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58-538: The British Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi Council (BNSANC) was founded in 1934, with Walter Citrine as president. A parallel World Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi Council to Champion Human Rights (WNSANCHR) was founded at the same time. These organisations were developments from the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League founded by Samuel Untermyer to institute the 1933 anti-Nazi boycott . The establishment in November 1934 of

116-454: A Cave of Adullam of plotters. Over the summer, private meetings were convened around Churchill, and finance for group events provided by Robert Mond , Eugen Spier (1891–1971), and Robert Waley Cohen . A public meeting was planned for December, in the Albert Hall . The operations of this "Focus" were not generally known until 1963. In that year, Spier published a book Focus, a Footnote to

174-424: A pupil-teacher , a locksmith's apprentice, and a sheet-metal worker, and a sister was a clerk at a laundry. Strange observes none of them were prominent in 'public life at local, regional or national level'. Although he left school at the age of 12, working in a flour mill, like many of the union leaders of those days he was an autodidact who studied electrical theory, economics and accountancy, as well as learning

232-499: A "great war" was not expected in the next ten years with the belief in its impossibility and the folly of preparing for it. Britain, therefore, made almost no investment at all in the development of new armament. The British Admiralty , however, requested the suspension of this rule when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. The policy was officially abandoned on 23 March 1932 by the Cabinet , four months before Adolf Hitler 's Nazis became

290-475: A 'big, burly and courageous man', who 'brought all his troubles home'; in the course of his labouring he suffered a crushed hand, lost two fingers, had his knee smashed, and was shipwrecked three times. Although his son rated him highly as a father, with 'a clear intelligence and masterful personality', and 'neither cruel nor inconsiderate', he would sometimes overindulge in beer (despite 'long periods of sobriety' and general avoidance of spirits), which contributed to

348-555: A far more coherent and effective union force. This, in turn, transformed the Labour Party into a substantial social democratic force for government from 1939. Citrine was also President of the then influential International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) from 1928 until 1945. He was also joint Secretary of the key TUC/ Labour Party National Joint Council from 1931 and a director of the UK Daily Herald newspaper until 1946 which

406-499: A few years was the leading activist for that union in Merseyside , leading a national electrician's dispute there in 1913. He was elected as the union's first full-time District Secretary in 1914 (the year he married his wife and life-time companion, Doris), a post he served in throughout World War 1 and until 1920, gaining much experience negotiating with major employers all round Birkenhead docks as well as with electrical contractors in

464-592: A growing movement. He acted enthusiastically as General Secretary during the General Strike of 1926 and was confirmed in that position after it, without opposition, at the Trades Union Congress of September 1926. The defeat of the general strike proved a watershed for the trade unions, persuading most General Council leaders to abandon their previous syndicalist philosophy. With other leading figures, such as Ernest Bevin (1881–1951), Citrine helped change

522-646: A keen supporter of the Russian Revolution and trade with the Soviet Union – an admirer of what he described as Lenin 's 'Electric Republic'. He was one of the first to visit the Soviet Union in 1925 and would do so again in 1935, 1941, 1943, 1945 and 1956 However, as president of the IFTU, based in Berlin from 1931 to 1936, he saw the rise of Hitler and the destruction of the huge German trade union and labour movement partly as

580-578: A majority government in 1945. That government's radical programme had been shaped on the National Joint Council of the 1930s. With this new prestige and standing, the trade unions came to be regarded as 'an estate of the realm', by all parties. Citrine's battles with the Communist International (Comintern) and its British agents began after the 1926 general strike . The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and its front group in

638-578: A policy of John Anderson , implemented by security forces, aliens including a high proportion of refugees were classified by tribunals, only a small proportion being held. He then found himself in a camp at Lingfield, Surrey set up from a race course. He described his experiences in the British internment system in The Protecting Power (1951). The diary of Guy Liddell of MI5 shows that Churchill on 7 September 1939 enquired about Spier's arrest; but he

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696-585: A welfare role for its then 700,000 or so miners (pithead baths, Summer Schools and machinery for joint consultation). He served for a year until Shinwell again recommended his appointment as Chairman of the British Electricity Authority (from 1955 the Central Electricity Authority),and in 1947, Prime Minister Attlee confirmed this 'romance' appointment for the former electrician. He served in this capacity for ten years (remaining on

