Stanley Walter "S. W." Alexander (16 November 1895 – 23 March 1980) was a British journalist and political activist.

Early life

During the First World War, Alexander served as a Sergeant Major in the

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI, generally referred to as the Patricia's) is one of the three Regular Force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army of the Canadian Armed Forces. Formed in 1914, it is named for Princess Patrici ...

, as he was unable to join the British forces as his height was only 5'1". He was made a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1918 (investiture 15 November 1919), and in 1919 married Doris Emily Kibble, whom he had met in the offices of Lord Beaverbrook. They had two sons,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

and Colin.

Journalism and politics

He was a journalist for the Beaverbrook press, being City Editor of the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'', ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' and ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

''. From 1948 he was editor of the '' City Press'' newspaper. He was instrumental in founding the

Society for Individual Freedom The Society for Individual Freedom (SIF) is a United Kingdom-based association of libertarians, classical liberals, free-market conservatives and others promoting individual freedom. It has links to the British intelligence community. Early ye ...

and

Oliver Smedley Major William Oliver Smedley (19 February 1911 – 16 November 1989) was an English businessman involved in classical liberal politics and pirate radio.''The Times'' (18 November 1989), p. 12. Early life Smedley was born in Godstone, Surrey, on ...

described himself and Alexander as "the only active free-traders left in England in the 1950s". He debated at the

Cambridge Union The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debatin ...

with

Lord Longford Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...

over the

Beveridge Report The Beveridge Report, officially entitled ''Social Insurance and Allied Services'' ( Cmd. 6404), is a government report, published in November 1942, influential in the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It was drafted by the Libe ...

in January 1943. He stood in the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

as an Independent Free Trade candidate (coming fourth) for

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. He stood in the 1950 general election for 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 ...

(coming third) for Ilford North. He was also chairman of the London Liberal Party. He was also against British membership of the

Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

Political views

Alexander was a believer in

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

, writing letters to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' on this and other economic subjects. He believed that the abandonment of free trade in 1917 began "the lowering of the standard of life by stopping goods reaching people" and that it was responsible for "the closed market behind which monopolies and price rings of labour and capital have grown up". He argued for the restoration of free trade "regardless of what other nations may do" and asked: "...does the housewife improve her position by buying the poorest quality goods at the highest price or not? The future of the pound is inextricably bound up with this question of restoring to the people the right to buy in the cheapest market". Alexander opposed

collectivism Collectivism may refer to: * Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin * Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production * Collectiv ...

and socialism and argued for more units of industry to combat them: "Over a period of 40 years the policy of "protection" has concentrated industry in fewer hands and helped to create monopolies which in turn has encouraged the Socialists to believe that the way to deal with monopolies is for the State to take them over...a policy of free trade...will provide the conditions under which more units will grow up...With more units we shall also get a larger number of responsible individuals with political independence". Alexander believed that protectionism, by fostering monopolies and nationalisation, would (if not reversed) lead to a

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...

state: "Free Trade is a great safeguard for all the other liberties of the people and it can play a most valuable part in promoting good will among the peoples and world peace". He contended that the best argument for foreign investment was "the natural right of Englishmen to do what they think is to the best advantage with their own money. Where responsibility for profit or loss resides with the individual there will the best results of investment be achieved". "Protectionism", Alexander wrote, "is akin to socialism and no free enterprise political party in an island nation dependent for its life on international trading should ever have had anything to do with it...capital and labour need a return to the natural disciplines... hesecan only be restored as a result of a balanced national budget, a limitation on the volume of circulating paper money of all kinds, and the abandonment of import restrictions and duties so that all home production in cost and quality is constantly challenged by the alternative of the product from overseas". On imports, he argued against Sir

Roy Harrod Sir Henry Roy Forbes Harrod (13 February 1900 – 8 March 1978) was an English economist. He is best known for writing ''The Life of John Maynard Keynes'' (1951) and for the development of the Harrod–Domar model, which he and Evsey Domar devel ...

's proposals for protectionism: "Excessive imports arise as a result of an excessive volume of purchasing power introduced into the community as a result of excessive Government spending. That is the basic cause of the trouble. That is where the remedy should begin...The answer to the problem is not to impose import restrictions but to completely free imports and so conduct our internal affairs as to balance budgets, provide for the repayment of debt and thereby automatically limit the ability to pay for imports as near as possible to those imports that can be most profitably used". Alexander also advocated abolishing all

exchange controls Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across national bor ...

so that "individuals could freely carry on their business and even use their automatically reduced resources even to resume their profitable overseas investment which has stood our people in good stead in two world wars. The need is to create the conditions of freedom in which new wealth can be accumulated". He argued against Sir

Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative politician who se ...

's view that going into the Common Market would provide a larger market for British industry: "The greatest handicap to British industry is not that we have not a sufficiently large market but that owing to the protectionist policy now pursued for 50 years our people are not allowed to buy raw materials and goods from the cheapest market. And, if we cannot buy cheaply we cannot produce competitively. That has been the primary cause of our country's decline in its share of world trade and shipping...Entry into Europe would I believe be but an extension of that protectionism which has already done immense damage to our country".Letter: 'Britain needs to buy raw materials from the cheapest market', ''The Times'' (23 April 1971), p. 22.

Publications

* ''The Economic War'' (1932) * ''Tariffs Mean War'' (1933) * ''Justice for All Workers'' (1936) * ''The Price we Pay'' (1940) * ''The Kingdom of Bevin'' (1941) * ''Save the pound, save the people: The cause of Britain's current crisis, and the only way to recovery'' (Anti Dear Food Campaign, 1974;

Cobden Club The Cobden Club was a society and publishing imprint, based in London, run along the lines of a gentlemen's club of the Victorian era, but without permanent club premises of its own. Founded in 1866 by Thomas Bayley Potter for believers in Free ...

, 1975) * ''Montagu Norman versus Beaverbrook'' (1976)

Notes

External links

Obituary in the ''Kipling Journal''

Oxford National Dictionary of Biography entry

Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, S. W. 1895 births 1980 deaths British liberal theorists Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers English political journalists Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Members of the Order of the British Empire Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry soldiers