This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the non-communist British left interacted with their French counterparts during the 19305 and the Second World War and described France in their writings and broadcasts. It challenges existing accounts that have described British attitudes to France as characterised by suspicion, ill-feeling or even contempt. It draws on a range of sources, including reportage, private papers, records of left-wing societies and other publications from the period, as well as relevant articles and books. The thesis explores the attitudes of British left-wing intellectuals, trade unionists and politicians and investigates their attempts to find common ground and formulate shared aspirations. The thesis takes a broadly chronological approach, looking first at the pre-1939 period, then at three phases of war and finally at British accounts of the Liberation of France. In the 1930s, British left-wing commentators sought to explain events in France and to work with French socialists and trade unionists in international forums in their search for an appropriate response to both fascism and Soviet communism. Following the defeat of France, networks that included figures from the British left and French socia lists living in London in exile developed. In addition to print media, broadcasting provided a space in which the left intelligentsia could promote a version of current events that emphasized solidarity between a determined Britain and defiant French resistance, united in a common endeavour. Contributors showed continued interests in French affairs, discussing issues such as communism, social and economic reform, colonialism, the future of Europe and how France might best be governed. The analysis of the primary sources presented in this thesis provides a counter narrative to a more orthodox position which has emphasised enmity and hostility between the Britain and France during this period and makes a contribution to a more complete understanding of cross Channel relations before and during the Second World War. 3

Gerald Heard (1889-1971) was an influential figure among the intelligentsia of the 1930s, once described by E.M. Forster as “one of the most penetrating minds in England.” However, he remains an ill-defined footnote, a marginal figure whose influence and reputation, although acknowledged, remains unexamined. This dissertation examines his life and work, and considers the role which Heard, as a generaliser and public intellectual, played in the intellectual landscape of the 1930s. Central to Heard’s philosophy was a belief that society was in need of a spiritual and psychological force which could allow isolated individuals to participate in community with one another. Heard’s solution to bring about this evolution of consciousness would prove to be partly psychological, partly mystical and partly down to the product of a particular way of living. The first chapter outlines Heard’s philosophy in detail. Subsequent chapters are structured so as to provide a loose biographical chronology, each focussing on a different phase of Heard’s career and examining the development of his thought. Running throughout the dissertation is a consideration of Heard’s role as a public intellectual. It was as a popular ‘generaliser’ of thought that Heard found his public, and the limited degree of success he found as a man of action could be seen to be a natural limitation of the role he had constructed for himself. Chapter II focuses on Heard’s time as personal secretary to Sir Horace Plunkett, father of the Irish Co-Operative Movement, and how the ideals of this movement can be seen to inform his developing ideas of human community. Chapter III looks at Heard’s role as a broadcaster with the B.B.C., where he became a noted populariser of science, firmly establishing himself as a public figure and cultural authority. It is arguably this increased public profile which provided Heard with a ‘public’ to whom he could address his ideas. Chapter IV, drawing on archival material from Dartington Hall, considers Heard’s role as a lecturer at Dartington School, and more importantly his first experiment to establish a small ‘group’ for meditation in an attempt to discover the mystical and psychological basis for a co-operative society. Chapter V examines his career as an outspoken pacifist, where he would advance his arguments for a radical reorganisation of society as a practical solution to the question of peace and further attempt to become a man of action.