The Spectre of Ernest Bevin

Abstract

The Labour Movement lived with Ernest Bevin in a state of confusion. As Foreign Secretary his policies cut deeply across many traditional socialist attitudes to foreign affairs. His ardent support of the American Alliance and his tough and entrenched opposition to any further Soviet expansion naturally led to a reappraisal of what a socialist foreign policy should be. This process produced a school of thought which clashed violently with traditional beliefs and upset many hallowed assumptions. In the forefront of this new approach was a group of young, right-wing intellectuals whose sympathies on foreign-policy questions were with the Leadership and whose writings and speeches were ruthlessly analytical. What Douglas Jay, Anthony Crosland and Roy Jenkins were attempting to do to British democratic socialism on the home front, Denis Healey, Christopher Mayhew, Reginald Prentice, John Strachey and Kenneth Younger and others were attempting in the field of foreign policy.