Not giving up sovereignty : the British Labour party's alternative vision of international cooperation, 1933-1951

The British Labour Party’s troubled relationship with today’s European Union (EU) and its opposition to federalism trace their historical roots to its vision of international socialist cooperation in the interwar and post-1945 period. International socialist cooperation could only take place voluntarily between independent socialist parties. This proved that cooperation among European nation states was desirable, but sovereignty was not to be pooled into supranational institutions—especially when it could mean permanent entanglement with the troublesome French, Germans and Italians. A different vision for the institutionalisation of European unity thus emerged. In addition to showing as much, the chapter gives insights into transnational history by proving that transnational socialisation did not always result in convergence and cooperation.