The catastrophic attachment to the Gold Standard in the UK with the illogical worship of the Euro in Greece

By Anastassios Retzios

Those who have lived in the UK as well as those interested in the Labor movement in Europe would have heard of Ramsay McDonald.  He was the person which managed to bring the Labour Party in power in the UK.  However, having been elected with a strong Labor majority in 1929, he cast his party aside, embracing the conservatives in an attempt to impose unpopular policies for the maintenance of the gold standard.  The result was the humiliation and discrediting of the Labour party and movement.  Some conservative historians are now trying to “restore” the image of Ramsay McDonald (rather ineptly in my opinion) but the fact remains that his name is equivalent for the term “turncoat” in the UK. If one ventures to compare the attachment to the Gold Standard in the UK with the illogical worship of the Euro in Greece, one would not be too far off base.