NYE: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan

Aneurin - Nye - Bevan was one of the pivotal Labour figures of the post-war era. As Minister for Health in Attlee's government, his role in the foundation of the NHS, the world's largest publically-funded health service and the centre-piece of the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, changed the face of British society forever. The son of a coal miner from South Wales, Bevan was a life-long champion of social justice and the rights of working people and became one of the leading proponents of Socialist thought in Britain. He was also vehement in his dislike of the Conservative Party - going so far as to oppose the wartime coalition between Attlee and Churchill. Whilst he admired the Marxist critique of capitalism - and felt that the drive for private consumer affluence in the 1950s flew in the face of social good - he was certainly no communist. He was a passionate believer in public ownership but had a complex relationship with the unions, which may have prevented him from becoming party leader. In this book, acclaimed author Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds provides the first full-life biography of Bevan in over two decades, from his birth in Tredegar in the South Wales Valleys in 1897 to his death from stomach cancer at the age of 62 in 1960. Thomas-Symonds considers not just Bevan's political career but also his upbringing, his career in local government in Wales and his relationship with his wife, and fellow Labour MP, Jennie Lee. Drawing on first-hand interviews as well as recently released sources, he provides a unique portrait of one of the great British statesmen of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART ONE: BOY TO MAN, 1897-1919 Chapter 1: The Welsh Valleys Childhood, 1897 – 1911 Chapter 2: The South Wales Coalfield 1911 – 1919 PART TWO: THE MAKING OF ANEURIN BEVAN, 1919-34 Chapter 3: Local Politics, 1919-28 Chapter 4: Monmouthshire County Council and Parliament, 1928-34 PART THREE: ESTABLISHING HIMSELF ON THE NATIONAL STAGE, 1934-45 Chapter 5: London and Jennie Lee Chapter 6: Working Class Unity, 1935-1939 Chapter 7: The Second World War, Part I: 1939 to 1942 Chapter 8: The Second World War, Part I: 1942 to 1945 PART FOUR: CABINET MINISTER, 1945-51 Chapter 9: The Labour Government, 1945-1951 Chapter 10: The Creation of the National Health Service Chapter 11: Bevan’s Record on Housing, 1945-51 Chapter 12: Resignation PART FIVE: IN OPPOSITION, 1951-60 Chapter 13: The Bevanites, 1951-55 Chapter 14: The Pragmatic Bevan, 1955-57 Chapter 15: The Final Years, 1958-60 Conclusion Further Reading

About the Author :
Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds is Lecturer in politics at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a practising barrister. He is the author of Attlee: A Life in Politics (I.B.Tauris).

Review :
'Nye Bevan was a political colossus, a passionate voice of socialist protest who was also a great creative statesman, an artist in the uses of power whose career fundamentally transformed our society. All these aspects of his career are admirably dealt with by Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds in a balanced lucid work based on a wide range of sources. It is equally strong on Bevan's background in the Welsh mining valleys, his triumph in launching the National Health Service, his role in the internecine wars that beset Labour in the fifties, and his abiding legacy for radicals and socialists at the present time. This is a gripping new analysis of one of the most controversial, but also one of the most charismatic, figures in recent British history.' Kenneth O. Morgan 'Nye is a timely biography. It is over half a century since Michael Foot published the first of his two volumes on Aneurin Bevan which set such a high standard in biographical writing. Not until Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds' new volume has anyone approached Foot's masterpiece in political analysis and historical scholarship. It is timely for two other reasons. Firstly, the biography uses new sources to explore Bevan's working class origins in the valleys of South Wales, giving new importance to his local government experience alongside the more generally accepted and recognised formative influences of his union, the Fed, of independent working class education and of the community enterprise of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. And secondly, this is a reminder to our new generation of activists and leaders that the collectivist inspiration for Nye's National Health Service and all the radical and reforming spirit of 1945, from legal aid to the culture of the South Bank, should be an enduring inheritance and Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds captures this beautifully. This is essential reading for everyone who wishes to understand the quintessentially benign but audacious rooted character of Nye's generation of organic working class intellectuals who helped civilise our post-war world, and who should continue to inspire us today.' - Hywel Francis MP 'Nick Thomas-Symonds has set out to explain the whole trajectory of Aneurin Bevan's political life, from its crucial nurturing in the South Wales coalfield to his purposeful use of power through the Labour Party in government. With balanced judgement, based on wide research, he succeeds triumphantly in giving us the real Nye: principled and pragmatic, frustrated and fulfilled, a unique fusion of strategy and tactics deployed to empower the British working class he represented brilliantly and served unremittingly. If you only read one book on Nye Bevan then, for its objectivity and illumination, make it this one.' Dai Smith, author of Aneurin Bevan and the World of South Wales 'A very readable and well researched study of one of the true political giants of the twentieth century. This book will be a useful addition to the canon of labour history and British political history more generally.' Matthew Worley, Professor of Modern History, University of Reading 'A lively account of Bevan's political career that is well written and carefully researched' Paul Corthorn, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History, Queen's University Belfast