Word: bevinism
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Bulky, bossy Ernest Bevin, British to the bone, considers himself more of a proletarian than Molotov. Last week Laborite Bevin became the first official spokesman of a great power to advocate a world assembly elected directly by the peoples, not appointed by their governments...
...Bevin's speech in the House of Commons showed how far Britain had moved from prewar nationalism and imperialism. Britain, said Britain's Foreign Secretary, was now ready to give up a portion of her sovereignty to such a world parliament, to merge the power of the British people and of the House of Commons "into the greater power" that could guard "the great repositories of science and destruction...
...Weakening." Ernie Bevin had sat up all night pondering his speech. He had seized a moment when serious troubles plagued Britain's foreign spheres. Smartly and swiftly he had picked up a cue dropped by his predecessor, Anthony Eden, in the House of Commons debate the day before. Eden had said that atomic weapons and "every succeeding scientific discovery makes greater nonsense of old-time conceptions of sovereignty." Eden's counsel: "Abate our present ideas of sovereignty [and] take the sting out of nationalism." His conclusion: the veto power of the Big Five of the United Nations Organization...
...Bevin went far beyond this cue, but in doing so he gave UNO its strongest stimulant in many months. Bevin insisted that Britain stood wholeheartedly behind the United Nations Organization and would utilize it-"stretch it to the limit of its capacity from the security point of view." He added: "There must be no weakening of the institutions which were built at San Francisco...
...effect was instantaneous and evidently deep. The packed galleries and M.P.s of all parties roundly cheered Ernie Bevin. Keen, young Michael Foot, Labor's most pungent pamphleteer, who had also been up all night preparing a blast at Bevin, tore up his manuscript.* Laborites, Tories, Liberals were apparently of one mind: this way lay hope, at least, for a world afraid of blowing itself to smithereens. The British press showed no excitement...