Walter Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine

Who was Walter Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine?

Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron Citrine, GBE, PC was a British trade unionist. Riddell argues Citrine played a central role in the labour movement, especially by redefining the role of the TUC as mediator, coordinator and researcher. He provided coordination and a centralized leadership for the entire movement, and set up a research program that laid the foundations for the Labour government of 1945-51. He coordinated the industrial and political wings of the labor movement, and helped stop the Labour Party's drift to the Left after the 1931 crisis. he also played a key role in the reshaping of Labour's foreign policy from the mid-1930s to oppose both Fascism and Communism.

An electrician by trade, he became Mersey District's secretary of his trade union, the Electrical Trades Union, in 1914. Twelve years later he became General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, holding the post for twenty years through the Second World War. He was also president of the anti-Communist International Confederation of Free Trade Unions 1928-45 and president of the World Trade Union Conference in 1945.

Citrine strengthened the TUC's influence over the Labour Party. He opposed plans by the Labour Government in 1931 to cut unemployment benefits. After Ramsay MacDonald formed a coalition with the Conservatives to force his policies through, Citrine led the campaign to have him expelled from the party. Citrine later supported the Attlee government's policy of nationalisation and served on the National Coal Board and served as chairman of the Central Electricity Board 1947-57. He was granted a peerage in 1947.