Crucible by Jonathan Fenby

Author:Jonathan Fenby [Fenby, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2018-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

II: PINK JERUSALEM

The Labour government based itself on moderate Fabian Socialism, Keynes and Beveridge, not Marx. Its leaders were pragmatists rather than ideologues. The Leninist path held no appeal for Attlee, while Bevin had been turned against Communism during his time as a trade union leader in the 1920s. Fair shares was the watchword, not revolution, as the prime minister reflected that ‘everything will depend upon the willing co-operation and determined effort of all sections of the population’.13

Attlee was a highly practical operator who had been deeply moved by the poverty he saw as a pre-war MP for the East End of London. In a book he wrote in the 1930s, he condemned the ‘revolutionary idealist’ who would ‘criticize and condemn all methods of social advance that do not directly square with his formulae and will repeat his shibboleths without any attempt to work out their practical application. The dreamer must keep his feet on the earth and the thinker must come out of his study.’ In one of the rhymes he was fond of composing, he noted that, in Britain, the people’s flag for the new Jerusalem would be ‘palest pink. It’s not blood red, but only ink.’ While striking in its breadth, the legislation of his government built on provisions and thinking dating back to the introduction of old-age pensions in 1908. Beveridge belonged to the Liberal Party, not Labour.14

Attlee’s undemonstrative manner was made for the times. He was driven to Buckingham Palace for his investiture after the 1945 election by his wife in the Standard 10 family car.15 Churchill had swiped at him as a modest man who had much to be modest about, and others underestimated him, too. Stalin remarked after they met at the Potsdam summit that ‘Mr Attlee does not look to me like a man who is hungry for power’. Within the Cabinet, Dalton called him ‘a little mouse’ and Morrison said he sometimes ‘doodled when he ought to have led’. But he saw off recurrent plots by colleagues to replace him with Bevin while remaining on working terms with them, an efficient and resolute manager who knew how to make tough decisions, and had what one contemporary commentator called a ‘deceptive capacity for not being noticed’.16

Attlee got on well with the most powerful figure in the Cabinet, Bevin, who was key in maintaining support especially among the trade unions. The prime minister maintained a working relationship with the quiff-haired Morrison, despite the deputy’s unconcealed belief that he should lead the Labour Party.17 He also dealt well with the redoubtable Stafford Cripps, who succeeded Dalton as chancellor and was the icon of austerity in both his economic policies and his personal life – a teetotal vegetarian and devoted Christian, he rose at 4 a.m., took a cold bath, worked for three hours before breakfast and followed a raw diet that provided no relief from his chronic bowel inflammation. Relations with Bevan were more turbulent, but the Welsh tribune delighted grassroots Labour supporters as

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.