ABSTRACT
In the foreign policy debates that took place in the labour movement early in 1939, leaders who had long disagreed about so much came to agree on the proper response to the looming international crisis. Labour's long-standing opposition to collaboration not only with the communists but with most non-socialist groups in general made the project of building a centrist front against Chamberlain's foreign policy a difficult one. The firmness of the Labour leaders was bolstered by the uncertainties among its critics, foremost among them Cripps. The National Council of Labour called a meeting of the three Labour executive bodies, at which it was decided to renew the appeal to the German people to realize the danger that war would result from the policy followed by their government. Virtually all of Labour's public spokesmen took it for granted that the Soviet Union was eager for an agreement with the Western powers.
