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INDIA, POST-IMPERIALISM AND THE ORIGINS OF ENOCH POWELL'S ‘RIVERS OF BLOOD’ SPEECH*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2007

PETER BROOKE
PETER BROOKE*
Affiliation:
Christ's College, University of Cambridge
*
80 Broadway, Coventry, CV5 6NUpeterbrooke@cantab.net
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Abstract

In January 2003 Enoch Powell's personal archive was opened to the public. The release shed new light on the nature of Powell's thought on immigration, and in particular, his reasons for making the so-called ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech of 1968. Historians have suggested that Powell's primary concern was a post-imperialist desire to sever all links with the New Commonwealth. However, papers written immediately after Powell's time in India (1943–6) reveal that his objections to immigration were established long before he abandoned his fierce love of empire in 1954. These objections were rooted in a seemingly liberal commitment to national homogeneity as a prerequisite for democracy. The imagery, reasoning, and political context of Powell's speeches in 1968 demonstrate a striking continuity with his ideas of 1946. Powell's example suggests that British attitudes to mass immigration may owe more to the experience of empire than to post-war changes in national identity.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 669 - 687
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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References

1 The popular appellation confuses Powell's quotation from Book vi of the Aeneid: ‘Like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber flowing with much blood”.’ S. Heffer, Like the Roman: the life of Enoch Powell (London, 1998), p. 454; the Birmingham speech is quoted in full in T. Utley Enoch Powell: the man and his thinking (London, 1968), pp. 179–90.

2 R. Shepherd, Enoch Powell: a biography (London, 1996), p. 353.

3 D. Spearman, ‘Letters of blood’, New Society 9 May 1968, pp. 667–9.

4 J. Ramsden, The winds of change: Macmillan to Heath, 1957–1975 (London, 1996), pp. 296–300, 339.

5 J. Barnes ‘Ideology and factions’, in S. Ball and A. Seldon, eds., Conservative century: the Conservative party since 1900 (Oxford, 1994), p. 338; H. Berkeley, The odyssey of Enoch: a political memoir (London, 1997), p. 46; P. Cosgrave, The lives of Enoch Powell (London, 1989), p. 130; P. Gilroy, ‘There ain't no black in the Union Jack’: the cultural politics of race and nation (London, 1987), p. 48; Heffer, Like the Roman, pp. 120–1; Shepherd, Enoch Powell, pp. 133, 367; Utley, Enoch Powell, p. 50; R. Weight, Patriots: national identity in Britain, 1940–2000 (Basingstoke, 2002), pp. 432–3.

6 Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 335; A. Roth, Enoch Powell: Tory tribune (London, 1970), p. 361; Shepherd, Enoch Powell, pp. 367–8; Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 27–8.

7 Ramsden, Winds of change, pp. 290–3.

8 Cf. Gilroy, Union Jack, pp. 47, 88; Z. Layton-Henry, The politics of race in Britain (London, 1984), pp. 70–2; P. Rich, Race and empire in British politics (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 211–12; Weight, Patriots, pp. 431–5.

9 J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968, Powell Archive, Churchill Archive Centre, Cambridge (POLL), 4/1/3.

10 J. E. Powell, ‘Paper on Indian policy’, 3 Dec. 1946, para. 17 (POLL 3/1/4).

11 Ibid., para. 18.

12 U. Mehta, Liberalism and empire: a study in nineteenth-century British liberal thought (Chicago, 1999), pp. 149–51; T. Metcalf, The new Cambridge history of India, ii: Ideologies of the raj (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 200–3, 230.

13 Powell's belief that unity of national sentiment was necessary for self-government was later reflected in his opposition to devolution in the United Kingdom: Heffer, Like the Roman, pp. 720, 759, 771; J. E. Powell, ‘The enemy within’, at Birmingham, 13 June 1970, in R. Collings, ed., Reflections of a Statesman (London, 1991), pp. 244–8.

14 J. E. Powell, ‘Indian self-government – November 1945, Delhi’ (POLL 3/1/1).

15 J. E. Powell, ‘Notes on Brigadier Grand's paper’, early 1946 (POLL 3/1/1).

16 J. E. Powell, ‘Paper on Indian policy’, 3 Dec. 1946, para. 120 (POLL 3/1/4).

17 Ibid., para. 121 (POLL 3/1/4).

18 J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968 (POLL 4/1/3).

19 Report of J. E. Powell speech at South Featherstone, Normanton by-election, 7 Feb. 1947 (POLL 3/1/1); Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 212. Powell's ideas about the free market (and their origins) proved to be of immense significance as they strongly influenced Thatcherite monetarism: W. Greenleaf, The British political tradition ii: The ideological heritage (London, 1983), pp. 316–26; E. Green, Ideologies of conservatism (Oxford, 2002), pp. 192–3, 228–9, 248; Ramsden, Winds of change, p. 276.

