Ernest Bevin

Nationality

United Kingdom

Date of Birth

1881

Date of Death

1951

Political
Preference

Labour

Ernest Bevin was born in the village of Winsford in Somerset, England and grew up with his mother Diana Bevin, without his father. He had little formal education and at the age of eleven, he went to work as a labourer.

Bevin became a trade union organizer, best known for creating the Transport and General Workers’ Union in 1921. He served as Minister of Labour in the Churchill war ministry and subsequently as Foreign Minister in the post-war Labour Government until 1951. He was a firm opponent of fascism and of British appeasement of the fascist powers. As a trade union leader between the world wars, Bevin was sympathetic to the Soviet Union but critical of Soviets manipulation of international communism.

During World War II Bevin frequently interacted with Polish Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski, whom he supported in his ideas for regional European federations and the creation of multiple economic entities. Bevin also was convinced that post-war international order should be based on improving living standards and social-economic conditions, and viewed these as prerequisites for political stability.

After the war Bevin became Foreign Secretary and he strengthened the British ties with Washington. In 1946, he secured a low-interest $3.75 billion loan from the U.S. to save its country from bankruptcy. Together with French Foreign Minister Georges Bidault, he took the first initiative in 1947 for the European response to the offer of American economic aid that was voiced by Secretary of State George C. Marshall. He argued that Britain had earned American support and ought to be compensated for its sacrifices against the Nazis.

Bevin believed that the European economic chaos in the aftermath of the war could grow communist-sympathizers’ movements. Therefore, Bevin strongly supported the Marshall Plan aid and the creation of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in 1948.