STAFFORD CRIPPS

An excellent, though openly prejudiced (in his favor) biography of the leader of England's austerity movement, intellectual head of the Labour government. The writer takes one cursorily through the background and youth, concentrating on the last 20 years. Cripps is presented as a thorough Christian, with profound faith in the ultimate strength of the worker. Sir Stafford was in and out of the Labour Party and gained renown as a lawyer of exceptional ability. During the war years, the government utilized him as trained negotiator in Moscow, then in India, finally as head of aircraft production, and at the war's close he stepped into a key position in the new government. Long an advocate of friendship with the Soviet, Sir Stafford's theories of state Socialism have probably stemmed the tide of Communism in England today. A book that throws a good deal of light on England now.