Paths Not Taken

256 pp., 6.125 x 9.25

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5757-1
Published: January 2011
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-6759-9
Published: November 2000
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-0-8078-6634-4
Published: November 2000

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Distinguished historian Henry Winkler examines the changing and often contradictory views that characterized the British Labour party's approach to foreign policy from the end of World War I through the 1920s. He documents the progression from Labour's general indifference toward international issues before World War I, to its almost total rejection of the prevailing international order after the war, to its eventual grudging acceptance of the need to work for international cooperation through existing institutions. In the early 1920s, the Labour party began to abandon its earlier positions of pacifism and class struggle in favor of a more pragmatic approach to foreign affairs as party leaders recognized the possibility that they might one day come to power. Central to the shift in policy were such leaders as J. R. Clynes, Norman Angell, Arthur Henderson, Hugh Dalton, Philip Noel-Baker, and Will Arnold-Forster, who rejected traditional policies and who supported the League of Nations and, more tentatively, collective security. According to Winkler, these positions might have offered a viable alternative to the ruling Conservative party agenda had they not been undermined by the disintegration of the entire European order in the 1930s.

Originally published 1994.

A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

About the Author

Henry R. Winkler is president emeritus and University Professor Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati.
For more information about Henry R. Winkler, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"A book long awaited by students of the Labour Party, and Henry Winkler's effort has proved well worth the wait. . . . His scrupulously researched account is grounded in the most thorough attention ever given to the 'organs of Labour opinion"--primarily Labour and Left journals--in which the struggle for the soul of the party's international policy was waged."--John F. Naylor, State University of New York at Buffalo

"The first full-scale study to explore in depth the evolution of Labour Party opinion on foreign affairs in the 1920s. No other work provides such a richly documented and insightful analysis of the way viewpoints were reformulated in response to political events."--F. M. Leventhal, Boston University

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British History

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British Labour and International Policy in the 1920s