x. the twentieth century

X The Twentieth Century

(i) British History

Keith Laybourn

10.01 General The most idiosyncratic of overviews of the political decline of Britain is provided by R. Blake, The Decline of British Power, 1915-1964 (Granada. f18). Largely concerned with 'high politics,' it chips at, though never destroys, the Churchillian mythology which has cloaked Britain's marked decline in international politics. On a smaller stage, A.E. Green, 'The Changing Electoral Practice in England' (J. Hist. Geog., xi) is rather more optimistic about the direction of political change, referring to the evolution of political parties and emphasising the rise of political ideology in local politics. M.E Loughlin and K. Young (eds), Halfa Century of Municipal Decline, 1935-1985 (Allen and Unwin) argue that the rising interest in local politics has to be set against the declining importance of the municipality in exercising political power. The undoubted rising importance of the Conservative Party, in both local and national politics, is attributed to the modernisation of the Conservative political machine in the 1920s by M. Pugh, The Tories and the People, 1880-1935 (Oxford: Blackwell, f 17.50). D. Butler, British Political Facts, 1900-1985 (Macrnillan, f30) is a valuable compendium of political information, vital to those wishing to establish trends in recent British politics. 10.02 Decline' (J. Contemp. Hist., xx) analyses the economic basis of Britain's twentieth- century decline, focusing upon the slow change of ethos in British society and doubting whether new changes will come from the constellation of remedies already tried - the technological revolution, EEC membership, trade union reforms and monetarism. R. Pope and B. Hoyle (eds), British Economic Performance, 1880- 1980: a collection of historical soiirces (Croom Helm, f 16.95, pbk f7.95) offer a collection of documents, tables and statistics which should be invaluable for the new document-based A-level examinations. R. Pope, A. Pratt and B. Hoyle (eds), Social Welfare in Britain, 1885-1985 (ibid), a companion volume, is similarly useful. E Capie and A. Webber, A Monetary History of thhp U K , 1870-1982 Vol I (Allen and Unwin) outlines the financial contours of British history, though far more useful is B. Eichengreen (ed). The Gold Standard in Theory and History (Methuen, pbk f8.95). This offers an excellent collection of articles by modern historians alongside extracts from some of the formative texts on the gold standard, including the Cunliffe Committee (1918) and the Macrnillan Committee (1931). 10.03 B. Pimlott has written the outstanding biography of the year; Hugh Dalton (Cape, f25), is a masterful portrait of the rumbustious politician who shaped much of British Labour history after the deblcle of 1931. Dalton is presented as the prime mover in driving the Labour Party from MacDonald's romantic visions to a more pragmatic and practical conception of its role. He was mentor to Hugh Gaitskell and a seminal influence upon British foreign policy after 1945. D. Dutton, Austen Chamberlain: Gentleman in Politics (Bolton: Ross Anderson, €14.95) and J. Colville, The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries (Hodder and Stoughton, f14.95) are useful, though much less rewarding, views from the top. In particular, Dutton's view of Chamberlain suffers from a lack of definition about the strand of Conservatism which he represented.

P. Warwick, 'Did Britain Change? An Inquiry into the Causes of National

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10.04 The First World War K.M. Wilson, The Policy of Entente: essays in the Determinants of British Foreign Policy, 1904-1914 (CUP, f19.50) argues that the policy of Entente before the First World War rested upon imperial, rather than European, concerns and that Russia, not Germany represented the real threat to that policy. The pre-war spy fever is examined by N. Hiley, ‘The Failure of British Counter-Espionage against Germany, 1907-1914‘ (Hist. J., xxviii). It is suggested that the spy threat was exaggerated, that methods of dealing with German spies were generally ineffective but that on the outbreak of war those German spies who were still active were quickly rounded up. B.B. Gilbert, ‘Pacifist to Interventionist: David Lloyd George in 1911 and 1914. Was Belgium an Issue?’ (ibid) explores the value of Belgium as a political bridge over which Lloyd George and other dissidents could move to support the war. This subject is further explored by J. Grigg, Lloyd George: from peace to war, 1912-1916 (Methuen. f19.95). K. Burk, Britain, America and the Sinews of War, 1914-1918 (Allen and Unwin, f20) analyses the changing relationship in the Atlantic connection as Britain traded in her overseas assets to the USA in order to finance her war effort. 10.05 The experience of war has occupied the attention of many writers. I.W. Beckett and K. Simpson (eds), A Nation in Arms: a study of rhe British Army in the First World War (Manchester U.P., f25) offer a collection of essays which generally stress that Britain was anything but a nation at arms in 1914 and that the experience of war exerted a greater impact upon the nation than upon the British army. G. Dallas and D. Gill. The Unknown Army: mutinies in the British Army in World War I (Verso, f18.50, pbk f5.95) throws doubt upon this conclusion by examining the way in which the war provoked conflicts in the army between the normal standing army recruits and the new recruits, culminating in the mutiny at Etaples camp in 1917. This should be read with D. Englander and T. Mason, War and Politics: rhe experiences of the serviceman in two world wars (Macmillan. 1984). The distracting qualities of football are sampled in C. Veitch, ‘Play up! Play up! and Win the War! Football, the Nation and the First World War, 1914-15’ (J. Contemp. Hist., xx); the East Surrey regiment apparently played the game to the end and dribbled a football into the German positions which they were to attack. Less novel, though far more important, were the diplomatic difficulties posed by Britain rounding up prominent Russians following the Bolshevik Revolution, the subject of J. McHugh and B.J. Ripley, ‘Russian Political Internees in First World War Britain: the cases of George Chicherin and Peter Petroff (Hist. J., xxviii).

10.06 The Inter-War Years Unemployment and economic policy have figured prominently in what have largely been publications about the 1930s. More wide- ranging than most has been A. Booth and M. Park, Employment, Capital and Economic Policy (Oxford: Blackwell, €22.50), which examines the economic thinking of the Labour Party, the TUC and the constructive planners of the inter-war years, concluding that the ideas of these groups exerted considerable influence upon the economic policies developed after 1945. W.R. Garside and T.J. Hatton ‘Keynesian Policy and British Unemployment in the 1930s’ (Ec. Hist. R . , xxxviii); M. Davies, ‘Miners of the Rhondda: 1930 struggles with unemployment’ (Geog. Mag., Ixii), and B. Eichengreen and J. Sachs, ‘Exchange Rates and Economic Recovery in the 1930s’ (J. Ec. Hist., xlv) focus upon the varying impact and explanations of the ‘improving’ economic situation of the 1930s. The economic recovery did not percolate to all sections of society, a fact underlined in telling fashion in M. Mitchell, ‘The Effects of Unemployment on the Social Condition of Women and Children in the 1930s’ (Hisr. Wkshp.) In what may become a definitive

