Eighty years ago this week Stalin receives the tribute of George VI

 

 

Churchill personally presented the 'Sword of Stalingrad' to Stalin at the Soviet embassy in Teheran in front of dignitaries and a military guard from each nation. The sword was a gift of George VI honouring the people of the city for their resistance; it had become an emblem of the intense sovophilia across British society which Evelyn Waugh later derided in his Sword Of Honour trilogy. Both leaders were visibly moved and Stalin kissed the sword. However Stalin and his interpreter spoke so inaubly that no-one could understand what he meant to say. Supposedly he expressed the deep appreciation of the Russian people for the honourable gesture of their British comrades.

The acute shortage of labour for the mines could not be solved by voluntary measures and the Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin announced that there would be compulsion. One in ten men drafted into service would be sent to the mines rather than the armed forces. The men would be chosen by ballot. They would be provided with training in the job and helped with their housing; most did not come from mining regions. Serving as a 'Bevin boy' was generally viewed as unattractive; the work was unpleasant and military uniform conferred status, potentially boosted by rank badges or even medals. A number of Bevin boys later became well known including Jimmy Saville, the dramatist Pete Schaffer and actor Brian Rix.

There was an acrimonious debate in the House of Commons about the release of Sir Oswald Mosely from detention under regulation 18B which ended in a significant revolt against the governmnet. Herbert Morrison, the Labour Home Secretary who had signed, the release faced vigorous criticism; he admitted that he had signed reluctantly. No attention was paid to the legalistic but perfectly valid point raised by the Atttorney-General that the legislation under which Mosley had been detained actually specified that the Home Secetay had to believe that he posed a danger to the public to keep him detained. Labour leader Arthur Greenwood claimed unconvincingly that Mosley did constitute such a danger in a speech opposing the release. Fifty or so Labour MPs including Aneurin Bevan voted against the government and perhaps the same number abstained.