754-575: Is indicative of that. Citrine wrote that his robust exposure of the Communist International and the Communist Party of Great Britain attempts to subvert British trade union leaders' authority and to capture key posts in the trade union movement drew a "campaign of calumny" against him "in which everything I did was distorted into some sinister conspiracy against the workers". One example that he gave were allegations that he had colluded with

812-625: The Nelson class , the Revenge class , HMS Barham , and HMS Repulse were largely unmodernised - lacking improvements to horizontal armour, large command towers and new machinery. Equally importantly, aircraft carriers of the Illustrious class and a series of large cruiser classes were ordered and expedited. Britain also accelerated building programmes such as the Singapore Naval Base , which

870-729: The News Chronicle . The Anti-Nazi Council generally supported the approach to international affairs of the League of Nations Union (LNU), at the time when Churchill launched his "Arms and the Covenant" movement. In the period before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , Churchill was prepared to accept the League's view on collective security , and tone down his hostility to the Soviet Union . for

928-471: The Abdication Crisis started, with the news breaking of Edward VIII 's intended marriage. Churchill defended the king's position in parliament on 13 December, which Harold Nicolson thought brought to nothing the work of two years. Any immediate mass impact was lost: the group continued, but as individuals rather than a movement. By the end of 1937, Murray was commenting to Cecil on the convergence of

986-630: The Attlee government's policy of nationalisation and served on the National Coal Board and served as chairman of the Central Electricity Board 1947–57. He was granted a peerage in 1947. Citrine authored ABC of Chairmanship , regarded by many in the labour movement as the "bible" of committee chairmanship. His autobiography Men and Work was published in 1964 and the second volume, Two Careers , in 1967. His personal papers are held at

1044-675: The Geneva Disarmament conference . In October 1933, when the failure of the Disarmament Conference was evident, a Defence Requirements Sub-Committee (DRC) of the Committee of Imperial Defence was appointed to examine the worst deficiencies of the armed forces. The group first considered the Far East , but soon looked at dangers nearer home. The DRC was created on 14 November 1933, as "the arena in which British strategic foreign policy

1102-741: The Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire , such that sufficient numbers were available to defend the UK in the Battle of Britain in 1940, during the early stages of World War II . Re-armament also led to the Royal Navy acquiring five new battleships of the King George V class , and modernising existing battleships to varying extents. Whereas ships such as HMS  Renown and HMS  Warspite were completely modernised, others such as HMS  Hood ,

1160-556: The London School of Economics . Citrine was born to a working-class family in Liverpool, one of four sons and two daughters of Arthur Citrine (born, like his father, Francisco Citrini) and Isabella, daughter of George McLellan, of Arbroath , Scotland. His father was a ship rigger and Mersey pilot and his mother a Presbyterian hospital nurse. His grandfather Francisco Citrini came to England from Italy. Citrine referred to his father as

1218-537: The New Commonwealth Society , Gilbert Murray , and the politicians Austen Chamberlain, Philip Noel-Baker , Eleanor Rathbone and Arthur Salter . Rathbone like Violet Bonham Carter had belonged to the BNSANC; but unlike her never became one of Churchill's trusted inner circle, at the heart of the "Focus". Another difference was that Bonham Carter wrote for Willi Münzenberg 's Die Zukunft . Archie Sinclair ,

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1276-481: The Trades Union Congress on account of his reputation for financial and administrative abilities. The TUC, though four to five million strong with over two hundred unions affiliated, had up to then been a largely ineffective body. As the General Secretary, Fred Bramley , was ill, Citrine took on a much wider role from the start. In time, he would transform it into a coherent and effective lobbying organisation for

1334-704: The Arctic route. The Anglo-Soviet Trade Union Committee they established with the Soviet trade unions was part of the TUC's diplomatic efforts to cement the Anglo-Soviet alliance against the Nazis after the German invasion of Russia. The Soviet Foreign Secretary, Molotov, asked to meet them to press for more British assistance in the war and Citrine briefed Churchill and Eden on his return. This prior to

1392-545: The Board until 1962 in a part-time capacity. In this role, he embarked on an entirely new career, hence the second volume of his memoirs title, Two Careers . Citrine at the TUC worked with Prime Minister Clement Attlee , Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and other Labour leaders to develop an anti-Communist foreign policy in 1945–46. He collaborated with the American Federation of Labor to strengthen non-Communist unions around