X The Twentieth Century 159

work, Mitchell supports the view that general improvements in health have to be tempered with an awareness that some social groups were vulnerable to unemployment and that a rising standard of living for those in employment often masks the existence of severe and increasing deprivation. The plight of the unemployed minority is further emphasised by B. Bennison, ‘Profits of Doom: the financial management of the Jarrow Crusade’ ( J . Reg. Local Studs., vi). But even expanding sectors of the economy had their problems; P. Fearon, ‘The Growth.of Aviation in Britain’ ( J . Contemp. Hist., xx) shows the way in which the British lead in aviation slipped away due to a series of political decisions about equipment for the RAE J. Myerscough, ‘Airport Provision in the Inter-War Years’ (ibid), notes the limited challenge which aviation offered to other forms of transport during the inter-war years. 10.07 Britain, 1918-1938 (Hutchinson, pbk f5.95) was reprinted. Since it was first published by Faber in 1940, this attempt by Graves and Hodge to offer an amusing and irreverent look at ‘everything that will be forgotten about the inter-war years’ has become a classic. Along similar lines, L.A. Hall, ‘Somehow very distasteful: doctors, men and sexual problems between the wars’ (1. Contemp. Hist., xx), is a study of the art of non-communication between doctors and patients on ‘sensitive’ manly matters. 10.08 C. Fleay and M.L. Saunders. ‘The Labour Spain Committee: the Labour Party Policy and the Spanish Civil War’ (Hist. J . , xxviii) assumes that the Labour Party policy on the Spanish Civil War was as ‘torpid and as ambivalant’ as that of the National Government: the party’s identification with the cause of the Spanish Republic was never translated into, political aid for winning the war. This seems a harsh judgment, given the Labour Party’s limited parliamentary power in 1936 and the financial commitment of the party to the Republican cause. P. Stafford, ‘Political Autobiography and the Art of the Plausible: R.A. Butler at the Foreign Office, 1938-1939’ (ibid) believes that Butler’s reputation would have suffered, and that he would have received the appellation of ‘Guilty Man’, had it been known how much he was prepared to concede to Hitler on the eve of war.

10.09 The Second World War A personal interest has provoked P. Mackesy, ‘The Narvik Experiment’ (Hist . Toduy, xxxv) to assert that General Mackesy was made a scapegoat by Churchill for the allied failure to recapture Norway in 1940. R. Langhorne (ed), Diplomacy and Intelligence during the Second World War: essays in honour of EH. Hinsley (CUP, f27.50) deals with a variety of subjects including the code breakers. A racial aspect to the war is raised by D. Reynolds, ‘The Churchill Government and the Black American Troops in Britain during World War 11’ (TR.H.S. , xxxv). He stresses that the Cabinet adopted the US approach and attempted to segregate Black American troops as much as possible. Indeed, both governments were initially opposed to black troops being sent to Britain and alarmed by the good reception which they received, though not by the occasional outburst of racial prejudice against them. D. Sheridan (ed), Among You Taking Notes: the wartime diary of Noami Mitchison (Gollancz. f12.95) is a personal reflection on the experience of war.

10.10 The Post-War Years A. Cairncross, Years of Recovery: British Economic Policy, 1945-1951 (Methuen, €35) gives the post-war Labour Government high marks for its economic achievements, although its need for expedient action appears to have led to the jettisoning of many of its long-term aims and may have

R. Graves and A. Hodge. The Long Weekend: a social history of Great

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contributed to Britain’s subsequent slow economic growth. TE.B. Howarth. Prospect and Reality: Great Britain 1945-1951 (Collins, f 14.95) is rather less generous. The succeeding Conservative government may well have added to Britain’s economic problems according to J.W. Young, ‘Churchill’s “No” to Europe: the rejection of European Union by Churchill’s post-war Government, 1951-1952’ (Hist. J., xxviii). Apparently, Churchill provided no effective lead to get Britain into Europe, permitting Eden to rule out the direct commitment sought by Macmillan and other supporters of entry. B. Simon, ‘The Tory Government and education, 1951-60: background to breakout’ (Hist. Educ., xiv), on the other hand, sheds light on the way in which British conservatism to change was broken down. Simon’s article is a seminal study of the way in which the Conservative conception that only a limited number of people would be able to benefit from advanced education, because of their genetically determined IQ, was abandoned between the 1950s and the early 1960s due to the rising demand for scientific and technical change. D. Garner, ‘Education and the Welfare State: the school meals and milk service, 1944-80’ (J. Educ. Admin. Hist., xvii) describes the evolution of the school-meals service before the decision of the Conservative Government to fundamentally change the principles governing its operation. P. Whitehead, The Writing on the Wall: Britain in the Seventies (Joseph, f25) examines the crucial problems which Britain faces now and in the future.

10.11 substance on British Labour history. K.D. Brown (ed). The First Labour farty, 1906-1914 (Croom Helm, f 17.95) has gathered together an excellent collection of articles. At least half the authors appear to disagree with the editor’s notion that the Labour Party could not survive without Liberal support on the eve of the First World War. P. Thane’s article, ‘The Labour Party and State Welfare’ (ibid). examines the variance between the Liberal and Labour parties on the evolution of state welfare and raises the prospect that Labour was not the ‘tail of the Liberal Party’. P. Deli, ‘The Image of the Russian Purges in the Daily Herald and the New Statesman’ (J. Contemp. Hist., xx) notes that the two papers were critical of the contradictions between the provisions of the New Soviet Constitution and the lack of liberty in Russia but that the Herald catered for the ordinary Labour voter whilst the New Statesman was written for the intellectual left. B. Barker, ‘A New Labour Archive: the Middleton Collection’ (Hist. Wkshp.) provides > brief outline of the career of J.S. Middleton, Assistant Secretary and Secretary to the Labour Party between 1903 and 1944, whose copious correspondence is now lodged in the Labour Party Archives. H. Pelling, The Labour Governments 1945-1951 (Longman. f8.93, which was published as a hardback in 1984, has appeared as a paperback. There has also been a spate of publications which have directly, or indirectly, dealt with the recent declining political fortunes of the Labour Party - though not all are exclusively concerned with the Labour Party. M.N. Franklin, The Decline of Class Voting in Britain: changes in the basis of electoral choice, 1964-1983 (OUP, €20, pbk f8.95) argues that the influence of parental class voting has declined so much that the oid parties have no sound sheet-anchors worth recognising. A. Heath, R. Jowell and J. Curtice, How Britain Votes (Pergamon, f15.05, pbk f7.95) accept the degradation of the old class-based voting but suggest that the Alliance vote has gathered around it a hard-core of support. P. Dunleavy and C.T. Husbands, British Democracy at the Crossroadr: voting and party competition in the 1980s (Allen and Unwin, f18, pbk f8.95) agree with many of the ideas put forward by the two previous publications but focus upon certain sectors, the voting habits of

Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature 71

Labour History This has been an exciting year for publications of

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women and of the public white-collar workers, and stress that these are not easily identified with traditional or changing class divisions. M. Holmes, The Labour Government, 1974-1979: political aims and economic reality (Macmillan, f25) encapsulates the significance of these social changes and examines the problems faced by a Labour Government committed to bringing about industrial change in the face of a reluctant workforce. M. Mann. Socialism Can Survive: social change and the Labour Party (Fabian Tract 502. pbk f1.50) moves in another direction and suggests that the Labour Party should abandon the shibboleth of nationalisation and develop new radical socialist policies and strategies to which Left and Right, within the party, can, without animus, make important contributions. G. Foote, The Labour Purty’s Polirical Thought and Hisrory (Croom Helm, f25) is also worth persual in the light of recent debates. 10.12 Two major works on trade unionism have appeared this year. After more than two decades, H.A. Clegg. A History of Trade Unions since 1889, Vol I1 1911-1933 (OUP, f40) has produced the second volume of the work he first began with A. Fox and A.E Thompson. Although overtaken by the pace of recent research and limited by its narrowness of interpretation, Clegg’s book will act as a benchmark for any other work on early twentieth-century trade unionism. If Clegg has provided the standard work, A. Howkins, Poor Labouring Man: rural radicalism in Norfolk (Routledge, pbk f7.95) has produced the innovative study on trade unionism. His book is a brilliant analysis of the rise, fall and rise of agricultural radicalism and trade unionism in Norfolk. I t traces how Norfolk, a centre of rural radicalism in 1870, practically expired as a centre of trade unionism in 1900 and records the revival of such activity in the wake of the First World War and the Corn Production Act of 1917. Through the effective use of oral and written sources, he reconstructs the events which led to the agricultural workers’ union calling the 1923 General Strike in Norfolk. W. Mommsen and H. Husung (eds), The Development of Trade Unionism in Great Britain and Germany, 1880-1914 (Allen and Unwin, f18) has drawn together a useful collection of essays - though the late nineteenth century seems better served than the twentieth. Shopfloor and factory discipline has also figured prominently. A. Reid’s article in S. Tolliday and J. Zeitlin (eds). Shop Floor Burgaining and the State (CUP, f22.50) argues that the dilution struggles were not central to unrest in engineering and metal working and swings away the view that there was a split between the trade union bureacracy and the rank and file during the First World War - a view which he shares with H.A. Clegg. Similar themes are examined in P. Thane and A. Sutcliffe (eds), Essays in Social History, Vol I1 (OUP, f25, pbk f9.95); J. Haydu. ‘Factory Politics in Britain and the United State: engineers and machinists, 1914-19’ (Comp. Stud. SOC. Hist., xxviii) and J.M. Haas, ‘Trouble at the Workplace: industrial relations in the Royal Dockyards, 1889-1914’ (B . I .H .R . , Iviii). The issue of trade union surveillance has been to the fore in the work of R. Davidson. His article ‘Treasury Control and Labour Intelligence in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain’ (Hisr. J . , xxviii) asserts that the Treasury frustrated the efforts of the Board of Trade to measure the ‘Labour problem’. Davidson’s Whitehall and the Labour Problem in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain: a study in official statistics and social control (Croom Helm, f 18.95) continues in the same vein, emphasising the constraints imposed by social outlook. The theme of social control is taken further by R. Geary, Policing Industrial Disputes, 1893-1985 (CUP, f 19.50) who examines the changing methods of controlling industrial conflict from the Featherstone ‘riots’, through to Tonypandy and down to the miners’ strike of 1984-85. The central theme is that both the police and strikers are subject to many, sometimes


contradictory political pressures. AS these political constraints tighten so the nature of industrial disorder and the corresponding action of the police change. 10.13 and J. Mackenzie, The Diary of Beatrice Webb, Vol IV 1924-1943 (Virago, f22) offer an insight into the Webbs’ turn towards the Soviet Union. As with the previous volumes, the quixotic aspect of Beatrice’s temperament can be seen to submerge more considered opinion. J.D. Young, ‘Militancy, English Socialism and the Ragged-Trousered Philanthropist’ (J. Contemp. Hist., xx) offers a critical appraisal of Tressell’s novel, examining whether or not it can be viewed as a socialist or Marxist novel. S . Bird, ‘The British Workers’ Sports Association, 1930-1960’ (Bull. SOC. Study Lab. Hist.) is illuminating on an aspect of the social activities of socialism as is R. Samuel, E. MacColl and S . Cosgrove, Theawes of the Left, 1880-1935: Workers’ Theatre Movements in Britain and America ( Routledge, f15.95, pbk f8.95). The latter attempts to analyse the condition of existence of this type of drama in relation to the politics and aesthetics of the time. G. McCulloch. ‘Teachers and Missionaries: the Left Book Club as an educational agency’ (Hist. Educ., xiv) maintains that Victor Gollann and the Left Book Club saw themselves acting in an educational role devoted, in a romantic way, to realising the visions of the past.

10.14 Economic and Social History Some economic and social history publications have appeared in other sections, but there has also been a spate of far more specific regional, industrial, social and local studies. Although of limited value for our period, N.L. Trantor. Population and Society, 1750-1940: Contrasts in Population Growth (Longman, pbk f6.75) brings together the recent flood of scholarship on population trends and is particularly useful on the long-term slow down of population growth which extended from the 1870s to the Second World War. It should be read alongside M. Haines, ‘Inequality in Childhood Mortality: a comparison of England and Wales, 1911 and the United States, 1900’ (J. Ec. Hist., xlv). T. Lummis, Occupation and Society: the East Anglian Fishermen 1880-1914 (CUP, f22.50) traces changes in the working practice, technology and capital structure in this local fishing area. P. Summerfield, ‘Mass Observation: Social Research on Social Movement’ (1. Contemp. Hist., xx) examines Mass Observation as an organisation and reveals that 90 per cent of what waseggathered between 1937 and 1948 still sits, untouched, in boxes at Sussex University. C.G. Pooley. ‘Housing for the poorest poor: slum clearance and rehousing in Liverpool. 1890-1918’ ( J . Hist. Geog., xi) records that almost 3,000 dwellings were provided for the poorest poor in the central area of Liverpool and that this situation did not change much, even when state subsidies became available for house building in the 1920s. Another dimension on housing is provided by C. Ward and D. Hardy, ‘The Plotlanders’ (Oral Hisf., xiii), which is a narrative of the fascinating story of how the plotlands, the South shore beaches on which land rights were not established, gave rise to the growth of small bungalow and caravan communities and, eventually, more permanent settlement. Entertainment and radio has been well served by A. Briggs, The BBC: the First 50 Years (OUP, f17.50) and the British Board of Film Censors:film censorship in Britain 18%-1980 (J.C. Robertson, f 16.95). 10.15 The decline of the motorcar industry has been subjected to numerous studies. D.W. Thorns and T. Donnelly, The Motor Cur Industry in Coventry since the 1890s (Croom Helm, f 16.95) provides a valuable survey of the rise and decline of the car industry. M.J. Healey and P.W. Roberts, Economic Change and Policy in

Many publications do not fit easily into Labour’s institutional structure. N.

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the West Midlands (Coventry: Lanchester Polytechnic) is a collection of eight essays which attempt to explain why the once prosperous car industry of the West Midlands has declined during the last decade. Answers are sought in the decline of British Leyland and the unattractive economic potential of the area. Making Cars: a history of car making at Cowley by the people who make cars (Channel Four, pbk f5.50) offers a lively personal approach to this subject. T. Rooth, ‘Trade Agreements and the Evolution of British Agricultural Policy in the 1930s’ (Agr. Hist. R . , xxxiii) maintains that successive British governments subordinated the needs of agriculture to those of industry throughout the 1930s and helped to determine the pattern of Exchequer-financed subsidies which were the principal support device from the late 1930s to the 1970s. J.K. Bowers, ‘British Agricultural Policy since the Second World War’ (ibid) notes that British farmers had a ‘good war’ and that the 1947 Agricultural Act provided the pattern of growth and expansion which dominated the first four decades after the war.

