Selling Labourism as “Selling Socialism”

Dealing with a Mass Electorate.
The Representation of the People Act 1918 trebled the electorate and awakened politicians to the
campaigning possibilities of mass communications'. Prior to then electioneering had been largely
conceived of in terms of canvassing, leafleting and platform oratory and these activities remained an
important aspect of campaigns well into the Twentieth Century. Consequently following the First World
War party strategists began to evaluate opportunities offered them by more novel means of propaganda
in the form of film, broadcasting and professional advertisements. The wealthy Conservatives were
quick to investigate these methods although Labour fared less well due to a combination of bureaucratic
inertia, internal rivalries and inadequate finances. The party did, however, form its first Press and
Publicity Department in October 1917 as part of a wholesale organisational review that coincided with
the introduction of a newly revised constitution. The section attempted to promote the party’s case
through a largely hostile, privately owned print media and a nominally independent but heavily regulated
BBC. It soon became apparent that Labour would need to try and engage the electorate more directly
and many organisers believed the party should do so by promoting the cause through the interpersonal
means its healthy activist base.
A minority of Labour strategists began to dissent from the view that the grassroots’ approach to
campaigning was the only or most effective form of campaigning. Their view drew inspiration from the
work of thinkers, notably as the prominent Fabian Society member and London School of Economics
professor Graham Wallas. In his 1908 book Human Nature in Politics Wallas applied psychology to the
study of democracy to question the widespread assumption that an informed, rational electorate existed.
From this perspective, he argued ‘image’ was likely to play an increasing role in a more mediated
politics in which the more successful campaigners might be those who were able to invoke ‘as many
and as strong emotions as possible'. Wallas’s sentiments resonated with a number of Labour
organisers with direct experience of the democratic process. In 1922 Philip Snowden argued
propaganda should be designed to primarily appeal to 'very matter-of-fact people' rather than the 'higher
intellectual'. Similarly in a 1924 article on ‘The Psychology of Political Advertising’ also for the party
agents’ journal Labour Organiser, the author acknowledged modern publicity methods could be used to
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cultivate ‘primitive emotions’ but nevertheless encouraged his colleagues to investigate their potential
deployment.

In 1924 a brand conscious Labour leadership had devised a competition, inviting supporters to design a
logo to replace the 'polo mint' like motif that had previously appeared on party literature. The winning
entry, emblazoned with the word ‘Liberty’ over a design incorporating a torch, shovel and quill symbol,
was popularised through its sale, in badge form, for a shilling. Later the same decade another image of
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the then leader Ramsay MacDonald was merchandised in recognition of the potential influence and
symbolic power of ‘presidential’ appeals. The same leader made a somewhat prophetic move in 1925
by announcing a competition to find a replacement for the traditional party anthem, Jim Connell’s
socialist anthem 'The Red Flag'. Launched in conjunction with the sympathetic Daily Herald newspaper,
the contest fielded 300 entries. But, in spite of this stiff opposition, Connell’s song remained the party’s
and outlived the leadership of the later to defect MacDonald.