub and garage? Of course not. We have long ago come to accept...a mixed economy... [the]... view of 90 per cent of the Labour Party—had we not better say so instead of going out of our way to court misrepresentation?”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool (28 November 1959), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 554
“We may lose the vote today, and the result may deal this party a grave blow. It may not be possible to prevent it, but there are some of us, I think many of us, who will not accept that this blow need be mortal: who will not believe that such an end is inevitable. There are some of us who will fight, and fight, and fight again, to save the party we love. We will fight, and fight, and fight again, to bring back sanity and honesty and dignity, so that our party – with its great past – may retain its glory and its greatness.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Labour Party conference (5 October 1960) in opposition to a motion endorsing unilateral nuclear disarmament.
“[D]oes [the Prime Minister] realise that it is precisely because of our admirable record in converting a former colonial empire into a free Commonwealth that we ought to welcome and support anti-colonial resolutions in the United Nations, and that to fail to do so inevitably gives the impression that we still support colonialist régimes?”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (26 January 1961)
“It can hardly be denied—can it?—that the theory and practice of apartheid—the advocacy of a permanent division of men according to the colour of their skin, and involving, in practice, different rights, opportunities and status—is a continuous affront to the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (16 March 1961)
“[T]he common ideals of racial equality, political freedom, extending the right of self-government to the rest of the Commonwealth, non-aggression in international affairs, economic co-operation, and aid between nations. These ideals may be imperfectly realised in many instances, but, nevertheless, they, and they alone, give the Commonwealth its real justification today, just as the extraordinary variety in terms of geography, race and religion of the Commonwealth provides a wonderful opportunity to advance these ideals in a practical form in the world as a whole.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (22 March 1961)
“[W]e cannot draw a line between freedom in one place and freedom in another. Freedom, like peace, is indivisible. If we believe in freedom in Hungary, and in East Germany, then we must believe in it in Angola and in Rhodesia. Detention without trial is just as bad whether in Ghana or Hungary or Rhodesia.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (17 October 1961)
“It is, in my opinion, an utter and complete myth that there is the slightest danger or prospect of millions and millions of brown and black people coming to this country. Anyone who is trying to put that across is only trying to frighten people into believing that. ... We do not believe that the Bill is justified by the facts. We think that probably it will not work at all. But at the same time we think that it will do irreparable harm to the Commonwealth. ... It is a plain anti-Commonwealth measure in theory and it is a plain anti-colour measure in practice.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons against the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill (16 November 1961)
“I don't believe in faith. I believe in reason and you have not shown me any.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to Jean Monnet (4 April 1962), who was trying to persuade him of the benefits of the EEC, quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell (1979), p. 708
“I want to say a word about industrial relations in this industry. This takes my mind back nearly 20 years when, fresh from the University, inexperienced but keen, I started my earning career by lecturing in a small mining town... That was in 1927 just after the end of the coal strike. I do not know that I taught the miners much in the way of economics, but they taught me a great deal. They taught me what economic feudalism was. They taught me what the naked exercise of arbitrary economic power meant. They taught me what it was to be victimised... They taught me what was the reality of economic life.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons during the Third Reading of the Coal Nationalisation Bill (2 May 1946)
“Between the wars, the heavy unemployment in Great Britain and keenly competitive conditions abroad were factors which had to be taken into account in wage negotiations. Employers were afraid that higher wages, by adding to their costs, would make it more difficult for them to sell their goods, especially in export markets. If this happened unemployment would increase and workers' representatives had to bear this in mind also. The larger the number of unemployed, also, the more difficult it was to maintain full workers' solidarity, i.e. an employer could resist a strike, and make cuts in wages more easily the more workers were out of work. Thus in the last resort it was the existence of heavy unemployment, at home and abroad, which allowed employers to resist wage claims and discouraged workers from pressing them too far.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memorandum, 'Wages and Prices and Full Employment' (1 December 1950), quoted in Correlli Barnett, The Lost Victory: British Dreams, British Realities: 1945–1950 (1996), p. 350
“Conditions have greatly changed in Great Britain since the end of the war owing to the existence of full employment. Negotiations about wages between the two sides of industry now take place in entirely different circumstances. There is no reserve of labour to compete for jobs. ... If wages rise faster than productivity the increases in cost can usually be passed on in increased selling prices. There is thus in the economic system very much less check on the upward movement of money wages. ... [I]f wages at home rise unchecked, it is more likely in general that exports will gradually cease to be competitive and there will be balance of payments difficulties. These can be met, in the end, by devaluation. A succession of devaluations completely undermines confidence in any currency. ... It is clear that a very difficult problem faces a country such as ours, which wishes to maintain full employment and yet to avoid the undoubted evils of rising prices and balance of payments difficulties abroad.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memorandum, 'Wages and Prices and Full Employment' (1 December 1950), quoted in Correlli Barnett, The Lost Victory: British Dreams, British Realities: 1945–1950 (1996), pp. 350–352