10.16 unrelenting and the dominant theme this year has been the personal experiences of women, both shared and individual. The classic study of a suffragette and labour activitist, G. Mitchell, The Hard Way Up: the autobiography of Hannah Mitchell. Suffragette and Rebel (Virago, pbk f4.50) has been republished. Born in 1871 and dying in 1956, Hannah Mitchell encompassed a wide range of experiences in a period of monumental social change: domestic service, sweatshop, marriage, motherhood, suffrage work, Labour Party activity and public duties as a leading figure in the City of Manchester. If she was exceptional her experiences were not. A. Hewins, Mary, after the Queen: memories of a working girl (OUP, pbk f8.95) deals with experiences of a young woman who grew up on the outskirts of Sheffield after the First World War. More generally, the life of working-class women has been the subject of E. Roberts, A Woman’s Place: an oral history of working-class women (Oxford: Blackwell, pbk f5.95). the paperback edition of a book, first published in 1984, which deals with the memories of the inhabitants of three Lancashire towns. J. Lewis (ed). Labour and Love: women’s experience of home and family 1850-1940 (ibid, f19.50, pbk f6.50). and A.V. John (ed), Unequal Opportunities: employment in England 1800-1918 (ibid) also contain useful sections on the changing opportunities and experiences of women in the early twentieth century. E. Heron (ed), Truth, Dare or Promise: girk growing up in the fifties (Virago, f4.95) is a collection of reminiscences by 12 women who grew up in Britain between 1943 and 1951. They range from life in the West Indian community at Kilburn during the 1950s related by G. Lewis to C. Steedman who records that ‘I was never a child’. At a more institutional level, E. Mappin, Helping Women at Work: the Women’s Industrial Council 1889-1914 (Hutchinson, f4.50) deals with the early labour questions which afflicted organisations attempting to improve the employment conditions of women. M. Vicinus, Independent Women’s Work and Community for Single Women, 1850-1920 (Virago, f 15, pbk f6.95) moves a shade up the social scale in examining how single women constructed and enjoyed their own lifestyles through religious sisterhoods, girls’ boarding schools and women’s colleges. The focus is placed very much on the role of single women as leaders in the ideological battle for women’s rights. At a more rarefied level, and designed more for the serious researcher than the average student, V.F. Gilbert and D.S. Tatla (eds), Women Studies: a bibliography of dissertations 1870-1982 (Oxford: Blackwell, f57.50) provides a comprehensive list of about 12,000 unpublished dissertations of British, American and Irish universities.

Feminism and Women’s History The gathering pace of women’s history is

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10.17 interest in immigration as increasing evidence from oral archives has stripped away the mythology surrounding the subject. Not surprisingly, most studies have noted that, despite claims of British fairness and the socialist equality espoused by Labour organisations, the workplace and community environment has never been conducive to such sentiments. C. Holmes. ‘Immigration into Britain: the myth of fairness - racial violence in Britain, 1911-19’ (Hist. Today, xxxv) and K. Lunn, ‘Immigration and British Labour’s Response’ (ibid) confirm this impression: trade unionists were quick to fall into using racial stereotypes when they felt their interests threatened. Several other articles shed light on the individual problems and difficulties faced by particular immigrant groups; most notably H. Pollins, ‘Immigration into Britain: the Jews’ (ibid); C. Aronsfeld, ‘Immigration into Britain: the Germans’ (ibid); M. Rodgers, ‘The Lithuanians’ (ibid); P.J. Waller, ‘Immigration into Britain: the Chinese’ (ibid); and Z. Layton-Henry, ‘The New Commonwealth Migrants, 1945-1962’ (ibid). The last of these examines the surge of immigration into Britain after 1945, due to reconstruction and American investment, and the popular hostility to coloured immigration, following the riots at Notting Hill and Nottingham in 1958, which led to the imposition of immigration controls in 1962. K. Lunn (ed), Race and Labour in Twentieth-Century Britain (Cass, f19.50, pbk f9.50) has gathered together a similar collection of stimulating articles. The only disappointment is that only one of the six papers deals with the post-war period.

(ii) European History

G. Stoakes

10.18 General There have been few reference works of note this year; the most useful is, undoubtedly A. Briggs (ed), Longman dictionary of twentieth-century biography (Longman, €12.95) which deserves a place in every library. Declining European empires, however, have attracted a great deal of academic interest: R. Betts, Uncertain dimensions: western overseas empires in the twentieth century (OUP, f22.50, pbk f8.95) stresses the impact of the First World War and of the emerging concept of trusteeship to explain the waning of European imperialism, whilst R. Hollana, European decolonization, 1918-1981: an introductory survey (Macmillan, f16, pbk €5.95) places rather more emphasis on the great depression. The 22 contributions on the legacy of empire collected by the German Historical Institute in W. Mommsen and J. Osterhammel (eds), Imperialism and After: continuities and discontinuities (Allen and Unwin, f19.95) represented the most advanced and up-to-date research on the subject, whilst a recent addition to the Historical Association Studies series, M. Chamberlain, Decofoniration: the faff of the European empires (Oxford: Blackwell, €3.25), is a short incisive essay suitable for sixthformers and first-year undergraduates. W. Link, The East- West Conflict: the organisation of international relations in the twentieth century (Berg, €16.50) examines the structural and organisations patterns of the Cold War and traces it origins back to the 1920s. The victims of this and other twentieth-century conflicts, so often neglected in print as in real life, find their voice in M. Marrus, The Unwanted: European refugees in the twentieth century (OUP, f22.50). Of related interest is S. Horak et 01, Eastern European National Minorities, 1919-1980: a handbook (Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, $57) which provides a guide to the morass of overlapping nationalities in Eastern Europe, though it excludes the


Immigration There has been a remarkable and significant expansion of


Soviet Union (the subject of an earlier volume). Greece and the inter-war Baltic states. Finally two valuable contributions to the literature on urbanism are worth noting: A. Lees, Cities Perceived: urban society in European and American thought, 1820-1940 (Manchester U.P.. f25) shows how intellectuals have viewed cities as 'theatres of social change', whilst E. Timms and D. Keeley (eds), Unreal City: urban experience in modern Europenn literature and art (Ibid, f26.50) is based on a series of lectures at Cambridge University in 1983-84 on depictions of the city in most art forms and in most European cultures.

10.19 The First World War Three new books add significantly to existing scholarship in the 'war and society' field: J.J. Becker, The Great War and the French people (Berg, f25, pbk f8.95) reveals that the French people were caught largely unawares in 1914 and were far less enthusiastic about the war than is usually thought; G. Peteri, Effects of World War I : War Communism in Hungary (Columbia U.P., $25) clarifies the relationship between the First World War and the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919; whilst B. Kiraly and N. Dreisziger (eds), War and Society in East Central Europe: East European society in World War I (ibid. f35) opens up relatively unchartered areas. Those fascinated by traditional military history will be drawn to N. Jones, Messines: the forgotten victory (New English Library. f9.95). A. McKee. Caen: anvil of victory (Papermac, f5 .99, and C. Pugsley, Gallipoli: New Zealand's story (Hodder, f 12.95). Those more interested in the human dimension of war will be attracted to two oral histories: L. Macdonald, Somme (Papermac, f5.95) and the reissue of M. Middlebrook, The First Day of the Somme: I July 1916 (ibid. f4.50). Middlebrook's work has the edge in relating the historical backdrop to the unfolding human tragedy. The perspective of the common soldier predominates in P. Liddle (ed), Callipoli 1915: pens, pencils and cameras at war (Brassey's Defence Publishers, f9.95) which contains previously unpublished facsimile documents and photographs from Liddle's archive at Sunderland Polytechnic. The romantic aura surrounding T.E. Lawrence is dispelled by B. Reid. 'Lawrence and the Arab Revolt' (Hist. Today, xxxv) and Lawrence is revealed as a shrewd and hard-headed intelligence officer consumed by guilt because he failed to secure for the Arabs the independence which their efforts on the Allies' behalf warranted.

10.20 The Second World War The 40th anniversary of the end of the war has prompted The Laroiisse Encyclopedia of World War I! (Hamlyn, f15), a well- illustrated and well-conceived reference work and C. Campbell The World War II Fact Book (Macdonald, f9.95), which is as dull as its title suggests; this is history as data ('who fought who?') unencumbered by nuance or controversy. The capitulation of the Nazis is commemorated by R. Cross, V E Day: Victory in Europe 1945 (Sidgwick and Jackson, f12.95), a vivid portrait of the period from the July 1944 plot to the celebration of VE Day, and by M. Hastings, Victory in Europe: D-Day to V E Day (Chatto and Windus, f 10.95). which has a fairly bland text illuminated by extraordinary colour photographs taken by the noted Hollywood director George Stevens in 1945 and only recently released along with his extremely moving documentary film. The Italian campaign is re-examined at length in D. Ellwood, Italy 1943-45 (Holmes and Meier, $39.50); whilst S. Harvey, 'The Italian War Effort and the Strategic Bombing of Italy' (History, Ixx) bemoans the omission of Italy from analyses of the effectiveness of strategic bombing and argues that the experience of aerial bombardment was the largest single factor in Italian war weariness. Operation Barbarossa is once again under scrutiny in 0.

