ABSTRACT

The evolution of Labour Left attitudes towards the Soviet Union and United States during the early postwar years marks a crucial shift in British political history. Also, it provides the essential context for understanding the policy which left-wing Labour developed as an alternative to Bevinism. This was the attempt to create a third force in world affairs as outlined above by Fenner Brockway. The origins, efflorescence and ultimate defeat of the Labour Left agitation for this program form the subject of the present chapter.