Papers of Leon Freeman of Finchley Road 1937-1938. Album of press cuttings regarding the candidacy of Leon Freedman, Labour’s candidate for Dudley. Charting the period from when he made his first public appearance 'in the borough' as the new Labour candidate in June of 1937 to his 'attack on ''Jelly Fish Government''' and his 'biting similes' in reply to 'Premier’s Birmingham Speech' [Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain], taking part in 'Labour’s Peace Crusade' in the years leading up to the Second World War, with reported speeches against 'Britain [as] an arms profiteers' paradise' and criticising Government policy. A headline from 20 May 1939 reads, 'Challenging Speech at Netherton Labour Bazaar: Prospective Candidate Attacks Budget, Declares Conscription Unnecessary'. Several letters to the editor of the Dudley Herald. In June of 1940 Freedman resigned his candidature, citing 'his reason being that he is now unable to devote any attention to the borough. Mr Freedman, who is a barrister and has secured an appointment under the War Office, was a military representative in the northern district of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the last war'. In a manuscript letter marked 'Copy' written by Freedman to a Mr Connolly, Freedman states that '… my withdrawal of my Candidature at Dudley, was the only proper thing to do. It may have the result of eventually brining them to some sort of unity and a more common sense attitude towards the real situation … a house divided against itself, makes both the positions almost impossible'. Most clippings from the Dudley Herald, Birmingham Express and Star, but also Essex and Thurrock Gazette and Grays and Tilbury Gazette. The final item details legal proceedings of a case for slander that seems to have nothing to do with Leon Freedman, dated April 1945, [22pp] [June 1937- April 1945].
Freedman , Leon , fl 1937-1938
GB 0372 LABOUR HISTORY MANUSCRIPTS/60
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Fonds
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1937-1938