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Bartov, The Eastern Front 1941-1945: German troops and the barbarisotion of warfare (Macmillan, f25). A. Clark, Barbarossa: the Russian-German conflict, 1941- 45 (ibid. f7 .93, and G. Jukes. Hitler's Stalingrad decisions (California U.P., f24). 10.21 More wartime intelligence activities are uncovered in R. Gough, SOE Singapore, 1941-42 (William Kimber, f11.50), the story of the virtually unknown Orient Mission section of the Special Operations Executive and N. Clive, A Greek Experience, 1943-1948 (Michael Russell, f9.95), a fascinating account of intelligence gathering in the Greek mountains by a former member of British Secret Intelligence Services. On the German side, H.P. Behrendt, Rommel's In/elligence in the Desert Campaign (William Kimber, f12.50) is a gripping account of the Afrika Korps' duel with the Eighth Army by one of Rommel's intelligence officers. 10.22 The economic history of the war is explored by B. Martin and A. Milward (eds), Agriculture and food supply in the Second World War (Ostfildern: Scripte Mercaturae Verlag. DM 59) - 16 scholarly contributions on themes, according to the editors, 'almost forgotten in contemporary history'. M. Harrison, Soviet Planning in Peace and War, 1938-1945 (CUP, f25). is the first monograph by a western economic historian on Soviet economy at war. Harrison argues that the emergency economic mobilisation of 1941-42 differed in degree from the earlier peacetime mobilisation 'but not in kind'. 10.23 The human cost of the war is highlighted by J. Garlinski. Poland in the Second World War (Macmillan, f25), a vivid account based almost entirely on unpublished sources of Poland's traumatic part in the Second World War. The death in Bergen-Belsen in 1945 of Anne Frank, which for many symbolises Nazi atrocity, is commemorated by I. Barnes, 'Anne Frank: 40 years on' (Hist. Toduy, xxxv). Meanwhile R . Breitman, 'The Allied War Effort on the Jews 1942-43' ( J . Contemp. Hist., xx) examines Anglo-American collaboration on the question of Jewish refugees and finds, like others (notably B. Wasserstein) before him, that any publicised aid to the Jews could be and was presented as jeopardising some aspect of wartime security and therefore too risky.

10.24 International Relations: 1900-1941 Essential reading for every scholar of international affairs in the first half of the twentieth century is E. May (ed). Knowing one's enemies: intelligence assessment before the two world wars (Princeton U.P., f19.65, pbk f10); its 16 articles concerning intelligence estimates by the major powers of their potential enemies challenge many establishes interpretations; for example, one author undercuts the argument that Britain appeased Hitler in part because of her preoccupation with imperial defence by stressing that British intelligence consistently underestimated Japanese military capabilities. 10.25 The debate over the origins of the First World War is fuelled further by S. Evera, 'Why co-operation failed in 1914' (World Politics, xxxviii), who argues rather unconvincingly that the First World War resulted from a web of six 'remarkable misperceptions' current in pre-war Europe. One of these, 'the cult of the offensive', certainly features in S . Miller (ed), Military Strategy and rhe Origins ofthe First World War (Princeton U.P., S25.50), a collection of articles from distinguished academics on the military doctrines prevalent in 1914. Allied strategy during the war is illuminated by C. Vincent, The Politics of Hunger: the allied blockade of Germany, 1915-1919 (Ohio U.P., f25). L. Jaffe, The decision to disarm Germany: British policy towards post-war German disarmament, 1914-1919 (Allen and Unwin, f20) argues that the insistence upon post-war German disarmament was not one of Britain's war aims but seized upon by Lloyd George as a panacea in the coupon election of 1918, and in the final analysis it undermined European



stability and peace. Meanwhile the Dual Alliance was under severe pressure during the war, Austria-Hungary fiercely resenting its inferior status in the alliance according to G. Shanafelt, The Secret Enemy: Austria-Hungary and the German alliance, 1914-1918 (Columbia U.P.. f27.50). a refreshing insight into the Austrian perspective. 10.26 An important aspect of inter-war diplomacy is tackled by J. Karski, The Great Powers and Poland, 1919-1945: from Versoilles to Yalta (U.P. of America, pbk $28.50). a useful general guide but its limited primary research base and neglect of recent important monographs limit its utility to the specialists. R. Haigh, D. Morris and A. Peters, German-Soviet Relations in the Weimar era: friendrhip from necessity (Gower, f 15) is the first volume of a projected two-volume study of the origins of the Nazi-Soviet Pact but it adds little to our knowledge of the subject. K. Oye, ‘The Sterling-Dollar-Franc triangle: monetary diplomacy 1929- 1937’ (World Politics, xxxviii), challenges the conventional wisdom that nations could not transcend narrow national interests during the depression by revealing Anglo-America co-operation over the devaluation of the franc. A. Low, The Anschluss Movement, 1931-1938 and the great powers (Columbia U.P., f27) includes the often neglected Soviet and American (as well as the Western European and Austrian) perspective on this key issue in 1930s diplomacy. 10.27 The events leading up to the outbreak of war in Europe are surveyed in R. Henig, The origins of the Second World War (Methuen, f2.25). another in the series of Lancaster Pamphlets which aim to provide ‘concise and up-to-date treatments of major historical topics’ for A-level and first year undergraduate students. Henig’s contribution, though concise enough, does not adequately reflect current debates; for example, discussion of Hitler’s foreign policy does not extend far beyond the now hackneyed ‘opportunist-planner’ controversy, and the effect of American isolationism and Japanese expansion on the British policy of appeasement is not adequately assessed. W. Carr. Poland to Pearl Harbor: the making of the Second World War (Arnold, f7.95) sets out to prevent just such marginalisation of Pacific affairs; the result is a very readable and stimulating account of the escalation of the European conflict, drawing on the latest research.

10.28 International Relations: 1941 to the present Wartime diplomacy and its consequences are billiantly conveyed in C. Thorne, The issue of war: states, societies and the Far Eastern conflict of 1941-1945. Thorne examines the Pacific War and its aftermath in the context of British, French and Dutch as well as South East Asian and Australian aspirations and reaches some provocative conclusions (e.g. by the 1970s the United States was ‘the greatest of the long-term losers’). In a re-evaluation of wartime summit diplomacy, K. Sainsbury, The Turning Point: Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill and Kai-shek I943 - the Moscow, Cairo and Tehran conferences (OUP, f17.50) suggest that the relatively neglected Teheran conference in fact paved the way for the division of Europe at Yalta. 10.29 In the immediate post-war era, J. Farquharson, The Western Allies and the politics of food: agrarian management in post-war Germany (Berg, f20.95), a welcome addition to the recent spate of ‘occupation’ studies, argues that Britain, saddled with the most populous zone which was cut off from the food producing areas of the East, was forced into ‘bizonia’ by her own domestic ‘and imperial difficulties. On the other hand, R. Ovendale, The English-speaking alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the Cold War, 1945-1951 (Allen and Unwin, $27), claims that a declining Britain manipulated a naive America into maintaining the illusion of Britain’s great power status after 1945 - a debatable

