FABIAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL THOUGHT:

Series Two: The Papers of Hugh Dalton, 1887-1962, from the British Library of
Political and Economic Science

Part 1: The Complete Diaries, 1916-1960

Part 2: Correspondence and Papers, 1916-1945

Part 3: Correspondence and Papers, 1945-1960

Publisher's Note

Part 1: The Complete Diaries, 1916-1960

Ben Pimlott, editor of the published two volume edition of extracts from Dalton’s massive and intricately observed manuscript diaries, has no doubts about the considerable merits of this publication of the complete run of Dalton's diaries:

"It is the wealth of detail in Dalton’s record and his rare understanding of policy, combined with his extreme political nosiness, which have helped to make this diary a classic ... Anybody who has worked among the political papers of an age before investigative reporting, intrusive television or 'Private Eye', will be powerfully aware of this uniqueness, and of the beacon Dalton is able to shine on areas of history for which the only other published sources are government papers or party minutes."

This diary is so valuable because it is the only diary of a prominent Labour politician kept for much of the period, because of the amount of detail recorded, and because of the clear picture it provides of all the maneouvres and fineagling in party politics and government which escape public notice. Contained within 56 notebooks and folders, it amounts to roughly 1.5 million words.

Born in 1887, Dalton was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge (where he read mathematics and economics, taught by Pigou and Keynes). He discovered Fabian Socialism together with his close friend, Rupert Brooke. Dalton became a lifelong member of the Fabian Society (1919-1962) and went to the LSE at the Webbs’ instigation to get his doctorate in economics. His diary was inspired by the example of Beatrice Webb and began during the war in 1916 whilst serving for the Royal Artillery in Italy.

He campaigned for Labour in the immediate post war period and was elected MP for Peckham in 1924.

After 5 years representing that constituency he switched to Bishop Auckland in 1929, whom he represented for 30 years, excepting only 1932-1934 when he lost his seat as a result of supporting Henderson and the PLP majority against MacDonald. He was:

• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1929-1931
• Labour's leading spokesman on Foreign Affairs, 1935-1937
• Minister for Economic Warfare, 1940-1942
• Controller of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for its first 19 months, 1941-1942
• President of the Board of Trade, 1942-1945
• Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1945-1947
• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1948-1950
• Minister of Town and Country Planning, 1950-1951
• Minister of Local Government and Planning, 1951-1959.

He travelled to Russia and Italy in 1932 and to Germany in 1933. This entire period is very well covered in by his diary entries.

His diary is never less than full, frank and flavoursome, reaching full flow in c.1930 and peaking in 1942; it is a marvellous source of political insight and perhaps achieved its greatest recognition when Herbert Morrison commented "I didn’t know the bugger kept a diary like that". There are very revealing entries for the 1930s and 1940s providing scholars with excellent source material for the pre-war years of appeasement and turmoil in Europe, the Second World War, the post-war Labour Government, and Post-War Planning.

Trained as an economist, as Chancellor Dalton often ignored the Treasury experts. At LSE he met his wife, Ruth Fox, an energetic young Fabian. Dalton was also greatly influenced by the Webbs and the Cambridge Fabian, Ben Keeling, but he always regarded 'Keir Hardie Night' in February 1907 as his own, personal Damascus Road. Dalton wrote of Hardie's visit to Cambridge "That night I became a quite convinced Socialist."

The astounding detail in his diary entries is highlighted by these extracts:

29 February 1916
"Car still under repair so ride about all day on a horse. A lot of activity in the air in the morning. We bring down 2, & according to some accounts 3 German airmen, one only a few miles away, some of our own people witnessing it, 3 British machines converging on him from above. Observer wounded in leg, pilot uninjured."

5 May 1916
"Rumour of a big move soon, heralded by early arrival of some more French Divisions on the line now purely British. Last time we made such a mess of our Big Push that this time the French are going to stiffen us a bit. I don't blame them...."

30 May 1916
"About 8pm a very heavy bombardment begins to work up. The Germans are making their fair share of the noise. It sounds to be over our left sector of the line (by 150th) & the 38th Division on our left again. It is, I think, the heaviest I have heard yet. The dull twilight distance is lit up by continual flashes of bursting shrapnel & very lights."

