This is My Truth

Nye Davies

Description

Aneurin Bevan is a revered figure in Welsh and British politics, celebrated for his role as the founder of one of the country’s most cherished institutions, the National Health Service. As a result, he is continuously invoked, quoted widely, and is praised for his principles. However, Bevan was not only a significant politician. He was also a prolific writer, contributing extensively to the socialist magazine Tribune from its founding in 1937 until his death in 1960. This is My Truth represents the first edited collection of these writings. Beginning with an introduction that charts his writing career and emphasises his legacy, the collection showcases Bevan’s analysis of class conflict, capitalism, democracy, the world and democratic socialism. This is My Truth provides readers with the opportunity to read Bevan in his own words and to reflect on a figure who remains a source of inspiration and controversy today.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: Capitalism, Power and Politics
Chapter 2: Labour and the Unions
Chapter 3: Ideas, Values and Society
Chapter 4: War
Chapter 5: International Relations
Bibliography

Sujets

• Political Science
• Essays

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786839695
• Langue: English

Extrait

THIS IS MY TRUTH

© Nye Davies, Introduction, 2023
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to The University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 9781786839671
eISBN: 9781786839695
The rights of authorship of this work have been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The University of Wales Press gratefully acknowledges the funding support of HEFCW and Cardiff University in publication of this book.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Bevan and the search for truth
Bevan the writer
Bevan s truth
Chapter 1 Capitalism, Power and Politics
People Versus Property - 11 February 1938
Class War in Commons Committee A - 25 March 1938
Highwaymen in The Upper House - 8 July 1938
Make the government act! - 17 March 1939
Blind Men are Leading Us! - 11 October 1940
The Tories Prisoner - 18 October 1940
Next Steps to a New Society - 25 October 1940
Hope and new strength - 2 May 1941
The T.U.C. s Two Voices - 13 October 1944
The Fatuity of Coalition - 13 June 1952
Can Parliament do it? - 26 November 1954
Automation: The Socialist Answer - 8 July 1955
Tory gamblers pour £1,500 million down the drain - 7 November 1958
Bevan on Parliament - 5 June 1959
Chapter 2 Labour and the Unions
Wanted - A New Drive For Wages - 22 July 1938
A job for the trade unions - 23 August 1940
M.P.s tongues must be loosed - 21 March 1941
To any Labour Delegate - 11 June 1943
Coalition of the Left - 18 June 1943
Trade Unions and the Labour Party - 23 July 1943
Rubber stamp M.P. s - 20 August 1943
All set for a new thrust forward - 26 September 1952
Why we lost West Derby - 3 December 1954
Aneurin Bevan gives his verdict - 3 June 1955
The Struggle for Socialism: Why I am standing for treasurer - 7 October 1955
Being very, very practical - 24 February 1956
How to avoid shipwreck - 11 December 1959
Chapter 3 Ideas, Values and Society
A swastika nailed to England s mast - 24 June 1938
This is How Fascism is Born - 1 July 1938
Freedom is not enough - 26 July 1940
Meaning of the Alliance - 18 July 1941
Wales - 20 October 1944
The Parties Line-up in Parliament - 1 December 1944
July 5 and the Socialist Advance - 2 July 1948
The People s Coming of Age - 3 February 1950
Do not dismiss our ideas of freedom - 3 September 1954
Freedom and Socialism - 5 November 1954
Why Winston Churchill has been gagged - 20 May 1955
Russia must take her share of the blame - 25 November 1955
This famous victory - 3 February 1956
At last the Socialist International wakes up! - 12 July 1957
Spectre over Europe - 19 July 1957
Why Russia wins the space race - 11 October 1957
Communism or suicide? That s not the real choice - 14 March 1958
Private enterprise v. public ownership: The moon and the £ - 9 January 1959
Chapter 4 War
Inside Teruel - 21 January 1938
The blackest page in Britain s history - 3 March 1939
Are you a traitor? - answer now - 24 May 1940
The way to win through - 31 May 1940
We and the Germans - 25 June 1943
What Eden cannot do - 14 April 1944
We asked for it - 18 September 1953
Aneurin Bevan attacks radioactive nonsense - 15 July 1955
The disarmament breakdown - 11 May 1956
Destroy the bombs before they destroy us! - 24 May 1957
The clash of the giants - 23 August 1957
Platitudes won t save mankind - 13 December 1957
Arms and the slump - 31 January 1958
Chapter 5 International Relations
Stop that nonsense now! - 20 December 1940
Why is Duff Cooper so bad? - 4 April 1941
Complacency will not win the war - 5 September 1941
Here is a real plan to put the war machine in reverse - 7 August 1953
Empire and the Tories - 18 December 1953
America must be told: you go it alone - 16 April 1954
The second Cold War - 23 December 1955
It must be world control for all the commercial waterways - 3 August 1956
Give the United Nations a real job to do - 5 October 1956
