2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’
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Alex May
Abstract
The fringe groups such as the League of Empire Loyalists took very different views of the 'multi-racial' Commonwealth. The Round Table was founded, as an early fund-raising document put it, with the 'one and only purpose' of orchestrating a movement 'to bring about the closer union of the British Empire'. The Round Table's commitment to imperial union dissolved rapidly in the 1940s, as a result primarily of the changes in the international system wrought by the Second World War and the onset of the Cold War. The notion of Commonwealth consultation and cooperation in foreign policy was eroded, however, by India's policy of nonalignment, subsequently adopted by other newly independent Commonwealth states. The Round Table's attitudes towards the 'end of empire' and towards the transition from Empire to Commonwealth evolved by a series of fits and starts, or by a series of crises followed by slow adaptations.
Abstract
The fringe groups such as the League of Empire Loyalists took very different views of the 'multi-racial' Commonwealth. The Round Table was founded, as an early fund-raising document put it, with the 'one and only purpose' of orchestrating a movement 'to bring about the closer union of the British Empire'. The Round Table's commitment to imperial union dissolved rapidly in the 1940s, as a result primarily of the changes in the international system wrought by the Second World War and the onset of the Cold War. The notion of Commonwealth consultation and cooperation in foreign policy was eroded, however, by India's policy of nonalignment, subsequently adopted by other newly independent Commonwealth states. The Round Table's attitudes towards the 'end of empire' and towards the transition from Empire to Commonwealth evolved by a series of fits and starts, or by a series of crises followed by slow adaptations.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- General editor’s introduction vi
- Notes on contributors viii
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 The persistence of empire in metropolitan culture 21
- 2 Empire loyalists and ‘Commonwealth men’ 37
- 3 Coronation Everest 57
- 4 Look back at empire 73
- 5 ‘No nation could be broker’ 91
- 6 The imperial game in crisis 111
- 7 Imperial heroes for a post-imperial age 128
- 8 Imperial legacies, new frontiers 145
- 9 Wandering in the wake of empire 163
- 10 Communities of Britishness 180
- 11 South Asians in post-imperial Britain 200
- 12 India, Inc.? 217
- Index 233
