Henry Pelling - Böcker

This text provides a brief introductory account of the Labour Party from its foundation. It not only covers the period up to and including the election of Neil Kinnock as the leader of the Labour Party but also concentrates on the problems of the parliamentary leadership and its relations with the unions and with the rank and file members. It provides the background for an understanding of the new political situation and of the past experiences upon which Neil Kinnock and his colleagues are basing their policies.

The first study of the Churchill government of 1951-55 based on the Prime Minister's political papers (including his correspondence with President Eisenhower) and diaries and letters of Eden, Butler and other ministers. A picture emerges, not of a Government dominated by Churchill as in wartime, but of many sharp disagreements about foreign and domestic policy. But in spite of Churchill's stroke in 1953 and Eden's serious illness they emerged to win major diplomatic successes. Meanwhile Butler and Macmillan both attained leadership status.

Dr Pelling's book, which has for several years been a standard work on the subject, has again been revised and updated to take account of recent research and to explain the course of events up to the Thatcher years, the miner's strike and the Employment Acts.

This updated edition provides an introductory account of the Labour Party from its foundation. It covers the whole period up to the General Election of 1992 and the subsequent choice of John Smith to succeed Neil Kinnock as leader of the party. It also discusses the role of labour unions within the party and their relations with the parliamentary leadership and the rank and file members. It thus provides the essential background for an understanding of the new political situation. Other books by Henry Pelling include "Winston Churchill", "The Labour Governments, 1945-51" and "Britain and the Marshall Plan".

The first study of the Churchill government of 1951-55 based on the Prime Minister's political papers (including his correspondence with President Eisenhower) and diaries and letters of Eden, Butler and other ministers. But in spite of Churchill's stroke in 1953 and Eden's serious illness they emerged to win major diplomatic successes.

Two main themes engage Professor Pelling, as he examines the events of these seventy years: Britain's external difficulties and her gradual recognition of the need to alter her political and economic relations--not only with her "Empire" but with all other nations as well--and the social and political conflicts at home. At the turn of the century, Britain was a strongly imperialist nation. Increasing rivalry with foreign countries for markets and pressure for reform and an increased standard living at home brought about the changes in foreign policy and internal affairs of the first decade of the twentieth century. The Boer War, the Irish struggle for home rule and independence, World War I, and World War II accelerated the long term domestic developments. The elimination of various nineteenth century forms of inferiority--the abysmal poverty of the workers, unemployment, suppression of women, and servility of the Welsh and Irish to the English--was accomplished relatively peacefully. "Taken together, all these changes transformed the character of British society and Britain's place in the world. Generally speaking, where relations were simple and hierarchical in the nineteenth century, they have now become complex, with a resulting dispersal of authority."

This book, by the author of the best-seller 'Winston Churchill' , is a concise reassessment of the first postwar British Governments based upon original sources - a task not previously attempted by any scholar. While sympathetic to Labour's aims in the 1945 general election campaign - which itself receives fresh treatment - Henry Pelling exposes areas of difficulty and weakness in the Government's strategy and uncovers the doubts and hesitations of its leaders. Much of the evidence comes from official papers recently released to the Public Record Office; but the private papers of Attlee, Morrison, Bevin and Dalton, among others, have been drawn upon to add details to the story. For the first time, too, there is a study of the importance of Marshall Aid, as well as of the friction that is occassioned behind-the-scenes with the Truman Administration and the US Congress. Highly readable, this book makes a major contribution to recent history and to a better understanding of the present political and international situation.