John Mendelson | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Penistone | |
In office 11 June 1959 –20 May 1978 | |
Preceded by | Henry McGhee |
Succeeded by | Allen McKay |
Personal details | |
Born | John Jakob Mendelson 6 July 1917 Płock,Poland |
Died | 20 May 1978 60) London,England | (aged
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | London School of Economics |
Profession | Academic |
Military service | |
Branch/service | British Army |
Years of service | 1939–1945 |
Rank | Captain |
Battles/wars | World War II |
John Jakob Mendelson (6 July 1917 –20 May 1978) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Penistone from 1959 until his death.
John Jakob Mendelson was born on 6 July 1917 in Płock,Poland,to a Jewish family,of which he was the only one who survived the Holocaust. [1] [2] [3] He was educated in Berlin,and came to Britain to attend the London School of Economics. [4] He served in the British Army as a captain during World War II,from 1939 to 1945. [1] [3] In 1949,he became a lecturer in political science at the University of Sheffield, [3] and was vice-president of Sheffield Trades and Labour Council.
Mendelson was elected MP for Penistone,South Yorkshire at a 1959 by-election,and served on the Public Accounts Committee. He was left-wing and a member of the Tribune Group. However,he clashed with some leftists on certain issues,such as the Soviet Union,which he voiced criticism of. [3] Conversely,others accused him of being too sympathetic to the Soviet Union. [5]
Mendelson was instrumental in persuading Harold Wilson to contest the Labour Party leadership in 1963,as a candidate of the left. [3] He also introduced Tony Benn to the radical history of the Diggers and the Levellers,on which Benn drew from the 1970s onwards. [6] In the 1970s,he opposed the Wilson government's wage freeze policies. [7]
On foreign policy,Mendelson joined with Richard Crossman in 1959,in fervently opposing any efforts to give West Germany nuclear weapons. [3] He was a member of the Labour Friends of Israel. [1] Mendelson was also a staunch critic of American involvement in the Vietnam War and felt that the Wilson government should have been more vocally opposed to US foreign policy. [3] [5] In 1973,Mendelson became a member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe. [1]
Mendelson died from a heart attack in London on 20 May 1978,at the age of 60. [1] [2] [5] His successor at the subsequent by-election was Allen McKay.
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