Peace And The Cold War 1945 1951 Labour In Government

This is Volume Five of a comprehensive history of the British Communist Party in the twentieth century, and covers the period from 1951 to 1968. The cold war was at its most intense during this period, and it was also the time of the dramas of 1956 - Khruschev's critique of Stalin, the Hungarian uprising and the Suez crisis. Then in the 1960s the opening up of new possibilities for radicalism began, leading up to the events of May 1968. The impact of these events on the Party is extensively analysed, drawing on evidence from detailed archival research and many interviews with former activists. Topics covered include: the nature of the Party and its Soviet 'ecology'; its responses to the events of 1956; its involvement in anti-colonial struggles; its positions on international and economic issues and perspectives on class struggle; its relationship with the Labour Party and the trade unions; and the forces for change in the Party in the 1960s. Times change, and John Callaghan's book differs from previous volumes in this series in a number of ways - most obviously, in that it was written after the demise of the Soviet Union and the Party, and thus with much better access to archives and the views of former party members. In addition, it is organised thematically rather than chronologically, and is written from a more critical position than previous titles in the series. It shares with its predecessors, however, the idea that a history of the CPGB has some importance, not least for the light it casts on some of the key issues of the twentieth century.

A critical examination of the labour government and trades Union Congress in the immediate postwar period, this book argues that the Cold War was not just a traditional conflict between states but also an attempt to contain the growth of radical working-class movements at home and abroad. These radical movements, stimulated by the Second World War and its aftermath, seemed to policymakers within the Labour Party and the TUC to threaten British interests. The author contends that the Labour government never seriously considered following a socialist foreign policy, but instead sought to shape political developments throughout the world in ways most conductive to maintaining Britain's traditional economic and imperial interests. The government was able to follow established policies abroad and increasingly at home at least in part because British trade union leaders supported its attempts to prevent radicals and communists from coming to power in trade union movements inside Britain and throughout the world. In so doing, the trade union movement significantly extended its links with the state, in particular by cooperating with it in the sphere of foreign and colonial labour policy.

Canada and the Cold War is a fascinating historical overview of a key period in Canadian history. The focus is on how Canada and Canadians responded to the Soviet Union -- and to America's demands on its northern neighbour.

A new interpretation of the British government's policy towards Germany in the years immediately after 1945, and a reassessment of the part this policy played in the development of the Cold War.