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From International Socialism, No.14, Autumn 1963, p.37.
Thanks to Ted Crawford & the late Will Fancy.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Britain Divided: The Effect of the Spanish Civil War on British Political Opinion
K.W. Watkins
Nelson. 30s.
The theme of this book is clearly enough stated in its title. Mr Watkins surveys the whole political spectrum from the far right Catholic-Fascist fringe, through the Chamberlainite Tories playing out the ‘non-intervention’ farce, to the Churchillite Tories, seeing a Fascist Spain as a threat to British imperial interests: and on the left, the Labour-TU leadership at first supporting ‘non-intervention’ until forced by rank-and-file pressure and the flagrant intervention of the Axis powers to oppose the Government’s policy, verbally at least, through the Labour left (Cripps, Bevan etc.) to the Communist Party and the International Brigaders.
The book brings together a good deal of useful material. There are, for example, quotes of the resolutions and analyses of the discussions of the Spanish War at successive Labour Party and trade union conferences. More information about the attitudes among the smaller left groupings such as the ILP would have been welcome and a curious omission is that although post-war attitudes to Franco are traced there is no analysis of the extent to which the record of Stalinism during the civil war contributed to disillusionment with the Communist Party.
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Last updated on 24 March 2010