THE LABOUR PARTY AND THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN 1945

Abstract

The Labour Party came to power in July 1945. Atless, the Prime Minister, well-known for his internationalist outlook witing the Labour Party in the interwar years, considered that it was timely to make the United Nations more powerful in international politics if peace and security were to be preserved. He was committed to the view that the presence of a world government was necessary in the management of the new international order between states in peacetime. Thus, he had no hesistation in committing Britain to this new direction of foreign policy. To Atlee, all states, including the world power, should not only base their policy on the United Nations but also subordinate themselves to the organization as the world's highest authority. However, his Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, shared none of these assumptions. He , instead, shared the political view that Britain should pursue and uphold its standing as a Great Power. Bevin continued to hold on to his nationalist and imperialist views in peacetime, even though it was in conflict with the internationalist view of his own Prime Minister.