Henry R. Winkler offers a treatment of the Labour Party's evolution in foreign affairs. This volume contains lessons on the responsibilities of political parties as well as the pros and cons of specific policies. It offers an understanding of Britain's later stands as its leaders tried to adjust to Britain's diminished power afterWorld War II.

During the 1930s, the failures of the League - in the Far East, in Abyssinia, in Spain, and in Central Europe - compelled some of its advocates to conclude that, League or no League, the threat from Nazi Germany mandated support for a program of preparedness and rearmament even under the aegis of a hated National Government. The result, by 1937, was the final formal abandonment of many of the radical illusions of the twenties and thirties, as Labour reluctantly but formally assumed a posture that enabled it to share in the governance of wartime Britain and to take a key role in dealing with the international issues that emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War. This volume contains valuable lessons on the responsibilities of political parties as well as the pros and cons of specific policies. It is essential reading for understanding Britain's later stands as its leaders tried to adjust to Britain's diminished power in the post-World War II world.