The 1941 Committee was a group of British politicians, writers and other people of influence who got together in 1940. [1] Its members comprised liberals, and those further left, who were not generally involved with a political party. Its immediate purpose was to press for more efficient production in order to enhance the war effort. This swiftly developed into discussion of the methods and mores by which the United Kingdom would be governed after World War II. The members met at the home of Edward Hulton, the publisher of Picture Post .
The committee's members included:
In May 1942 the committee published a Nine Point Plan on which it had agreed, calling for works councils and the publication of post-war plans for the provision of full and free education, employment and a civilized standard of living for everyone. This plan was the basis for the successful election campaign of Tom Driberg as an independent in the Maldon by-election. Shortly after, Priestley and most of the moderate members left, and under the guidance of Richard Acland the committee merged with his organisation 'Forward March' to create the Common Wealth Party in July 1942.
Committee members were responsible for the publication of two anonymous best-selling books: Guilty Men by Cato (Michael Foot, Frank Owen, and Peter Howard) and Your M.P. by Gracchus (Wintringham), both published by Gollancz, which exposed pro-fascist sympathies amongst Conservative politicians.
Michael Mackintosh Foot was a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on Tribune and the Evening Standard. He co-wrote the 1940 polemic against appeasement of Hitler, Guilty Men, under a pseudonym.
Sir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing politics. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism; he defined himself as a Christian socialist and an internationalist. He used his publishing house chiefly to promote pacifist and socialist non-fiction, and also launched the Left Book Club.
Tribune is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left. Previous editors at the magazine have included Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health who spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, former Labour leader Michael Foot, and writer George Orwell, who served as Literary Editor.
Guilty Men is a short book published in Great Britain in July 1940 that attacked British public figures for their failure to re-arm and their appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. A classic denunciation of the former government policy, it shaped popular and scholarly thinking for two decades.
Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney, was a British Labour Party politician and former Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community.
The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom with parliamentary representation in the House of Commons from 1942 until 1946. Thereafter CW continued to function, essentially as a pressure group, until 1993.
Thomas Henry Wintringham was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founders of the Common Wealth Party.
Picture Post was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months. It has been called the UK's equivalent of Life magazine.
The Left Book Club was a publishing group that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain from 1936 to 1948.
Wilfrid Hubert Wace Roberts was a radical British Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party.
Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland, 15th Baronet was one of the founding members of the British Common Wealth Party in 1942, having previously been a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP). He joined the Labour Party in 1945 and was later a Labour MP. He was one of the founders of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
Thomas Edward Neil Driberg, Baron Bradwell was a British journalist, politician, High Anglican churchman and possible Soviet spy, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1942 to 1955, and again from 1959 to 1974. A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain for more than twenty years, he was first elected to parliament as an Independent and joined the Labour Party in 1945. He never held any ministerial office, but rose to senior positions within the Labour Party and was a popular and influential figure in left-wing politics for many years.
The British Battalion was the 16th battalion of the XV International Brigade, one of the mixed brigades of the International Brigades, during the Spanish Civil War. It comprised British and Dominion volunteers.
Ronald William Gordon Mackay, known as Kim Mackay, was an Australian-born British Labour Party politician known for his European federalist views.
The 1942 Maldon by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 25 June 1942 for the British House of Commons constituency of Maldon in Essex. It was one a series of by-elections in World War II won by radical independent candidates.
Sir Edward George Warris Hulton was a British magazine publisher and writer.
The 1943 Eddisbury by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Eddisbury on 7 April 1943.
The Popular Front in the United Kingdom attempted an alliance between political parties and individuals of the left and centre-left in the late 1930s to come together to challenge the appeasement policies of the National Government led by Neville Chamberlain.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It opposes military action that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and the building of nuclear power stations in the UK.
Katharine Wise Wintringham was an American political activist, best known for her activities in the United Kingdom.