Start of Diary Entry for 28 October 1937
"Sir Neville Henderson, British Ambassador in Berlin, came to see me in my flat, at his own request, and stayed for a little over an hour. He did not make a very good impression on me, either in respect of political intelligence or character. I had only once seen him before, seven years ago when he was Minister at Belgrade; and it was not really either very gentlemanly or very clever to jeer at his predecessor in Berlin to a complete stranger. This arose when I said that, being in France last month, I had heard that Francois Poncet felt very much frozen out since Phipps had left. On this Henderson said, "I found an impossible state of things when I got to Berlin. It was common talk that there was no British Embassy there at all. It was only a branch of the Quai d' Orsay. I was compelled to make a change ... Phipps was a most unsuitable appointment. When he got Berlin I wrote him "Dear Eric, I shan't congratulate you because I think you are going to the wrong capital. You should be going to Brussels, where you would be much closer to your spiritual home." (followed by 4 pages of detail on their conversations).

Start of Diary Entry for 30 November 1937
"Jacques Kayser who is very close to Chautemps came to see me this morning. I always find him very clear-headed and sensible on international questions. He said that Chautemps and Delbos were well satisfied with their visit. It was the first time that Chautemps had met Cahamberlain. They had made a tour of the world with British Ministers and it was true to say that "complete agreement had been reached", but rather on the problems to be studied than on the solutions to be proposed. He was assured, however, that The Times and its adherents had been defeated. Their propaganda had been too strong. I told him of the activities in this country of Sir Neville Henderson and of the Cliveden gang..."

Folio 40 of the same diary volume is headed:

'Straws in the wind, latter half of November 1937' and begins:
"I made a note at the time of my talk with Neville Henderson. There is a lot going on of which his visit here and Halifax's to Berlin are outward signs. The movement in influential quarters here to come to some kind of Anglo-German agreement, even if this means making large "concessions" to Germany, either at our own or other people's expense, is formidable. German strength and determination are impressive; the weakness and unreliability of others not less so. Who knows what is happening in Russia or what will happen to-morrow, or what she would be worth if war came, or whether she would really be willing to march or fly at all. "

This continues for 4 pages; on the third page (folio 42), half way down, Dalton continues:
"...In the Sunday press of November 28th there is a great barrage in favour of concessions to Germany. "Scrutator" in the Sunday Times (who would pay any heed to him if he signed his name Sidebottom ?) thinks that "There is no doubt that, but for France's Eastern alliance, the peace of Western Europe could be made secure for at least a generation, and it is sheer vanity that pretends to be able to see further ahead than that." His geography is wonky, thus "France could not reach Czechslovakia to help her against Germany except through Italy or by way of the sea, which Italy could probably prevent and only British sea power could guarantee."

Page 4 ends:
"Reynolds is full of a story of a grave Cabinet Crisis and a split which may result in Eden's resignation. It represents Eden and Vansittart against the rest and says that Kingsley Wood is exercising great influence on the other side."

Dalton diary entry for 10 May 1940 records his reaction to Hitler's invasion of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. On 14 May 1940 he describes at great length his appointment by Churchill as Minister for Economic Warfare; the entry for 3 January 1942 shows him engaged in 'extremely frank' discussions about 'our air facilties'. By 1944 he is engrossed in his activities as President of the Board of Trade, as can be seen from his diary entry for 28 January 1944 dealing with the Labour Party Committee on the Cost of Living, cotton prices, the price of coal, gas and clothing, pensions and subsidies. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his entry for Saturday 9 February 1946, he reports on how 'our programme of rapid-fire legislation is going well'. The following extract is typical of his period as Chancellor of the Exchequer:

Tuesday 29 July 1947
"Cabinet this morning, without papers, to discuss Balance of Payments generally. CRA opens briefly and then I speak. HM has now more or less come round to my side and SC is on my side, though playing no leading part at all in the discussion. I emphasise the urgency of it all and the need to take big, bold measures and I put over the "Stop buying" slogan. To my surprise Strachey takes this very well. (I see him after the Cabinet alone and tell him that his cover and mine, of which his should last a bit longer than mine, will be totally ruined if we do not act boldly. It is agreed that our officials should look into the possibilities of dollar savings through "stop buying" for a period and I take the precaution of dictating, in his presence [Strachey's], a note on what we are agreed. This, in view of his previous slippery conduct). We have, as usual, full lengthy orations from Shinwell and AB. The former is exceptionally rattled, suspicious, irrelevant and discourteous. He demands information on our gold and dollar reserves as though I had deliberately withheld it from him. He has by now wholly antagonised all our colleagues. The most severe criticism that any person with real knowledge could make of the PM is that he has allowed this man to continue for so many months of failure to be Minister of Fuel and Power..."

