Henry
Noel Brailsford
was born in Mirfield, a Yorkshire colliery town, on 25th December
1873. Henry's father, Rev. Edward Brailsford, was a Wesleyan
Methodist preacher who mainly worked in Edinburgh
and Glasgow. Henry was educated at Watson's
College, Edinburgh (1883-84) and Dundee High School (1885-90) where
he won a scholarship to study at the University
of Glasgow.
After obtaining a first-class honours degree he was employed to lecturer
at Queen Margaret College in Glasgow.
In 1887 he decided to abandon his academic career and became a journalist
working on the Scots Pictorial.
Seeking adventure he enlisted in the Philhellenic Legion, a volunteer
force fighting for the Greeks in their struggle with Turkey. His war
experiences gave him the material for his only novel, The
Broom of the War God (1898).
On the recommendation of Robert Adamson, professor of logic
at Glasgow University, Brailsford was employed as a foreign correspondent
for the Manchester Guardian. This
involved spending time in the Balkans, France and Egypt. In 1899 he
moved to London where he became a journalist
for the Morning
Leader.
Later he became a leader writer on the Daily
News. As well as contributing to The
Star and the weekly journal, the Nation.
Considered to be an expert on the Balkans, he was selected to head
of the British relief mission to Macedonia in 1903. On his return
he wrote Macedonia
(1906), a cultural and historical survey of the area. Brailsford also
was active in the Friends
of Russian Freedom, and organisation that raised funds to help those
groups in Russia fighting for democracy.
Brailsford had been gradually moving to the
left and in 1907 joined the Independent Labour
Party. His wife, Jane
Brailsford, was a member of the WSPU. He shared
her views and in 1909 resigned from the Daily
News when the paper supported the government policy of force-feeding
women prisoners.
For the next couple of years he concentrated on writing books. This
included Adventures
in Prose
(1911), Shelley,
Godwin and his Circle
(1913), War
of Steel and Gold
(1914), Origins
of the Great War
(1914) and Belgium
and the Scrap of Paper
(1915). A member of the Union of Democratic Control,
his criticism's of the government war policy led to his books being
impounded.
Brailsford's book A
League of Nations
(1917) called for the setting up of an international organisation
responsible for trade, overseas investment and the distribution of
raw materials and a deep influence on the thinking of the US president,
Woodrow
Wilson.
After failing to be elected as the Labour
candidate for Montrose
Burghs
in the 1918 General Election, Brailsford
toured Central Europe and his graphic accounts of the suffering being
endured by the people in the defeated countries appeared in his books
Across
the Blockade
(1919) and After
the Peace
(1920). He also warned that unless the Versailles Treaty was renegotiated,
this deeply flawed peace settlement would led to an increase of German
militarism and a possible Second World War.
Brailsford was interested in the Russian
Revolution
and after visiting the country published two books on the subject,
The
Russian Workers' Republic
(1921) and How
the Soviets Work
(1927). Although impressed by the economic achievements of the communist
regime, he was highly critical of the lack of individual freedom and
the suppression of dissent.
In 1922 Clifford Allen, arranged for Brailsford
to be appointed as editor the New
Leader,
the ILP's revamped newspaper. Brailsford employed several talented
writers including George Bernard Shaw, H.
G. Wells and Bertrand Russell. Allen
worked closely with Brailsford to produce a new type of political
newspaper where the standard of typography and design was as important
as its editorial contents. Each issue contained original woodcuts
that illustrated articles about politics and culture. Considered by
many as one of the most successful radical newspapers ever published,
it unfortunately upset too many powerful people in the labour movement.
Ramsay MacDonald and the other leaders
of the Labour Party objected to Brailsford's attacks on their moderate,
non-socialist policies. However, the left distrusted Brailsford's
middle-class background and in 1926 he was ousted as editor.
Replaced by his friend, Fenner Brockway,
Brailsford continued to contribute articles for the newspaper until
he left the Independent Labour Party in 1932.
After that he tended to write for The
Reynolds News
and the
New Statesman.
He also wrote several books including
Rebel India
(1931) where he called for an end to colonial rule and Property
or Peace? (1934)
where he explored the connections between war and capitalism. Brailsford
gave his support to the Left
Book Club started by Victor Gollancz,
Harold Laski and John
Strachey and the left wing journal, Tribune,
that began publication in 1937.
During the Second World War Brailsford wrote
for the New Statesman and broadcast
for the BBC Overseas Service. Brailsford
continued to write books during the war, the most important being
Subject
India
(1943) and Our
Settlement with Germany (1944).
After his retirement from journalism in 1946,
