Our Inheritance

by Stanley Baldwin

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Stanley Baldwin, first earl Baldwin of Bewdley, as British prime minister from 1923 to 1929 and from 1935 to 1937 responded to the general strike of 1926 with the trade disputes act of 1927, an anti-union bill, and facilitated the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936.

This knight of the Garter, privy councilor, Conservative politician, and statesman served three terms as major figure on the political scene in the interwar years in the kingdom again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley...

Reviews

[Adam Shank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baldwin’s speeches speak to an era when politics were viewed through a distinctly English lens. This collection of speeches may espouse a Burkean view of the era of which he lived, but to argue that this is in any way an “overly nostalgic” reflection is to misunderstand the burgeoning “new conservatism” of the interwar period.
Baldwin’s hesitancies and warnings to interwar Britain are particularly relevant today: thoughts against the politicisation of labour; the importance of a robust social safety net; and the importance of our enduring traditions. Our Inheritance is fundamentally just that: a reflection of the intergenerationality of our political institutions and the inheritance we are obligated to preserve and improve.
The chapter that spoke most to me was “The Citizen and the General Strike,” which provides a very uncommon nuance today regarding unionism and the state’s role in industrial affairs.
Overall, a remarkable read and worthwhile follow-up to Roy Jenkin’s “Baldwin.”

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baldwin’s fuzzy, nostalgic speeches can’t be compared with anything, except perhaps Ronald Reagan’s It’s Morning in America nonsense.