20 Richard Ritchie interview (archivist to J. Enoch Powell 1969–98), May 2005, London.

21 J. E. Powell to Ralph Harris, 8 Mar. 1968 (POLL 1/1/48).

22 G. Pandey estimates that at least half a million Indians died, in Remembering Partition: violence, nationalism and history in India (Cambridge, 2001), p. 90.

23 Gordon Thompson to J. E. Powell, May–June 1947 (POLL 3/1/5).

24 J. E. Powell to Frank ‘Socrates’ Brayne, 30 July 1946 (POLL 3/1/7).

25 Reports on the situation in the Punjab: March 1946 – July 1947, chief secretary to the government, Punjab (POLL 3/1/7).

26 Copy of letter from Qasim Husain (in E. Punjab) to Frank Brayne, 26 Aug. 1947 (POLL 3/1/7).

27 J. E. Powell, ‘Memorandum on Indian policy’, 16 May 1946 (POLL 3/1/4).

28 J. E. Powell, ‘Problems of empire’, Birmingham Post, [6] Nov. 1952 (POLL 6/1/1); J. E. Powell, ‘S. African problems’, Birmingham Post, 15 Feb. 1955 (review of G. B. Pyrah ‘Imperial policy and South Africa, 1902–10’) (POLL 12/1/2).

29 J. E. Powell, ‘Nationalism’, in Conservative Political Centre, Seven Oxford lectures: world perspectives (London, 1955), pp. 32–9 (POLL 12/1/2); 5/2/54 letter from D. J. Wright, enclosing report of speech by J. E. Powell, ‘The spiritual and ethical forces exerted by the Commonwealth’ (POLL 1/1/11).

30 J. E. Powell, at Oxford, 11 July 1954, in National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations (England), Tradition and change (nine Oxford lectures) [by] the Rt. Hon. R A Butler [and others], etc. (London, 1954), pp. 41–54.

31 J. E. Powell to A. S. Reeve (bishop of Lichfield), 26 Feb. 1955 (POLL 1/1/11).

32 ‘Mr Powell's answers on West Indian immigration’, Express and Star (Wolverhampton), 1 Sept. 1956 (POLL 12/1/2).

33 ‘Bishops appeal to West Bromwich bus strikers’, Express and Star, 24 Feb. 1955 (POLL 1/1/11).

34 J. E. Powell to A. S. Reeve (bishop of Lichfield), 26 Feb. 1955 (POLL 1/1/11).

35 The timing of this shift has been the subject of some debate. Simon Heffer made a notable error in arguing that it took place in 1947: Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 104. For a more accurate account see Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 119.

36 J. E. Powell to A. S. Reeve (bishop of Lichfield), 26 Feb. 1955 (POLL 1/1/11).

37 Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 205; ‘Mr Powell's answers on West Indian immigration’, Express and Star (Wolverhampton), 1 Sept. 1956 (POLL 12/1/2).

38 Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 285.

39 Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 222.

40 J. E. Powell, at Wolverhampton, 21 May 1965 (POLL 4/1/1).

41 Anonymous article by ‘A Conservative’ [which Powell later admitted writing], Times, 2 Apr. 1964, in Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 351; J. E. Powell, ‘How money works for integration’ (review of W. Hutt The economics of the colour bar), Sunday Times, 14 June 1964 (POLL 6/1/1); M. Hartley-Brewer, ‘Smethwick’, in N. Deakin, ed., Colour and the British electorate: 1964 (London, 1965), p. 82.

42 J. E. Powell, letter to the constituency: general election, October 1964 (POLL 3/2/2/23).

43 J. E. Powell, at Wolverhampton, 21 May 1965 (POLL 4/1/1); J. E. Powell, at Birmingham, 20 Nov. 1965 (POLL 4/1/2).

44 A. Douglas-Home to J. E. Powell, 28 Jan. 1965 (POLL 1/1/14).

45 J. E. Powell, at Wolverhampton, 25 Mar. 1966, in J. Wood, ed., Freedom and reality (London, 1969), p. 222.

46 J. E. Powell, ‘Facing up to Britain's race problem’, Daily Telegraph, 16 Feb. 1967, in Wood, ed., Freedom and reality, pp. 223–6; J. E. Powell, at Ealing North Conservative Women's Advisory Committee, Hanwell, 25 May 1967 (POLL 4/1/3); J. E. Powell, ‘Can we afford to let our race problem explode?’ Sunday Express, 9 July 1967 (POLL 6/1/2); J. E. Powell, at public meeting, Deal 18/10/67 (POLL 4/1/3); ‘We'll abolish SET, John Cordle tells Tories’, Evening Echo (Bournemouth), 20 Nov. 1967 (POLL 12/1/11); ‘Colour poser: plea by Powell’ Express and Star, 9 Dec. 1967 (POLL 12/1/11).

