A pragmatic statesman who carried trade-union power into postwar diplomacy
At the 1946 Moscow conference, after Molotov’s repeated attacks, Bevin rose and shouted, “I've had enough of this I 'ave!”
Ernest Bevin was a Labour politician and trade-union organizer who rose from poverty to lead Britain’s largest union. His wartime management of labour shaped a postwar diplomacy that treated reconstruction as a question of organized work and state capacity. As Foreign Secretary, he and Georges Bidault organized the European response to Marshall’s Harvard speech, linking British security and western European cooperation to American aid and an Atlantic alliance. His firm anti-communism and defence of imperial interests also show how the postwar international order combined reconstruction with continuing forms of power.
Activities and affiliations
- 1922–1940 Social movements and organizing
Career Timeline
- 1910Secretary, Bristol branch of the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers’ Union
- 1914National organiser, Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers’ Union
- 1922–1940General Secretary, Transport and General Workers’ Union
- 1940–1945Minister of Labour and National Service, wartime coalition government
- 1945–1951Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Attlee government
- 1947Organized the CEEC with Georges Bidault and led Britain’s response to Marshall aid
- 1949Contributed to the creation of NATO
Related historical events
- 1944–1949Bulgaria: From the Fatherland Front to the Kostov TrialBritish foreign secretaryHe protested the trial and execution of Petkov in 1947 and set out the government's position in the House of Commons debate of 27 October.
- 1947–1948The Marshall Plan and the Cold WarForeign Secretary who organized the European responseTogether with Bidault, he organized the European response to Marshall's Harvard speech.
The 1926 General Strike and the Choices of a Union Leader
In January 1922 fourteen unions merged to form the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), with Bevin as its first General Secretary. The general strike that ran from 4 to 12 May 1926 was a sympathy strike called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Council in support of 1.2 million miners resisting wage cuts. Around 1.7 million workers came out, but the government had already prepared, including emergency powers.
Bevin took part in the strike without enthusiasm. As it proceeded he and Jimmy Thomas pressed the General Council to get negotiations going. On 7 May the TUC negotiating committee met Herbert Samuel and took up the question of wage cuts on condition that the mining industry be reorganised, while the miners themselves knew nothing of these talks. On 12 May the General Council ended the strike without obtaining either the workers' consent or a guarantee against victimisation.
Bevin belonged to the right wing of the Labour Party and opposed communism and direct action. He treated the strike as a last resort and put negotiated material gains first.