Remembering Ernest Bevin, Labour statesman, trade unionist and visionary

Ernest Bevin was a titan of the Labour movement and is arguably one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century.

On the 75th anniversary of his death, it seems fitting that we should examine his achievements and explore their relevance today.

Bevin’s accomplishments are made more impressive by his humble beginnings.  Born into great poverty in a remote Somerset village, he was orphaned at eight and began working as a labourer at 11, then as a delivery lad on the streets of Bristol. 

By 1922, alongside with 13 other unions, Bevin led the formation of the Transport and General Workers’ Union.

At the time of that amalgamation, the membership stood at 300,000 workers, but in just 15 years, Bevin would lead it to becoming the largest union in the country, with over 650,000 members.

During that time as trade union leader, Bevin accelerated the rights, conditions and pay of the working class. His achievements included the introduction of a 40-hour working week, expanding holiday pay to 11 million workers (from 3 million) and re-defining the relationship between unions, Government and industry.

Bevin’s incredible skills and experience in the unions brought him to national attention and by 1940, under the coalition Government, Churchill insisted on appointing Bevin to Minister of Labour, saying: “He is the Labour man I want.”

Bevin led the full-scale mobilisation and demobilisation of industry and the country while simultaneously advancing wages, conditions and the equality of the working class. In the early years of Bevin’s tenure, there was a serious debate regarding his voluntaryism, but by 1944 a third of the civilian population were engaged in war work, including over 7 million women.

Bevin truly was a visionary and a moderniser of industrial relations and left his mark on the UK’s political economy long after his tenure – as Bevin predicted “I’m going to be at the Ministry of Labour from 1940 until 1990”, he was almost spot on (it was not until the Government of Margaret Thatcher that these were challenged).

Following Labour’s victory in 1945, Bevin was appointed Foreign Secretary, a move that surprised many. Attlee’s justification was simple: he thought that foreign affairs were going to be tough and that “a heavy tank” was going to be required “rather than a sniper.”

His achievements were truly considerable.

Bevin understood the threat of Stalin and his strategy sooner than any other leader, and Bevin’s intervention to secure Marshall aid in Europe, the recognition that western Europe needed political and economic unity, and his refusal to bow to Stalin’s demands must rate at the very top of all diplomatic successes.

Although Bevin understood the importance of US support, he recognised the need to be independent and insisted on the UK securing its own atomic bomb with a “Union Jack flying on top of it.”

However, perhaps his greatest achievement was the formation of NATO. It was largely his own initiative, as he drove forward the eventual signing of the treaty in 1949 through sheer determination.

What are the lessons to be learned from this great man? He showed that Governments need to cajole, convince and collaborate, they cannot dictate and they must have dialogue with the public – a national conversation. They need to be honest about the reality of the threat, the necessity of public partnerships, both with industry and the workers, and the sacrifice that may be needed.

Secondly, Bevin’s approach to foreign policy was rooted in his ideals, but he understood that to be a player, not a spectator, the UK needed a grand strategy built on hard power, resources, strategic partnerships and ultimately based on the national interest. He grasped that reality in 1945 and it propelled western Europe to a stronger, more unified place.

He did not cling on to the dying world order – he built a new one.

All Bevin’s achievements were made possible only by his energy, ingenuity and his ability as an organiser. Take the Marshall Plan: Bevin seized on a speech delivered by George Marshall on helping Europe. He would co-ordinate a joint European response by all those nations. Marshall aid was secured and western Europe got the lifeline it needed to survive, but without his drive, the grand strategy and the ideals would never have materialised.

Just as Bevin did in his lifetime, we look upon the old-world order crumbling around us, with certainties of the past no longer holding true.

With Bevin in mind, the labourer, trade unionist, Minister and world statesmen, we should all heed the lessons from his life and remember a favourite motto of his: “Action this day”.