1450-704: The French Labour Minister Charles Pomaret "to clamp down on French labour with a set of drastic wage-&hour decrees in 1939 and had agreed a proposal by British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Simon that pay rises in Britain be stopped." As TUC General Secretary, Citrine and seven members of his General Council had gone to France to confer with its counterparts in the Confederation Generale du Travail "to secure close co-operation between

1508-527: The General Council, Mr Justice Stable said: Citrine and his colleagues were awarded substantial damages and their costs, but they were never paid, as the Daily Worker changed publishers two days after the judgement. The TUC published the full judgement in a pamphlet by Citrine: Citrine and others v Pountney: The Daily Worker Libel Case 1940 . Indicative of the inaccurate press that Citrine still receives by

1566-525: The History of the Thirties giving a detailed account. The first Focus luncheon attended by Churchill had other guests including Norman Angell , Margaret Bondfield , Hugh Dalton , Philip Guedalla , Julian Huxley , Oliver Locker-Lampson , Duncan Sandys and Wickham Steed . The group drew much support from the ranks of the liberal internationalists , such as Angell: others were Robert Cecil , David Davies of

1624-815: The LNU's position with Churchill's. Invited to a group lunch in March 1938, Harold Nicolson described it as "one of Winston's things", comprising Angell, Cecil and Steed with Walter Layton of the News Chronicle et al. On 29 September 1938, the day before the Munich Agreement was signed, Churchill convened the Focus Group for lunch at the Savoy Hotel , and again at 7pm to have a minatory telegram signed to go to Neville Chamberlain ; Clement Attlee declined to have his name added, on

1682-587: The Liberal Party leader, was a close personal friend of Churchill. He hung back initially, wary of political entanglements, but joined the Focus by autumn 1936. On 3 December 1936 the Focus group, with other anti-Fascist groups, held a large rally in the Albert Hall, at which Churchill spoke, under the "Arms and the Covenant" umbrella: support for British re-armament and the Covenant of the League of Nations. On that day

1740-684: The Soviet Union in January 1940. He interviewed many people ranging from General Carl Mannerheim to Soviet prisoners. He visited the front line near the Summa sector of the Mannerheim line . He wrote a popular account of his brief visit in My Finnish Diary . In October 1941 a TUC delegation under his leadership travelled on the Australian warship HMAS Norman from Iceland to the Soviet Union (Archangel) via

1798-642: The TUC throughout the war. Together with Bevin who became Minister of Labour and National Service, they mobilised and directed the organised working classes' enthusiastic productive effort for victory. Citrine also acted as an envoy for the Prime Minister with the U.S and Soviet trade unions. This major contribution to the war effort immensely strengthened the position of the Labour ministers in Churchill's government of 1940 to 1945 which greatly assisted Labour's election as

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1856-547: The TUC to become a member of the National Coal Board for a year. He then became chairman of the Central Electricity Authority from 1947 to 1957, (and a part-time board member for another five years), until he finally retired aged over seventy. On 25 January 1957, he read the address at the memorial service for his electrical colleague Dame Caroline Haslett at St Martins in the Field , alongside Norah Balls who read

1914-640: The WNSANCHR was recognition of the need of a broader base for a boycott , and had support from 13 countries. The BNSANC organised a protest march in October 1935; it took place in Hyde Park, London and 20,000 people participated. A key figure going forward was A. H. Richards, who had the title General Organising Secretary of the Anti-Nazi Council. He was Arthur Harold Richards (1889–1943), to 1935 Publicity Manager of

1972-455: The abrogation of the Ten Year Rule as uncertain, hovering between disarmament and re-armament. Even after the collapse of the League of Nations in 1935, the re-armament policy had been tempered by appeasement . Germany was not considered a threat during the 1920s, but the situation changed radically when Hitler came to power in 1933 and withdrew Germany from the League of Nations and

2030-530: The all-party Anti-Nazi Council in which he worked with Winston Churchill . Citrine strengthened the TUC's influence over the Labour Party . He opposed plans by the Labour Government in 1931 to cut unemployment benefits . After Ramsay MacDonald formed a coalition with the Conservatives to force his policies through, Citrine led the campaign to have him expelled from the party. Citrine later supported

