John Strachey (politician)

John Strachey (politician)

Evelyn John St Loe Strachey PC (21 October 1901 – 15 July 1963) was a British Labour politician and writer.

The son of John St Loe Strachey, editor of "The Spectator", he was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. At Oxford, he was editor, with Robert Boothby, of the "Oxford Fortnightly Review". He later joined "The Spectator".

He joined the Labour Party in 1923 and was editor of the "Socialist Review" and "The Miner".

He unsuccessfully contested the Aston Manor Division of Birmingham in 1924 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Aston from 1929-31 and was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Oswald Mosley. He resigned from the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1931 for Mosley's New Party. Following the New Party's drift towards fascism he resigned to become a supporter of the Communist Party, contesting the Aston constituency as an independent. He assisted the publisher Victor Gollancz in founding the Left Book Club in 1936. As the author of "The Coming Struggle for Power" (1932), and a series of other significant works, Strachey was one of the most prolific and widely read British Marxist-Leninist theorists of the 1930s.

He broke with the Communists in 1940 and joined the Royal Air Force. He transferred to the Air Ministry and made a reputation as an air commentator for the BBC. He was adopted as Labour Candidate for Dundee in 1943 and was again elected to Parliament as Labour MP for Dundee from 1945-50. He served as Under-Secretary of State for Air in 1945, and is widely credited as having been responsible for ignoring Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris and, by implication, Bomber Command from the Victory Honours List. This may have been retaliation for Harris' request to have Strachey removed from his wartime post within the Directorate of Bombing Operations due to Strachey's changeable political persuasions. As Minister of Food in 1946, he was involved in the abortive Tanganyika groundnut scheme. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1946. On the division of the Dundee constituency, he was elected as Labour MP for Dundee West in 1950, holding the seat until 1963. He was Secretary of State for War, 1950-51. He supported Hugh Gaitskell as successor to Clement Attlee in 1955.

Strachey died in 1963. His death caused a by-election in his Dundee West constituency, won by Labour's Peter Doig.

Publications

* "Revolution by Reason" (1925)
* "Workers' Control in the Russian Mining Industry", (1928)
* "The Coming Struggle for Power" (1932)
* "The Menace of Fascism" (1933)
* "The Nature of Capitalist Crisis" (1935)
* "The Theory and Practice of Socialism" (1936)
* "What Are We to Do?" (1938)
* "Why You Should be a Socialist" (1938)
* "A Programme for Progress" (1940)
* "A Faith to Fight For" (1941)
* "Post D" (1941/1942)
* "Arise to Conquer" (1944)
* "Contemporary Capitalism" (1956)
* "The End of Empire" (1959)
* "On the Prevention of War" (1962)
* "The Strangled Cry" (1962)

ee also

*Strachey Baronets

References

* "International Who's Who", 1945-1946 ("Strachey, Evelyn John St. Loe, M.P.")

External links

*worldcat id|lccn-n50-10692


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Strachey — may refer to:*John Strachey (d. 1674), friend of John Locke *John Strachey (geologist) (1671 1743), British geologist *John Strachey (civil servant) (1823 1907), British civil servant in India *John Strachey (journalist) (1860 1927), Editor of… …   Wikipedia

  • John Strachey (journalist) — John St Loe Strachey (9 February 1860 1927), was a British journalist and newspaper proprietor.Strachey was the second son of Sir Edward Strachey, 3rd Baronet, and his wife Mary Isabella (née Symonds), and the brother of Edward Strachey, 1st… …   Wikipedia

  • Strachey — is a surname and may refer to:trachey family of Sutton Court, Somerset*John Strachey (d. 1674), friend of John Locke *John Strachey (geologist) (1671 1743), British geologist, son of the above *Sir Henry Strachey, 1st Baronet (1737–1810), British …   Wikipedia

  • Strachey Baronets — The Strachey Baronetcy, of Sutton Court in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 15 June 1801 for the politician and civil servant Henry Strachey. His great grandson, the fourth Baronet, was …   Wikipedia

  • John Braham — (c. 1774 17 February, 1856) was a tenor opera singer born in London, England. His long career led him to become one of Europe s leading opera stars. He also wrote a number of songs, of minor importance, although The Death of Nelson is still… …   Wikipedia

  • Strachey, John — ▪ British geologist born May 10, 1671, Chew Magna, Eng. died June 11, 1743, Greenwich       early geologist who was the first to suggest the theory of stratified rock formations. He wrote Observations on the Different Strata of Earths and… …   Universalium

  • Sir Henry Strachey, 1st Baronet — (23 May 1737–3 January 1810), was a British civil servant and politician.Strachey was the eldest son of Henry Strachey, of Sutton Court, Somerset, and his first wife Helen, daughter of Robert Clerk, a Scottish physician. His grandfather was the… …   Wikipedia

  • Maurice Webb (politician) — Maurice Webb PC (September 26, 1904 – June 10, 1956) was a British Labour politician. Webb joined the Labour Party in 1922 as a teenager and was a well known political journalist, including for the Daily Herald. From 1929 to 1935 he worked as the …   Wikipedia

  • Oswald Mosley — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Mosley. Oswald Mosley Portrait par Glyn Warren Philpot  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Leslie Plummer — Infobox Politician name = Sir Leslie Plummer office = Chairman of the Overseas Food Corporation term start = 16 February, 1948 term end = 30 June, 1950 successor = Sir Eric Coates office2 = Member of Parliament for Deptford term start2 = 25… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”