"I do not believe in private armies but if the Fascists started a private army it might be for the Socialist and Communist Parties to do the same. When the Labour Party come into power they must act rapidly, and it will be necessary to deal with the House of Lords and the influence of the City of London. There is no doubt that we shall have to overcome opposition from Buckingham Palace and other places as well...There must not be time to allow the forces outside to gather and to exercise their influence upon the Legislature before the key-points of capitalism have been transferred to the control of the State, and I look upon these two key-points myself as being the land and finance. If other people become revolutionary, then the Socialist Government, like any other Government, must take steps to stamp out the revolution. The Socialist Government must not be mealy-mouthed about saying what they mean. They must make it perfectly clear that it is their intention to carry out the mandate they have been given by the people."
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Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomFellows of the Royal SocietyLawyers from EnglandLabour Party (UK) politiciansChancellors of the Exchequer
Original Language: English
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Speech to the annual conference of the University Labour Federation in Nottingham (6 January 1934), quoted in The Times (8 January 1934), p. 14
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stafford_Cripps
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Stafford Cripps
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat. He served as British Ambassador to the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II, and later joined Prime Minister Winston Churchill's war cabinet. He later served as President of the Board of Trade and Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
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