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thesis possibly the result of over-reliance on the records and perspective of the British Foreign Office. Delusions of continuing grandeur certainly explain Britain's aloofness from Europe; S. Newton, 'Britain, the sterling area and European integration, 1945-50' (J . Imp. and Commonwealth Hist., xiii). Post-war Hungary's slide into the Soviet sphere is considered in S . Kertesz. The last European peace conference: Paris 1946 - conflict of values (U.P. of America, f22.50, pbk f 11.95). an account by the secretary-general to the Hungarian delegation, and by S. Max, The United States, Great Britain and the sovietization of Hungary, 1945-1948 (Columbia U.P., $20). They reveal that Hungary's wartime alliance with Hitler made the Soviets reluctant to support Hungarian revisionism and the West reluctant to consider helping Hungary to resist Stalin's threatened embrace. 10.30 The EEC's recent history comes under scrutiny in H. Simonian. The privileged partnership: Franco-German relations in the European Community. 1969- 1984 (OUP, f 19.50); J. Lodge, 'Euro-elections and the European Parliament: the dilemma over turnout and powers' (Purl. Aff., xxxviii), analyses the results of the second direct elections to the European Parliament (1984) and does not envisage a substantial increase in support for or in the powers of the Parliament in the near future; W. Riding, 'The Greens in Europe: ecological parties and the European Elections of 1984' (ibid) attributes the success of 1 I Green candidates in 1984 more to the platforms of 'rainbow' parties like the West German Greens. who combine ecology with anti-nuclear and other issues. than to those of the 'purist' ecology parties of Belgium and Britain.


10.31 In the pre-1945 period, P. Preston, 'Fascism' (Hist. Tod(iv. xxxv), reviews recent literature on the Fascist phenomenon throughout Europe; U. Lindstrom, Fascism in Scundinuvia. 1920-1940 (Almqvist and Wiksell. f 13.50) is a brief survey of Northern European variations; and J. Droz. LHistoire de I'untifascisme en Europe, 1923-1939 (Paris: La Decouverte, F 12.5) is an ambitious attempt to encapsulated the history of the very diverse movements opposed to Fascism. The failure of the international socialist movenient has received a good deal of attention recently: J . Howorth, 'French workers and German workers: the impossibility of internationalism. 1900-1914' (Eirr. Hist. Q.. xv). stresses that traditional national antagonisms could not be eradicated easily and quickly by new-found workiiig-class solidarity; D. Kirby, War. Peuce atid Revolution: International Socialism at the Crossroads. 1914-1918 (Gower. f 17.50) and D. Gliickstein. The Western Soviets: workers' councils versiw' purliament. I YI5-20 (Bookmarks, f5.95) study the international socialist movement's attempt to come to terms with the outbreak of war and the Russian Revolution. P. Spriano. The Europeun Communists und Stulin (Verso, f 14.95) deals with the blackest days of the movement from the purges of the 1930s to the founding of the Coniinform. 10.32 P. Lane, Europe since 1945 (Batsford. f 14.95. pbk f6.95) is a clear, concise but ultimately insubstantial explanation of 'how, why and when Europe declined in importance'; there is very little consideration of British domestic history and none whatsoever of the process of European decolonisation. It does not supercede Laqueuts's Europe since Hitler. K. Gerner. The Soviet Union - Central Europe in the Postwar Era (Cower. f15) and A. Schmid. Soviet militcrry intervention since 1945 (Transaction Books, f25) explain the political instability in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland and the Soviet response; whilst R. Allison, Finlund's Relations with the Soviet Union 1944-1984 (Macmillan, f25) examines the most stable diplomatic relationship in Eastern Europe.

Europe: general


10.33 (Berg, f24.50) contains 14 essays covering the period from the 1860s to the end of the Second World War - essential for those with a serious interest in Germany’s part in the two world wars. A. Buchholz, Hans Delbriick and the German military establishment: war images in conflict (Iowa U.P., $20) is a brief scholarly biography of the great military historian who tangled with the German General Staff. H.U. Wehlar, The German Empire 1871-1918 (Berg, f18.85. pbk f6.95) is a welcome, if belated translation of Wehler’s controversial synthesis of 1973. Unfortunately, though the bibliography has been updated, the text does not take account of recent important publications. The conventional view that Germans were not well-versed in electoral politics before 1914 (a weakness seemingly inherited by Weimar) is challenged by S. Suval, Electoral Politics in Wilhelmine Germany (N. Carolina U.P., $30). 10.34 The failure of the Weimar Republic is attributable in part to the political passivity of the liberals and intellectuals according to B. Frye, Liberal Democrats in the Weimar Republic: the history of the German Democratic Party and the German State Party ( S . Illinois U.P., $24.95), a well-researched monograph on the DDP. and A. Phelan (ed), The Weimar Dilemma: intellectuals in the Weimar Republic (Manchester U.P., f25), a collection of essays on Weimar intellectuals such as Tucholsky and Klages. H. Pogge von Strandmann (ed), Walter Rathenau: inditstrialist, banker, intellectual and politician. Notes and diaries, 1907-1922 (OUP, f40) is a well-produced and well-edited collection of Rathenau’s writings, which throws light (such was his remarkable career) on German colonial policy before 1914, rearmament during the First World War, as well as on the teething problems of the Weimar Republic. The outstanding book of the year on Weimar is, unquestionably, H.A. Turner Jr, German big business and the rise of Hitler (OUP, f25). On the basis of extensive research in both public and business archives in West and East Germany, Turner shows convincingly that the financial contribution of big business to the Nazi Party (Thyssen and Kirdor’s ‘eccentric’ support apart) was ‘negligible’. This view receives incidental endorsement from H. James, The Reichsbank and public finance in Germany, 19241933: a study of the politics of economics during the Great Depression (Knapp) who argues that German bankers, far from rushing into Hitler’s arms, were striving to rebuild the German economy in 1931-32 to check the drift towards political extremism. 10.35 Three important general studies of the Nazi ’phenomenon have appeared this year: I. Kershaw, The Nazi Dictatorship: problems and perspectives of interpretation (Arnold, pbk f6.95) explores the complex historiography of the Third Reich in a highly lucid fashion though it covers much the same ground as Hiden and Farquharson’s earlier work; H. Koch (ed), Aspects of the Third Reich (Macmillan, f 11.95), however, conveniently packages 16 articles by leading scholars on the controversial issues, each drawing on the latest research, an excellent research tool; E. Jackel, Hitler in History (U.P. of N. England, 1984, f10) is a personal view by one of the doyens of the ‘intentionalist’ school. Anniversaries prompt two leading journals into special features; the series ‘Life in the Third Reich’ in the October, November and December editions of Hist. Today, XXXV, feature articles on political violence, young people, village life, social outcasts, the Hitler myth and antisemitism; the special issue on Nazism in Eur. Hist. Q., xv, covers Communist-Nazi relations, heavy industry, and Nazi propaganda. 10.36 A number of studies continue the recent trend towards an analysis of German responses to the Nazi regime: J. Gillingham, Industry and politics in the third Reich: Ruhr coal, Hitler and Europe (Methuen, f15.95) argues that the Ruhr