“I am a Socialist and have been for some 30 years. I became a Socialist quite candidly not so much because I was a passionate advocate of public ownership but because at a very early age I came to hate and loathe social injustice, because I disliked the class structure of our society, because I could not tolerate the indefensible differences of status and income which disfigure our society...because I hated poverty and squalor... Pay people more if they do harder, more dangerous, and even more responsible work; pay people more if they have larger families. But the rewards should not be, as they still are, dependent upon the accident of whether you happen to be born of wealthy parents or not... I am a Socialist because I want to see fellowship, or if you prefer it, fraternity...[while preserving] the liberties we cherish. I want to see all this not only in our country but over the world as a whole. These to me are the Socialist ideals. Nationalisation...is a vital means, but it is only one of the means by which we can achieve these objects.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Labour Party conference in Margate (October 1955), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 357
“I conclude that we should make two things clear to the country. First, that we have no intention of abandoning public ownership and accepting for all time the present frontiers of the public sector. Secondly, that we regard public ownership not as an end in itself but as a means—and not necessarily the only or the most important one to certain ends—such as full employment, greater equality and higher productivity. We do not aim to nationalise every private firm or to create an endless series of State monopolies. While we shall certainly wish to extend social ownership, in particular directions, as circumstances warrant, our goal is not 100% State ownership. Our goal is a society in which Socialist ideals are realised. Our job is to move towards this as fast as we can. The pace at which we can go depends on how quickly we can persuade our fellow citizens to back us. They will only do this if we pay proper attention to the kind of people they are and the kind of things they want.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool (28 November 1959), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 554
“It was on account of the [General] Strike that I first came to know Douglas and Margaret. I had been reading some socialist theory as well as economics—Tawney, the Webbs, Marx (about half of volume i of Das Kapital), J. A. Hobson, Hugh Dalton, but I did not at that time follow day-to-day politics at all closely. Thus for me, as I think for many others, the impact of the Strike was sharp and sudden, a little like a war, in that everybody's lives were suddenly affected by a new unprecedented situation, which forced us to abandon plans for pleasure, to change our values and adjust our priorities. Above all we had to make a choice. And how we chose was a clear test of our political outlook. The vast majority of undergraduates [at Oxford University] went off to unload ships and drive trams or lorries. For me this was out of the question. All my sympathies were instinctively on the side of the miners, the unions, the Labour Party, and the Left generally. It was their cause I wanted to help.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At Oxford in The Twenties", in Asa Briggs and John Saville (eds.), Essays in Labour History: In Memory of G. D. H. Cole (1960; rev. ed. 1967), p. 9
“For my part, I hold that the central idea of British Socialism is the brotherhood of man. It is this rather than public ownership which surely inspires all our aims in foreign, colonial, social, and economic policies alike. It is this which inspires our protests about Suez and Hola and Cyprus. It is this which is the common link between our hatred of racial discrimination, our opposition to sabre rattling jingoism, our support for a world order and for aid from richer to poorer countries, our belief in social justice and a classless society, our hopes of building a community based on something better than acquisitiveness and rivalry, our respect for the freedom of the individual.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the London group of the Ruskin Fellowship (22 February 1960), quoted in The Times (23 February 1960), p. 12
“Let us not forget that our object here is to try ultimately to bring about full democracy in Northern Rhodesia. We know that that will take a little time. We know that it must involve an acceptance by the white minority themselves of an African State which will be under the control of the African people. We believe that the white minority have an important part to play there, but they must accept the fact that we must get over this hump or past this watershed—whatever the metaphor may be—and that with the pace of events moving as it is in Africa, the time has long since gone when white supremacy can possibly be a viable policy.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (22 February 1961)
“It has been said that the test of a civilised country is how it treats its Jews. I would extend that and say that the test of a civilised country is how it behaves to all its citizens of different race, religion and colour. By that test this Bill fails, and that is fundamentally why we deplore it. Of course, there are some people who will be glad. I have no doubt that there will be some Fascists who will claim this as the first victory they have ever won. ... I beg the Government now, at this last minute, to drop this miserable, shameful, shabby Bill. Let them think, consult and inquire before they deal another deadly blow at the Commonwealth.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons against the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill (16 November 1961)
“Of course after the conference a desperate attempt was made by Mr. Bonham-Carter to show that of course they weren't committed to federation at all. Well I prefer to go by what Mr. Grimond says; I think he's more important. And when he was asked about this question there was no doubt about his answer; it was on television. And the question was [laughter] I see what you mean, I see what you mean. Yes was the question: "But the mood of your conference today was that Europe should be a federal state. Now if we had to choose between a federal Europe and the Commonwealth, this would have to be a choice wouldn't it? You couldn't have the two." And Mr. Grimond replied in these brilliantly clear sentences: "You could have a Commonwealth linked, though not of course a direct political link, you could have a Commonwealth link of other sorts. But of course a federal Europe I think is a very important point. Now the real thing is that if you are going to have a democratic Europe, if you are going to control the running of Europe democratically, you've got to move towards some form of federalism and if anyone says different to that they're really misleading the public." That's one in the eye for Mr. Bonham-Carter. [laughter] Now we must be clear about this, it does mean, if this is the idea, the end of Britain as an independent nation-state. I make no apology for repeating it, the end of a thousand years of history. You may say: "All right let it end." But, my goodness, it's a decision that needs a little care and thought. [clapping] And it does mean the end of the Commonwealth; how can one really seriously suppose that if the mother country, the centre of the Commonwealth, is a province of Europe, which is what federation means, it could continue to exist as the mother country of a series of independent nations; it is sheer nonsense.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Labour Party Conference (2 October 1962) against the Liberal Party's policy of British membership of the European Communities, quoted in Labour Party Annual Conference Report 1962, p. 159