‘Speak for England’, Act for England: Labour’s Leadership and British National Security Under the Threat of War in the Late 1930s

Abstract

‘Speak for England.’ This appeal arose from the Conservative benches as Labour’s deputy leader began to address the Commons on 2 September 1939. Germany’s Blitzkrieg assault on Poland was under way, but Chamberlain’s government had not declared war on Germany. ‘Speak for England.’ This article’s thesis is that for the past two years, the Labour movement’s moderate leadership and its major institutions had both spoken and acted on key strategic matters ‘for England’ — for Britain. The thesis of this article is that, faced with rapid changes in international affairs and modern warfare during the late 1930s, most Labour leaders and most Labour institutions sought to serve effectively the people, principles, and institutions of their own constituencies — political and industrial. As such, before the Second World War began, and even while deeply distrusting Chamberlain’s government, the Labour movement in both words and actions became concretely engaged in strengthening Britain’s national security. This commitment and involvement during the late 1930s paved the way for Labour’s much greater role throughout the 1940s in Churchill’s War Coalition and Attlee’s postwar Labour government. This position differs from that of most analysts and contemporary critics, who date that shift as occurring during the Second World War or the postwar Labour government. Those interpretations associate that change with the Labour Party’s holding national office and being influenced by the perceived responsibilities of power and by the traditionalists in the civil service and military. John Saville’s recent work makes that approach clear. Jerry H. Brookshire