Germany W. Deist (ed), The German military in the age of total war

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coal industry, suffering from diminishing returns at home and the loss of export markets, eventually adopted a pan-European view coinciding with, but distinct from that of the Nazi New Order; this did not stop heavy industry from challenging the regime's economic priorities in 1937 as R. Overy, 'Heavy industry and the state in Nazi Germany: the Reichswerke crisis' (Eur. Hist. Q.,xv) shows; T. Siegel, 'Wage policy in Nazi Germany' (Pol. and SOC., xiv) suggests that wage differentiation rather more than ideology helped to create a social consensus behind the Nazi regime; the continuation of successful vocational training schemes also helped, according to J. Gillingham, 'The "Deproletarianization" of Germany society: vocational training in the Third Reich' (J. SOC. Hist., xix). The German Communist Party's attempt to regroup and counter the Nazi onslaught is described in A. Merson, Communist Resistance to Nazi Germany (Lawrence and Wishart,


f 12.50). 10.37 New accounts of Nazi policies include G. Fleming. Hitler and the Final Solution (Hamish Hamilton, f12.95) which effectively disposes of the 'Irving thesis' that Hitler was not responsible for the Final Solution by citing leading Nazis invoking direct orders from the Fuhrer; it also throws interesting light on the place of the euthanasia campaign in the evolution of the Final Solution. R. Wistrich, Hitler's Apocalypse: Jews and the Nazi legacy (St Martins, $17.95) for the most part covers similar territory but the final chapters explore the links between contemporary forms of anti-Zionism and antisemitism and Nazi ideology, concluding controversially that the Soviet Union in trying to de-legitimize Israel is carrying on the work of the Nazis. In R. Luza. G. Campbell and A. Cienciala, 'Stages to war: an examination of Gerhard Weinberg's The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany' (J . M.H., Ivii), the three authors take issue with Weinberg's treatment of the Austrian, Czechoslovak and Polish crises respectively; the disagreements, however, are fairly minor and Weinberg argues persuasively in response that economic motives played no part in the timing or the original motivation behind the Anschluss and that President Benes might have been more flexible in his handling of the Sudeten Germans. Finally academics will welcome the publication of the memoirs of Hitler's confidant Otto Wagener. a treasure trove of information from the period 1929-1939, in H.A. Turner (ed), Hitler: memoirs of a confidant (Yale U.P., f25). 10.38 The politics of the Federal Republic are surveyed generally in K. von Beyme and M. Schmidt, Policy and Politics in the Federal Republic of Germany (Gower, f 16.50). D. Prowe, 'Economic Democracy in post-World War I1 Germany: corporatist crisis response, 1945-1948' (J.M. H . , Ivii). takes issue with the radical historians of the 1960s who saw the reform proposals of the period 1945- 1949 as an attempt - aborted by a sinister alliance of German capitalists and anti-socialist occupation governments - to introduce a socialist revolution. W. Hulsberg, 'Eco-politics in West Germany' (New Left R., chi) shows that whilst the leitmotif of Green politics has been ecology, it is far from being a single-issue movement. J. Carr, Helmut Schmidt: helmsman of Germany (St Martin's, S25), is a readable, but thinly researched account by the Bonn correspondent of the Financial Times of Schmidt's extraordinary career.

10.39 France The publication of a fifth edition of J. Bury, France 1914-1940 (Methuen, pbk f6.95). with an updated bibliography, but with its text barely changed since the first edition nearly 40 years ago, is a sad reflection on publishing in this field. The appearance of J. McMillan, Dreyfus to de Caulk: politics and society in France, 1898-1968 (Arnold, f6.95), an up-to-date survey of twentieth-


century French history reflecting the full range of recent research, is, therefore, particularly welcome. I t looks likely to be the new standard general text. 10.40 The Third Republic has been well served by a spate of recent monographs and P. Bernard and H. Dubief, The decline of the Third Republic 1914-1938 (CUP, UO), a new volume in the Cambridge History of Modern France, should find a place in all university libraries. R. Prete, ‘French Military War Aims, 1914-1916’ (Hist. J., xxviii), revives the war aims debate by arguing that previous studies have largely neglected the impact of internal pressures on policy formulation; the aggressive designs of the army, industrialists and patriotic groups may have been very influential in a country where cabinet government was less established than, for example in Britain. J. Jackson, The Politics of the Depression in France 1932-1936 (CUP, f25). examines the formulation of French economic policy in the mid-1930s though it has a short epilogue taking the story up to 1940. The emergence of fears about the depopulation of France is described by R. Tomlinson, ‘The “Disappearance” of France, 1896-1940: French politics and the birth rate’ (Hist. J.. xxvii); the problems of the declining birth rate attracted the attention of politicians of all parties, not surprising because, as Tomlinson points out here and in R. Tomlinson, et al ‘ “France in Peril”: the French fear of Dknatalite’ (Hist. Today, xxxv), it seemed to foreshadow the decline of France as a great power and was a convenient political scapegoat, being beyond the control of politicians. This explains the political consensus behind pronatality measures down to the present day. The military and diplomatic history of the inter-way years is tackled by R. Hood 111, Royal Republicans: the French naval dynusties between the world wars (Louisiana State U.P., $25) which only partly fufills the need for a naval history of the period since it concentrates only on the naval officer corps and mainly during the 1930s. The tendency of historians to be dismissive of Italian fascism and of French military ineptitude has led to unjustified neglect of Franco-Italian relations in the 1930s according to R. Young, ‘French Military Intelligence and the Franco- Italian Alliance, 1933-1939’ (Hist. J., xxviii). He argues persuasively that given the circumstances of the 1930s there was a great deal of sense in French strategists’ preoccupations with a southern front alongside the Italians against the German menace. Fear of Germany, competition for jobs in the depression and the low French birthrate combined in the view of V. Caron, ‘Prelude to Vichy: France and the Jewish Refugees in the era of Appeasement’ ( J . Contemp. Hist., xx) to produce a consensus against Jewish emigration in the 1930s. This consensus paved the way for the antisemitic legislation of the Vichy government which is clinically dissected by H. Kedward, Occupied France: collaboration and resistance, 1940-44 (Oxford: Blackwell, f3.25), an excellent contribution to the Historical Association Studies series which utilizes the latest research and is unforgiving towards the collaborators. 10.41 Very recent French politics is surveyed by P. Cerny and M. Schain (eds), Socialism, the state and public policy in France (Pinter, f17.50), a series of essays which cover the politics of left-wing parties, the left and the state, and overseas policies. But the judgments reached, like those in H. Machin and V. Wright (eds), Economic policy and policy-making under the Mitterand presidency, 1981-84 (ibid, f 19), are necessarily very tentative.

10.42 Russia Civilian-military tensions in late imperial Russia are coming under increasing scrutiny: J. Bushnell, Mutiny amid repression: Russian soldiers in the revolution of 1905-1906 (Indiana U.P., f25) examines the specific responses of the military to the 1905 revolution, whilst W. Fuller Jr, Civil-military conflict in Imperial Russia, 1881-1914 (Princeton U.P., $39.50) reveals the military’s


