Editing Bevanism (section)

== History ==
Bevanism was influenced by [[Marxism]]; Bevan's biographer and later [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] [[Michael Foot]] said that Bevan's "belief in the [[class conflict]] stayed unshaken", while acknowledging that Bevan was not a traditional Marxist.<ref name="Foot2011">{{cite book |last=Foot |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Foot |title=Aneurin Bevan: A Biography: Volume 2: 1945–1960 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jeyDZ_1h1cC&pg=PT15 |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=2011 |page=15 |isbn=978-0-571-28085-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Campbell|first=John|author-link = John Campbell (biographer) |title=Nye Bevan: A Biography|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|year=1994}}</ref>{{pn|date=June 2022}} Despite declaring inspiration from [[Karl Marx]], Bevan did not visibly support insurrectionist concepts of [[proletarian revolution]], arguing that revolution depended on the circumstances,<ref name="Thomas-Symonds2014">{{cite book |last=Thomas-Symonds |first=Nicklaus |author-link=Nick Thomas-Symonds |title=Nye: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ytHGBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA34 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2014 |page=34 |isbn=978-0-85773-499-0}}</ref> or the typical organisational model of many Communist parties. According to [[Ed Balls]], Bevan and his supporters instead preferred a strident but pluralist conception of [[democratic socialism]], tempered by pragmatic sensibilities and practical application.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Balls|first1=Ed|authorlink1=Ed Balls|title=A visionary pragmatist: why Bevan is a Labour hero|url=http://www.edballs.co.uk/blog/speeches-articles/a-visionary-pragmatist-why-bevan-is-a-labour-hero-2011-aneurin-bevan-memorial-lecture/|access-date=29 March 2016|work=2011 Aneurin Bevan Memorial Lecture|via=Ed Balls' personal blog|date=25 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413192021/http://www.edballs.co.uk/blog/speeches-articles/a-visionary-pragmatist-why-bevan-is-a-labour-hero-2011-aneurin-bevan-memorial-lecture/|archive-date=13 April 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Howell|first=David|title=The Rise and Fall of Bevanism|year=1980}}</ref>

The Bevanite Group of MPs, of which there were about three dozen, coalesced following Bevan's resignation from the Cabinet in 1951 when the health service started charging for previously free services such as spectacles in order to help pay for Britain's involvement in the [[Korean War]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kynaston|first1=David|title=Family Britain 1951-7|year=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=9780747583851|page=[https://archive.org/details/familybritain1950000kyna/page/79 79]|url=https://archive.org/details/familybritain1950000kyna/page/79}}</ref> Bevanites [[Harold Wilson]] and [[John Freeman (British politician)|John Freeman]] resigned with Bevan himself. The group in Parliament drew heavily from the previous [[Keep Left (pamphlet)|"Keep Left"]] group, which had previously dissented from the pro-American foreign policy of the 1945–1951 Labour government favoured by [[Clement Attlee]], his Foreign Secretary [[Ernest Bevin]] and [[Hugh Gaitskell]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://labourhistory.org.uk/hugh-gaitskell-50-years-on/ |title=Hugh Gaitskell – 50 Years On &#124; Labour History Group |publisher=Labourhistory.org.uk |date=2013-06-24 |access-date=29 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327214225/http://labourhistory.org.uk/hugh-gaitskell-50-years-on/ |archive-date=27 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Crossman in December 1951 the group was not organised, and Bevan could not be persuaded to have any consistent or coherent strategy, but they did have a group who met regularly and liked each other and came to represent "real Socialism" to a large number of Party members. ''[[Picture Post]]'' called them the "Bevanly Host" in April 1952.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kynaston|first1=David|title=Family Britain 1951-7|date=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=9780747583851|page=80}}<!--|accessdate=23 August 2015--></ref>