Herbert Vere Evatt and British Justice: The Communist Party Referendum of 1951

Abstract

Through his role in the early United Nations, Herbert Vere Evatt is often credited with having advanced the cause of international human rights. But in 1951, Evatt articulated an alternative understanding of the roots of liberty, one centred on the role of British justice in checking ‘tyranny’ and ‘totalitarianism’. This neo-Roman conception of freedom had long competed in Evatt's thought with a belief in the need for an unfettered executive to achieve desirable social and economic goals. Although inconsistent in defence of liberty across his career, Evatt succeeded in this campaign because his case harmonised with contemporary understandings of freedom and its enemies in a post-war British-Australian community.     

MacDonald's Parties: The Labour Party and the 'Aristocratic Embrace', 1922-31

The article tests the claim that certain Labour MPs and ministersin the 1920s succumbed to an ‘aristocratic embrace’.It begins with a short account of debates in the early LabourParty over social mixing, which culminated in the 1924 disputeover the wearing of Court Dress by some Labour ministers. Theextent of ‘embrace’ is assessed through the examinationof who wore Court Dress (and why), who was offered and acceptedhonours, and of patterns of residence, income and wealth, andparticipation in London Society, measured by club membershipsand appearances in the Court & Social columns of The Times.The article concludes by examining the usefulness of the ideaof ‘aristocratic embrace’ in explaining the defectionof J.R. MacDonald and others from the Labour Party in 1931.     

台海两岸分合历史之反思

台湾自古就是中国的领土,但自从17世纪以来,台湾的战略价值逐渐为人们所看重．台海两岸也经历了四次分合。第一次是明末荷兰、西班牙入侵台湾和郑成功收复台湾,第二次是郑氏集团割据台湾和清政府统一台湾,第三次是日本在甲午战争后割占台湾和抗日战争胜利后中国政府收复台湾,第四次是国民党占据台湾。台海两岸的几次分合产生了深远的历史影响,尤其是甲午战争以后日本对台湾的侵占,造成了殖民化问题、台独问题和钓鱼列岛问题等一系列问题。几次分合之间有着惊人的相似之处,一是统一进程往往受到国内国际不确定因素的牵制,二是统一过程中时有分离主义势力从中阻挠,三是统一进程中和平手段和武力手段交替使用。     

A Parliamentary Victory: The British Labour Party and Irish Republican Deportees, 1923

After the 1918 general election the Labour Party became the official opposition party at Westminster. In response to the growing Irish republican campaign to establish an independent Irish state the Labour Party had to re-assess its relationship with Irish nationalism. The Labour Party was now acutely conscious that it was on the verge of forming a government and was concerned to be seen by the British electorate as a responsible, moderate and patriotic government-in-waiting. Although it had traditionally supported Irish demands for home rule and was vehemently opposed to the partition of Ireland, the Labour Party became increasingly wary of any closer relationship with extreme Irish nationalism which it believed would only damage its rapidly improving electoral prospects. Therefore the Labour Party supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 even though it underpinned the partition of Ireland and sought to distance itself from any association with Irish republicanism as the new Irish Free State drifted into civil war. In early 1923 the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) alighted upon the new issue of the arrest and deportation without trial, to the Irish Free State, of Irish republicans living in Britain who were obviously British citizens. The attraction of this campaign for the Labour Party was that it enabled the party to portray itself as the defender of Irish people living in Britain without having to take sides in the Irish civil war. In addition the Labour Party was able to present itself as the protector of civil liberties in Britain against the excesses of an overweening and authoritarian Conservative government. One of the main reasons the issue was progressed so energetically on the floor of the House by the new PLP was because it now contained many Independent Labour Party (ILP) ‘Red Clydesiders’ who themselves had been interned without trial during the First World War. Through brilliant and astute use of parliamentary tactics Bonar Law's Conservative government was forced into an embarrassing climb-down which required the cobbling together of an Indemnity Bill which gave tory ministers retrospective legal protection for having exceeded their authority. By any standard, it was a major achievement by a novice opposition party. It enhanced the party's reputation and its growing sophistication in the use of parliamentary tactics benefited it electorally at the next election which led to the first Labour government.     

The Labour Party and the League of Nations: The Socialist League's Role in the Sanctions Crisis of 1935

When the Labour Party—influenced by the NEC and the TUCGeneral Council—decided to support League of Nations sanctionsagainst Italy in 1935 this signalled its recognition that itwas necessary to challenge the fascist dictators with collectiveforce. The way in which this decision marked the discreditingof pacifism within the Labour Party has been fully examined.The Socialist League—the organ of the Labour left—alsounsuccessfully opposed the sanctions policy. Nevertheless, existingaccounts have focused on its chairman, Cripps, and his refusalto trust the ‘capitalist’ and ‘imperialist’National Government to impose sanctions. Instead, this articleconsiders the Socialist League as a whole and highlights divisionsthat emerged within it over sanctions. The official SocialistLeague line demanded ‘mass resistance’ against theNational Government. However, a sizeable minority—particularlythose with overtly pro-Soviet affinities—decided to supportcollective security now that the Soviet Union had joined theLeague of Nations. These internal divisions seriously weakenedthe Socialist League case. They explain how the NEC–TUCwas able so conclusively to defeat its radical anti-capitalistarguments, thereby gaining a fuller mandate with which to developits policy of armed collective security before the Second WorldWar.     

The Evolution of British Labour Party Policy on Israel from 1967 to the Intifada

The formation of Israel and the succeeding rival nationalistclaims have been particularly taxing for the social-democraticleft committed in principle to national self-determination.This article explores how the British Labour Party respondedto the Israel—Arab conflict in the post-1967 period. Itshows that Labour's consensus of support for Israel outlastedthe challenge of the 1967 war. It was not until the early 1980sthat a significant shift towards the Palestinian cause tookplace. However, a combination of internal controversies andexternal historical and political developments led to a furtherpolicy revision, ending in a new consensus of support for bothIsraeli and Palestinian nationalism in the late 1980s and early1990s. In outlining these changes, the article sheds light notonly on the intrinsically interesting issue of Labour's attitudetowards Israel but also on the more general question of partypolicy change.     

对2005年海峡两岸政党交往的回顾与思考

中华民族的血缘历史脐带,两岸对和平的共同诉求,使得2005年两岸政党交往有了现实可能。从国民党、亲民党、新党三党角度而言,两岸政党交往具有缅怀先烈、寻根祭祖、政党之间的政治和解、推动两岸的经贸合作等诉求和特点。两岸政党交往影响深远:增进了彼此的了解与理解,为发展两岸关系奠定了现实基础;建立了政党定期沟通平台,为两岸关系发展提供了新枢纽;促进了两岸的经贸合作,为发展两岸关系添加了润滑剂。