resentment at being treated as an internal policy force instead of as the defender of the realm and at being allocated a declining share of government funding between 1881 and 1914. 10.43 the Soviet Union (Fontana, pbk f4.95); it is both intellectually satisfying and highly readable and contains useful coverage of national minorities and religious groups. Foreign policy is omitted apart from Soviet relations with the Eastern European satellites. R. Service, Lenin: a political life, Vol I The strength of contradiction (Macmillan, €20) is a lively compact survey of Lenin’s life and career up to 1910; Service presents Lenin as a man at times flexible and reasonable, at others inflexible and unreasonable. L. Schapiro, 1917: the Russian Revolution and the origins of present-day communism (Penguin, €3.95) makes the author’s well-known views more accessible to students. The Bolsheviks’ unwillingness to accept changing proletarian attitudes are examined in D. Koenker, ‘Urbanisation and De- urbanisation in the Russian Revolution and Civil War’ ( J . M . H . , Ivii). Trotsky’s limitations as a historian are exposed by P. Beilharz, ‘Trotsky as historian’ (Hist. Wkshp, xx). S . Cohen, Rethinking the Soviet Experience: political history since 1917 (OUP, f 15) contains an explicitly revisionist attack on the ‘totalitarian thesis’ which presents Russian communism as hierarchical, centralised, and monolithic; Stalinism was not the inevitable consequence of Bolshevism; there were alternatives, principally Bukharin’s gradualism. J. Getty, Origins of the Great Purges: ihe Soviet Communist Party reconsidered, 1933-1938, agrees that the politics of the 1930s were more complex thant Cold War historiography has allowed but his attempt to do the unthinkable - a rehabilitation (albeit limited) of Stalin’s record during the purges - lacks real conviction. M. Haynes, Nikolai Bukharin and the transition from capitalism to socialism (Croom Helm, €14.95) is a sobering experience for revisionists stressing the common ground between the supposed extremes for Bukharinisrn and Trotskyism in the Bolshevik Party. The most plausible commentary on the continuity thesis is contained in M. Lewin, The making of the Soviet system: essays in the social history of inter-war Russia (Methuen, €19, pbk €8.95): for Lewin, Stalinism was not the direct outcome of Leninism, nor was it fashioned by Stalin’s disturbed mind but rather the product of complex social changes generated by the civil war and the first Five-year Plan. 10.44 a series of essays in S . Linz (ed), The impact of World War 71 on the Soviet Union (Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld, $28.50); the editor argues that the ‘Great Patriotic War’ validated the Soviet system but only because Hitler’s crimes were greater than those of Stalin. Khrushchev’s reputation as a reformer receives a boost in A. Yanov, The drama of the Soviet 1960s: a lost reform (California U.P., $8.50); Yanov compares him favourably with Stolypin, Lenin, Malenkov and Kosygin. Soviet foreign policy making poses daunting problems to contemporary historians but K. Dawisha, The Kremlin and the Prague Spring (ibid, f22.50) is unlikely to be bettered unless Soviet archives are opened up. Dawisha’s conclusions do not differ markedly from those of Valenta but her detective work in piecing together the process of consensus building in the Kremlin is admirable. Also of great value is R. Staar, USSR: Foreign Policy after Detente (Hoover Institution, $26.95); as a distinguished scholar and former US disarmament negotiator, the author presents a well-informed and personal account of Soviet foreign policy albeit from a Cold War perspective.

10.45 intervention in the First World War’ (Eur. Hist. Q., xv) reassesses the current view

Soviet history is well served by a new general text: G. Hosking, A history of

The effects of the Second World War on the Soviet Union are elucidated by

Italy, Spain, Portugal S. Jones, ‘Antonio Salandra and the politics of


that internal considerations did not really affect the Italian decision to intervene; Salandra did, indeed, take all the major decisions but he did so in the belief that intervention was vital for the survival of the monarchy and to free Italy from the vicious circle of economic depression and social unrest. T. Koon, Believe, obey, fight: political socidization of youth in Fascist Italy, 1922-1943 (N. Carolina U.P., f25) argues that Fascist propaganda aimed at the moblisation of youth was far less successful with post-school age youngsters; membership of Fascist organisations was far lower in areas where Catholic Action was moblised, one of the reasons for Mussolini’s tense relations with the church examined in J. Pollard, The Vatican and Italian Fascism, 1929-32: a study in conflict (CUP, f22.50). an interesting study but one which, given its limited scope, leaves a misleading impression of papal activism in the face of Fascist rule. A. Portelli, ‘Oral testimony, the law and the making of history: the “April 7” murder trial’ (Hist. Wkshp, xx) is an interesting account of the trial of suspected Red Brigades terrorists, arrested o n 7 April 1979, for the murder of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro; it is a clear indictment of the role of ‘supergrass’ evidence and the media in determining the outcome. 10.46 The problems of the Spanish economy are clearly delineated in J. Harrison, The Spanish economy in the twentieth century (Croom Helm, f 19.95); this short, readable account pinpoints the lack of domestic demand and the failure of the export sector to recover from the loss of colonial markets. In a further addition to the spate of books on the prehistory of the Spanish Civil War C. Wi!son, Workers and the Right in Spain, 1900-1936 (Princeton U.P.) investigates the small and largely neglected Catholic syndicalist movement - often dismissed as a ‘company’ union - and finds i t far more complex than this label suggests. The passage of time was kind to Franco, according to P. Preston, ‘France: the patient dictator’ (Hist. Today, xxxv); but his role as ally of the United States in the 1950s and his image as an elder statesman in the 1960s should not be allowed, in Preston’s view, to obscure his Fascist past and the continuing despotism of his regime in the 1970s. Preston finds supporters in D. Smyth, ‘Franco and the Second World War’ (ibid) who reveals that Franco’s famed neutrality was almost shattered in 1940 when his dream of an African empire nearly caused conflict with Britain, and in D. Shaw, ‘The politics of “Futbol” ’ (ibid). who reveals that Franco used football to initiate the movement to end Spain’s isolation and that the Catalans and the Basques used it as a means of protest. Soccer as a political foobal!? Very recent events are tackled in D. Gilmour, Transformation of Spain: from Franco to the constitutional monarchy (Quartet, f 12.95) and W. Douglas (ed), Basque Politics: a case study in ethnic nationalism (Associated Faculty P., f32.50). The evolution of the Portuguese empire in Africa is attributed primarily to economic motives in G. Clarence-Smith, The Third Portuguese Empire, 1825-1975: a study in economic imperialism ,

(Manchester U.P., f25). T Gallagher, ‘Democracy in Portugal since the 1974 Revolution’ (Parl. Affairs, xxxviii), reviewing the first 10 years of multiparty democracy in Portugal, concludes that it has established an unquestioned legitimacy in the eyes of the electorate.

10.47 Eastern Europe Interest in Polish affairs continues unabated; P. Raina, Poland 1981: towards Social Renewal (Allen and Unwin, f20) is a detailed account of an extraordinary year in Poland’s extraordinary history; the list of democratic reforms passed by 1981 party conference but never implemented makes tragic reading; T. Sebastian, Nice Promises is a popular and personal account of the Solidarity crisis by the BBC’s then correspondent in Poland; J. Lipski, KOR: a history of the Workers’ Defesne Committee in Poland, 1976-1981 (California U.P.,

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f33.25) rightly regards KOR as paving the way for Solidarity. Two books attempt to peel away the Cold War myths which have enveloped Yugoslavia since Tito’s break with Stalin: R. Beloff, Tito’sjlawed legacy: Yugoslavia and the West, 1937- 1984 (Golancz, f 12.95). an interesting study by the Observer’s chief political correspondent and F. Singleton, A short history of the Yugoslav peoples (CUP, f22.50, pbk f7.50), a brave effort at a short history of people as diverse as the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which will serve as a useful, general introduction. M. Shafir , Romania: politics, economics and society: political stagnation and simulated change (Frances Pinter, f18.50, pbk f6.95) is an invaluable guide to Romanian history since the communist takeover and especially helpful in revealing how Ceausescu established a foreign policy independent of Moscow after 1967. Attempts at economic reform in two other satellites are illuminated by J. Lampe, The Bulgarian Economy in the twentieth century (Croom Helm, f25) and I. Berend and G. Ranki, The Hungarian Economy in the twentieth century (ibid). Even the two most closed societies in Eastern Europe have given up some of their secrets: R. Woods, Opposition in the GDR under Honecker, 1971-1985: an introduction and documentation (Macmillan, f27.50) and J. Halliday (ed), The artful Albanian: rhe memoirs of Enver Hoxha (Chatto and Windus, f11.95. pbk f4.95). selections from the diaries of a cultured, ruthless and still largely mysterious Stalinist.


x. the twentieth century

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