Aneurin Bevan - Socialist Founder of the NHS

Welsh Great the Best Prime Minister the United Kingdom Never Had

Sep 29, 2009

Aneurin Bevan was a Welsh born and bred politician who played a key role in the creation of the post war Welfare State and the National Health Service in Britain.

First elected to parliament in 1929 at the age of 31, Bevan was the greatest product of the political turmoil of the south Wales coalfields. As Minister of Health, with additional responsibility for housing, he was the architect of the most enduring product of the welfare state, the National Health Service. As the leader of the Labour Party left he was instrumental in the more radical reforms of the labour government. As a pragmatist he built alliances but ended up alienating his own supporters. He passed away in 1960, aged just 62.

Wales: The Crucible of Socialism

Bevan was a product of the turbulent, sometimes riotous and always radical political environment of south Wales. This was a community dominated by the coal industry in which at the time of the General Strike in 1926, over 250,000 men worked. Mostly loyal to the Labour Party, Bevan was prepared to work with left wing and revolutionary elements, including the Communist Party. The Communist Party had deep roots in south Wales, especially after the Spanish Civil War which saw over 100 young Welsh men enlist in the International Brigade.

Indeed before the war Bevan was involved in the Socialist League, which was mainly concerned with anti-fascist unity, a stance that saw Bevan expelled for a short time from the Labour Party. Bevan was also a product of the intellectual environment created by the Plebs League and the Central Labour College, in which working class community, trade union and political activists received a heavily Marxist education.

The Atlee Government and Bevanism

The post war period saw the labour government in the seat of power. The war itself had impacted significantly on the expectations of what a labour government should and could deliver. Bevan, who had coveted the position of foreign secretary was given the task of dealing with health. In Wales and Britain as a whole health had been one of the key areas of the quality of working class life, relying as it did on charitiable or expensive private health.

Bevan was inspired by how the miners had created insurance schemes with the care provided free at the point of use. Although he faced a lot of opposition, especially from the British Medical Association which represented most British doctors, he showed his negotiating skills as well as the willingness to compromise. He avoided an entirely centralised system and allowed doctors to maintain private practices if they wished.

However popular though the new system was it was expensive, especially when it was serving communities whose health had long been neglected. The Atlee Government attempted to save money by charging for dental and optical services. For Bevan this was a penny pinching betrayal and he resigned from his position as Labour Minister in 1951.

Bevan and the Bevanites

His practical militancy and principled politics had created a strong following in the Labour Party and he was considered the leader of the labour left, acting as a lightening rod for intra-party battles. Bevan himself however detested any form of political impotence. Although prepared to resign on points of fundamental principle, he was equally always willing to come back into the leadership in order to be able to deliver his policies. With Labour out of power in 1951, Bevan eventually became shadow Foreign Secretary.

For the left disarmament fo nuclear weapons was a touchstone of progressive politics. Although Bevan probably agreed abstractly he did not see it as a matter of absolute principle. These tensions came to a head at the 1957 labour conference, where he made his famous speech about not going 'naked into the conference chamber', by which he meant he couldn't negotiate with the big powers if Britain had nothing to negotiate with. For many this was the worse possible betrayal and broke the Bevanite movement.

A Great Welshman

Bevan was considered to be the greatest orator the Welsh Labour Movement had produced, a missile straight from the militant coalfields of south Wales. Although he flirted with revolutionary politics when younger, at one point advocating the formation of a working class militia to fight fascism and capitalism, he was always concerned about labour movement unity and the ability to deliver his promises.

Recently he was voted at number one in the top 100 most influential Welsh people. He is still revered as the man whose toughness and realism created the most enduring and popular institution of the welfare state, the National Health Service.

Williams, Gwyn A. When Was Wales? - A History of the Welsh, Black Raven Press, 1985, ISBN 0-85159-003-9

The copyright of the article Aneurin Bevan - Socialist Founder of the NHS in Modern British History is owned by Jeffrey Baxter. Permission to republish Aneurin Bevan - Socialist Founder of the NHS in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.