Crisis time for United Nations - 1 February 1957
Warning to the wreckers - 28 June 1957
Back to free markets - and the jungle - 30 August 1957
We must save India - or lose democracy s hope - 5 September 1958
Independence - then hard work: how to maintain the frontiers of liberty - 21 November 1958
Bibliography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I WOULD like to thank my PhD supervisors, Richard Wyn Jones and Peri Roberts for their support and their encouragement to write this book. I would also like to thank Daniel Williams and David Moon for their advice and guidance while I was preparing the collection. I am also very appreciative of the constant support and guidance provided on all aspects of the project by everyone at the University of Wales Press. I would particularly like to thank Adam Burns, Dafydd Jones, Georgia Winstone, Llion Wigley and Elin Williams.
I am very grateful for the help provided by Andrew Rosthorn in sourcing copies of and to Bhaskar Sunkara for his permission to use the articles in the collection. I would like to thank the staff at the British Library, the National Library of Wales and the South Wales Miners Library for their help when I was collecting and exploring these articles.
A special thanks must go to James Phillips whose feedback, advice and enthusiasm towards the project were an enormous help during the process of putting together this collection. I would also like to thank Rob Jones for organising weekly virtual writing retreats, which provided me with the opportunity to dedicate time to the book, and to everyone on those retreats who gave me encouragement throughout.
Three people above all deserve special mention: my parents and my partner Verity. Being in the position to write about the subjects I enjoy and to do what I do would not have been possible without the constant love and support of my parents and I thank them for everything. Verity s encouragement and patience have been invaluable. From reading through drafts, to putting up with my constant ramblings about everything Bevan-related, her support has been immense. Thank you so much.
INTRODUCTION
A NEURIN B EVAN has earned a substantial legacy in British politics. For members of the Labour Party and people across Britain, he has become a hero figure as a result of his role in establishing the National Health Service (NHS). 1 From Tony Blair to Jeremy Corbyn, 2 references to his politics are littered throughout the speeches of Labour politicians; it is rare to find a speech on health, for instance, that does not mention Bevan. In fact, this is a tendency that goes beyond the realm of party politics. Bevan is often invoked by politicians outside his own party, even including former Conservative Health Secretaries. 3 His memory is marked by a statue in Cardiff as well as the Aneurin Bevan Memorial Stones north of his hometown of Tredegar. Both monuments stand as reminders of the high regard in he is held. Over 125 years since his birth, Bevan is still revered as a inspirational politician.
It is not only his actions that receive significant attention, but also his words. Dai Smith notes the importance of speech as an expression of Bevan s politics and the aspirations of his people:
Public speech, as interpreted and practised by Bevan, was an indictment of the suffocating wisdom of established superiority in its settled forms, whether in the mode of a sweeping Churchillian oration or a humble Baldwin homily. His rhetoric, not on one note but rich in its tonality of meaning and expressiveness, was designed to offer available forms of representative leadership. How else in a democracy should socialists offer themselves in a representative capacity to the people? ... The question of his power of speech becomes central to our view of this man. Bevan understood that it was language alone which allowed his listeners to comprehend reality as something which could be fashioned in its plasticity not just endured in its materiality. 4
Bevan is hailed as a great orator. As a result, his pronouncements are frequently repeated, and his communication skills have become the subject of analysis. 5 Quotes, placards, posters and various merchandise have been adorned with Bevan s words, including lines that he likely never said, such as We will Tredegarise you , or The NHS will last as long as there are folk to fight for it . 6 Genuine or fictitious, whether they are being repeated at anniversary celebrations for the NHS or to challenge political opponents, Bevan s words have become timeless and transmitted across generations.
Despite the admiration and respect reserved for Bevan, his legacy has often-times been reduced to snappy quotes and one-liners that can fit onto a tea towel or a Twitter banner. Furthermore, he is a figure championed by opposing characters, which often leads to his words being abused, misused or taken out of context. 7 It is not surprising to find, therefore, that people from different sides of the Labour Party have claimed Bevan s legacy when engaging in ideological, as well as personal, battles. He can be all things to a