Part 2: Correspondence and Papers, 1916-1945

Dalton's significant personal collection offers valuable sources including:

• Political papers relating to Dalton's notes and memoranda, and policy documents to and from political colleagues.
• Papers on economic reform, 1932-1938 (many with annotations by Dalton).
• Typescript and manuscript notes for September 1939 including material on the outbreak of war, meetings with Raczynski, Corbin, Vansittart, Kirkpatrick, Maisky and Bracken. Discussions with the Polish ambassador, a report of a conversation between Benes and P Noel Baker on Russian Government policy, another report on a conversation between Maisky and Lord Strabolgi regarding the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and papers covering the situation in France also feature.
• A significant amount of material on the RAF, air defence and aircraft production, 1938-1939. Along with a Memorandum on the position regarding Air Defence, an extensive report on the service position, the industrial position and the Air Ministry, and a typescript memorandum omitted from the final report on corruption in the Air Ministry, June 1938.
• Typescript articles by Dalton on Defence Questions.
• Correspondence with Ruth Dalton (including Moscow trip in 1932).
• Speeches given by Dalton between 1929 and 1940.

Correspondence with Neville Henderson, Noel Buxton, Douglas Jay, Kingsley Martin, Philip Noel Baker, Herbert Morrison, Sir John Simon, Philip Snowden, Ellen Wilkinson, Arthur Greenwood, Walter Gutrine and Clement Attlee shed light on important issues during the 1930s. For the war period there is good material on Dalton's impact at the Ministry of Economic Warfare, his responsibility for the Special Operations Executive and his role at the Board of Trade. There is a file of papers on the Labour Party's post-war plans. The Bournemouth Conference and the Labour Party decision to join the Coalition Government on May 1940 is well documented.

Highlights such as the broadcast speeches on economic warfare, a paper on the significance of the blockade, minutes of a meeting, 1st July 1940, chaired by the Foreign Secretary to discuss the Central Organisation of Sabotage and Subversion, correspondence with Gladwyn Jebb and the SOE material (such as Spaak's report on Belgium and Dalton's talks with General Sikorski) provide the reader with a very good insight into the mentality and resolve of key individuals during these troubled times.

A report by George Taylor gives details on events leading to the coup in Yugoslavia in 1941. Dalton's report to Churchill on Special Operations, January-September 1941, and his final report to the Prime Minister on SOE, dated 23rd February 1942, link closely to SOE files in the Public Record Office.

Part 2 is completed with a wealth of material from Dalton's three years at the Board of Trade, where he clearly made a significant contribution to the war effort. These papers focus on post-war planning, clothing, food, rationing, supply, production and strategic issues. For 1940-1945 there is excellent correspondence featuring Attlee, Churchill, Colville, Benes, Maisky, Morrison, Beatrice Webb, Baker and many more.

Part 3: Correspondence and Papers, 1945-1960

Key topics covered in this section include :

• Dalton as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1945-1947
• Political issues during the second half of the Attlee administration
• The Council of Europe
• The Schuman Plan and European Unity
• Dalton's speeches, including his 1951 speaking tour of the south west, and major contributions on the economy, foreign policy and social issues
• German rearmament
• Middle East problems
• The Fabian Society Fourth Oxford Conference: Problems Ahead, 1950

The correspondence is particularly rich and informative. Attlee, Bevan, Bevin, Crosland, Gaitskell, Healey, Greenwood, Jebb, Morrison, Callaghan, Benn, Cripps and Jenkins are all prominent, along with journalists, trade unionists, civil servants, European politicians, Labour Party officials and various contacts in business and industry.

This material offers good research possibilities for those studying the immediate post-war period. How successful was the Attlee administration? How well did Britain begin to face up to important post-war problems? What were the consequences of the balance of payments crisis in 1947? How did Dalton react to the 'policy of consolidation' pursued between 1948 and 1951, and what were his views on the future direction of the Labour Party?

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