Morgan Philips Price (29 January 1885 – 23 September 1973) was a British

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and a Labour Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP). He was born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. His father,

William Edwin Price William Edwin Price (10 January 1841 – 10 February 1886) was an English Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1880. Price was the son of William Philip Price, M.P. for Gloucester and his wife Frances Ann Chadbo ...

, was also a British MP, serving for the seat of

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...

. Price was schooled at Harrow and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. When his father died in 1886, Price, then one year old, inherited an estate of some .

Journalism

His political life began as a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, and he was selected as a prospective party candidate for

(1911–14). However, he took an antiwar stance at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, joining the

Union of Democratic Control The Union of Democratic Control was a British advocacy group, pressure group formed in 1914 to press for a more responsive foreign policy. While not a pacifism, pacifist organisation, it was opposed to military influence in government. World War ...

at its inception. In 1912, he published a volume of travel writing on

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, concentrating on social and economic prospects for the region, where he spent most of 1909 and 1910 researching and travelling. In 1914, he also published "The Diplomatic History of the War". He was then recruited by C.P. Scott of the '' Manchester Guardian'' and became a war correspondent for the Eastern Front. As a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

speaker, he could observe and report on the Russian Revolution. In 1921, he returned to Britain and published ''My Reminiscences of the Russian Revolution'', which showed sympathy to the government of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

and to the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

. Price was employed by the '' Daily Herald'' as a correspondent in Germany from 1919 to 1923.

Parliament

After the First World War, Price joined the Labour Party and became its candidate for the

seat. He fought the seat at the general elections in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

and

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

but was unsuccessful. At the 1929 general election, he was finally elected to Parliament for the

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

constituency. He joined Ramsay MacDonald's government when appointed as Private Secretary to Charles Trevelyan,

president of the Board of Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the Ca ...

. At the 1931 general election, Price lost his seat. However, he returned to Parliament in 1935, as member for the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...

, which he served until the constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the 1950 general election. He was elected instead for the new West Gloucestershire constituency, and held that seat until he retired from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at the 1959 general election. In 1969, Price published his memoirs, ''My Three Revolutions''. He died on 23 September 1973, at 88.

References

External links

Morgan Philips Price Archive
at marxists.org
Biography on Spartacus Educational
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, M. Philips 1885 births 1973 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1955–1959 Writers about the Soviet Union

Journalism

Parliament

See also

References

External links