2088-535: The area. He became secretary of the regional Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades (FEST) in 1919 and was elected as Assistant General Secretary of the ETU in 1920 at their headquarters in Manchester . In this role he transformed the union's finances with administrative changes which secured their income, creating his reputation for these unusual union skills. In 1924, he was appointed Assistant General Secretary of

2146-696: The best accounts of his times, based on the meticulous shorthand notes he kept as the events unfolded. British re-armament British re-armament was a period in British history, between 1934 and 1939, when a substantial programme of re-arming the United Kingdom was undertaken. Re-armament was deemed necessary, because defence spending had gone down from £766 million in 1919–20, to £189 million in 1921–22, to £102 million in 1932. After World War I , dubbed " The War To End All Wars ” and “The Great War”, Britain (along with many other nations) had wound down its military capability. The Ten Year Rule said that

2204-525: The establishment of the Arctic convoys to supply war materials from Britain to the Soviet Union. When the Labour Party came to power in 1945, Citrine was about to retire from the TUC but was not invited to join the government by Attlee and Bevin . In 1946, at the invitation of the Minister of Fuel and Power, Emmanuel Shinwell MP, he was invited to join the newly nationalized National Coal Board and given

2262-475: The face of British trade unionism. They took the unions from the path of class conflict rhetoric to pragmatic cooperation with employers and government in return for union recognition and industrial advances. It was said that they took the TUC 'from Trafalgar Square to Whitehall'. From 1928 to 1945 he was also President of the International Federation of Trade Unions , chiefly an honorific position. He

2320-601: The family's poor financial situation. This, and the family tendency to tuberculosis (which killed his mother and many other relatives) which led to his avoidance of smoking, inspired Citrine to endeavour to lead a healthy lifestyle. In Fatherhood and the British Working Class, 1865-1914 (2015), Strange notes that, with many 'exceptional' individuals of working-class origin and 'banal beginnings', close relatives and friends are 'usually markedly more pedestrian'; in contrast with Citrine's distinguished career, his brothers were

2378-555: The fault of the communists' divisive tactics. He and Bevin were determined to prevent such an occurrence in Britain which perhaps gave them a heightened sense of communist conspiracy in its dealings with internal opposition within the unions and the Labour Party. Thar caused much hostility by the left, such as the Socialist League , which would colour the attitude of many leftists to him thereafter. Michael Foot 's biography of Aneurin Bevan

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2436-412: The government, were established to increase the capacity of private industry; some were also built by the government. In 1918 the new Royal Air Force had 290,000 personnel and around 23,000 aircraft. In the mid-1930s, the Royal Air Force's front-line fighters were biplanes , little different from those employed in World War I. The re-armament program enabled the RAF to acquire modern monoplanes , like

2494-435: The largest party in the German Reichstag . A statement released cautioned that the decision was not an endorsement of increased armament spending, citing the grave economic situation in Britain and also indicating the British commitment to the arms limitations being promoted by the World Disarmament Conference , an event coinciding with the announcement. There are sources who describe the British re-armament immediately after

2552-400: The left, the "malicious invention" continues to appear in articles without any reference to the real story or to Citrine's reasoned rebuttal. Citrine was totally opposed to the Soviet incursion into Finland in late 1939 and was persuaded to join a Council of Labour delegation to Finland to report to both the Labour Party and TUC. He visited Finland at the height of its Winter War against

2610-509: The lesson. He began attending debates in the House of Lords in the 1960s and made many well-received contributions throughout that decade. In 1975, Lord Citrine made his last appearance at the rostrum of his old union, the ETU, to receive the union's highest honour, its gold badge and the huge acclaim from the delegates. In the 1960s, he published his autobiography in two volumes, Men and Work (1964) and Two Careers (1967), which demonstrate considerable writing skills, as well as being one of

2668-461: The plan's reduction to £50m, halving the Army's expansion budget and doubling that of the Royal Air Force . Its primary aim was to deter German aggression by building a modernised air force. The DRC set the focus of UK strategy throughout the early years of rearmament, leading to continuous tension between the three armed services, the Treasury and the Foreign Office . Government-backed " Shadow Factories ", generally privately owned but subsidised by

