Patriot and Socialist
BEATRICE WEBB, looking round in the 1890s, judged Robert Blatch- ford to be the most influential man in the nascent Labour move- ment. He was then in the flush of his success with the Clarion, a penny weekly whose appeal far exceeded circulation. Working folk in the North had for its editor a fervent affection not approached in the case of any other popular tribune. Born just 100 years ago, Blatchford came of mixed stock, yet Mr. Thompson is right in presenting him as an Englishman and nothing else. No public man of his time can have had a sorrier start. Hunger drove him to enlist, and he left the Army six years later as a sergeant in the Dublin Fusiliers. He had read hard, practised writing, and learnt to love fine literature. With the aid of his friend A. M. Thompson, father of the present biographer, he joined the Sunday Chonicle. where, in 1887, the signature " Nunquam " first appeared.
Blatchford wrote fiercely about the Manchester slums, embraced the Socialism of William Morris, gave up a £1,000 salary, collected £400 and in 1892 launched his own paper. The Clarion was the product of a group of cronies who wrote flippantly about them- selves in their own jargon. The tone repelled their orthodox fellows, " chapelified " as the editor called them, but. the young people rejoiced in it. Blatchford was almost the first .to advocate an independent party, but Mr. Thompson is clearly mistaken in holding that he might have been head of the I.L.P. He could never have led a party. Although his name would fill the largest halls, he was the poorest of speakers and was dead against political action. He detested Keir Hardie and could not away with either Snowden or Ramsay MacDonald.
Blatchford was an idol and he suffered the idol's fate. His line on war and military service was fatal. For years before 1914 he was sounding an impassioned alarm about the German menace, and when he agreed to write for Northcliffe he was subjected to vile and continuous abuse. The comrades could not recognise the simple fact that his motives were of shining honesty. His vital beliefs were rooted in patriotism and a compassionate heart. His love of the common people was a flame, but he ceased to believe in them as a rising political force.. Socialism was impossible. Democracy was a failure because the average man would not be bothered. Merrie England had thrilled millions ; its author came to look back upon it as a pure dream. In God and My Neighbour (1903) he had assailed every form of supernatural faith ; his last twenty years were given over to spiritualism. After he reached fifty all his major opinions were overturned, but nothing could dim his joy in books. His preferences were incalculable. This master of the short word and the sharp phrase could find, latterly, only one contemporary novelist bearing the true mark of greatness —Henry James.
Mr. Thompson has worked thoroughly over the materials of a unique career:- He was aided by the memories of two devoted daughters, and particularly by Blatchford's copioa3 letters to A. M. Thompson. Here was a lovable prophet of Socialism who bestrode the scene for a quarter of a century. For the record of that stirring interval, especially on the personal side, the additions supplied by
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