2726-400: The relatively ornamental Gregg shorthand writing – a skill that stood him in good stead as a union official. As a member of the Independent Labour Party from 1906, he became widely read in the standard socialist tracts, including Marx 's works and from the 1910s Citrine was quite left-wing with mildly-syndicalist views. Citrine joined the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) in 1911 and within

2784-418: The sake of containment of Nazi Germany . In February 1936 Churchill hosted a political weekend to which he invited the anti-appeaser Austen Chamberlain , who found the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin complacent on defence, with others ( Robert Boothby , Henry Page Croft , Edward Grigg , Robert Horne and Frederick Lindemann ). In a letter to his sister Ida, Chamberlain equivocated over whether it had been

2842-465: The telephone. Among the signers were Cecil, Sinclair and Lord Lloyd . The story that Anthony Eden also declined to add his name is rejected by Eden's biographer Robert Rhodes James ; who attributes the account to Violet Bonham Carter, as someone who disliked Eden and took a bleak view of his motivations. In October 1939, after the outbreak of World War II , Eugen Spier was one of some hundreds of aliens rounded up and detained in Olympia London . Under

2900-415: The twentieth century and a notable public figure. Yet, apart from his renowned guide to the conduct of meetings, ABC of Chairmanship , he has been little spoken of in the history of the labour movement. More recently, labour historians have begun to re-assess Citrine's role. By redefining the role of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), whose General Secretary he was from 1926 until 1946, he helped create

2958-434: The two trade union movements to prosecute the war against Hitlerism". Only The Daily Worker (later The Morning Star ), organ of the Communist Party and the Comintern, were likely to criticize them for that since they were supporting the Nazi-Soviet Pact . Citrine and his colleagues sued the Daily Worker for libel in April 1940 in a case that lasted six days, with Queen's Counsel on both sides. In finding for Citrine and

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3016-425: The unions, the Red International of Labour Unions (RILU), later the Minority Movement, blamed the TUC leadership for the defeat of the strike and attacked them viciously. In a fully-researched pamphlet, Citrine exposed that attempt by the Comintern to subvert the leaders of the British trade unions and helped to isolate British communists in the trade unions and the Labour Party. However, Citrine had originally been

3074-433: The world, especially in the West Indies . Walter Citrine married his life-time partner, Dorothy Ellen ('Doris') Slade (1892–1973) in 1914 and they had two sons. They settled in Wembley Park from 1925/6. In 1955 they were living at Dorislade 59, Royston Park Road, Hatch End (Pinner). His wife died in 1973 and Citrine later moved to Brixham in Devon. He died in 1983 at age 95. He is buried in Harrow Weald Cemetery. He

3132-475: Was also a Director of the Daily Herald 1929–1946, the newspaper that spoke for the trades union movement. In 1945, he attended the World Trade Union Conference in London alongside many renowned trade unionists. Citrine declined Churchill 's offer to serve in his all-Party war-time coalition government. He did accept the position of Privy Councillor and this gave him total access to the Prime Minister and considerable influence with all Ministers on behalf of

3190-401: Was kept in detention after Liddell consulted a colleague. Liddell's entry for 30 September shows that Wickham Steed supplied evidence that meant Spier was kept in internment for a longer period. Walter Citrine Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine , GBE , PC (22 August 1887 – 22 January 1983) was one of the leading British and international trade unionists of

3248-406: Was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1935 Birthday Honours List , made a Privy Councillor in 1940 and a peer in 1946 taking the title, Baron Citrine , of Wembley in the County of Middlesex from this long association. He was elevated to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1958 Birthday Honours List . He retired in 1946 from

3306-488: Was then a mass circulation Labour paper with considerable influence. In these important roles, Citrine was highly influential in the industrial and political wings of the labour movement. His prominent involvement helped secure its recovery after the deep crisis and crushing defeat which followed the fall of the British Labour government in 1931. In particular, he played a key role from the mid-1930s in reshaping Labour's foreign policy, especially as regards re-armament and through

3364-412: Was thrashed out among competing interests with competing views". Between November 1933 and July 1934 it set the UK's strategic priority as being to avoid conflict with Japan and concentrate on Germany as the main threat. The DRC's initial proposal was to spend £71m on rearmament over the next five years (1934-39) in order to re-equip the British Army for combat in Europe. However the Treasury forced

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