47 J. E. Powell, ‘Facing up to Britain's race problem’, Daily Telegraph, 16 Feb. 1967, in Wood, ed., Freedom and reality, pp. 223–6.

48 J. E. Powell, at Birmingham, 20 Apr. 1968, in Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 179–90; Cosgrave, Lives, p. 247; P. Foot, The rise of Enoch Powell (London, 1969), p. 112; Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 20–1.

49 Ramsden, Winds of change, pp. 291–3; Gilroy, Union Jack, pp. 85–9.

50 J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968 (POLL 4/1/3).

51 Implied by Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 450; Layton-Henry, Politics, pp. 75, 68; Roth, Enoch Powell, p. 344; Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 345.

52 Cosgrave, Lives, pp. 241, 247; Foot, Rise, p. 112; Heffer, Like the Roman, pp. 425–6, 450; Ramsden, Winds of change, pp. 291–3; Roth, Enoch Powell, p. 340; Shepherd, Enoch Powell, pp. 339–41; Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 20–1.

53 J. E. Powell, ‘Facing up to Britain's race problem’, Daily Telegraph, 16 Feb. 1967, in Wood, ed., Freedom and reality, pp. 223–6.

54 Powell papers, Staffordshire County Record Office (STAF) D3123/255; Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 341.

55 Heffer, Like the Roman, pp. 445, 460.

56 Gilroy, Union Jack, p. 86.

57 Collings, ed., Reflections, p. 385.

58 Webster, W., ‘“There'll always be an England”: representations of colonial wars and immigration, 1948–1968’, Journal of British Studies, 40 (2001), pp. 557–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at p. 583; W. Webster Englishness and empire: 1939–1965 (Oxford, 2001), p. 180.

59 Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 351.

60 J. E. Powell, ‘Royal titles’, 3 Mar. 1953, in Collings, ed., Reflections, p. 201.

61 E.g. J. E. Powell, at Wolverhampton, 21 May 1965 (POLL 6/1/1).

62 J. E. Powell, in Express and Star, 10 Oct. 1964 (POLL 6/1/1).

63 J. E. Powell to A. S. Reeve, bishop of Lichfield, 26 Feb. 1965 (POLL 1/1/11).

64 J. E. Powell, ‘Facing up to Britain's race problem’, Daily Telegraph, 16 Feb. 1967, in Wood, ed., Freedom and reality, pp. 223–6.

65 J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968 (POLL 4/1/3).

66 J. E. Powell, at Birmingham, 20 Apr. 1968, in Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 179–90.

67 J. E. Powell, at Eastbourne, 16 Oct. 1968, in Collings, ed., Reflections, pp. 382–93; ‘Any questions?’ (BBC radio), 29 Nov. 1968, in ibid., pp. 394–8; ‘The great debate’ (BBC TV), 9 Sept. 1969, in ibid., pp. 399–400; J. E. Powell, at Wolverhampton, 11 June 1970, in ibid., pp. 401–5; ‘Race and immigration’ (BBC TV), 18 Feb. 1973, in ibid., pp. 406–8; R. Shepherd, ed., ‘Enoch: a life in politics’ 16 Oct. 1987 (Channel 4 TV).

68 Correspondence with Richard Ritchie May–November 2005 (based on a discussion between Ritchie and Pam Powell May 2005).

69 Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 338.

70 ‘We'll abolish SET, John Cordle tells Tories’, Evening Echo (Bournemouth), 20 Nov. 1967 (POLL 12/1/11); J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968 (POLL 4/1/3); J. E. Powell, at Birmingham, 20 Apr. 1968, in Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 179–90

71 Roth, Enoch Powell, p. 341; Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 437.

72 J. E. Powell, ‘Can we afford to let our race problem explode?’, Sunday Express, 9 July 1967 (POLL 6/1/2); J. E. Powell to Heath, 17 July 1967 (STAF D3123/230).

73 A. Marwick The sixties (Oxford, 1998), pp. 654–5.

74 J. E. Powell, at Birmingham, 20 Apr. 1968, in Utley, Enoch Powell, p. 190.

75 Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 339.

76 J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968 (POLL 4/1/3).

77 Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 343.

78 ‘Bishops appeal to West Bromwich bus strikers’, Express and Star, 24 Feb. 1955 (POLL 1/1/11); J. E. Powell to A. S. Reeve (bishop of Lichfield), 26 Feb. 1955 (POLL 1/1/11).

79 Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 378.

80 F. Reeves, Race and borough politics (Aldershot, 1989), p. 79.

81 Ibid., pp. 61–76.

82 Ibid.; Race; Foot, Rise, p. 111; Roth, Enoch Powell, pp. 347–8; Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p.349; Utley, Enoch Powell, pp. 26–7.

83 Reeves, Race, p. 69.

84 Ibid., pp. 70–1.

85 Ibid., pp. 73–4.

86 J. E. Powell, at Birmingham, 20 Apr. 1968, in Utley, Enoch Powell, p. 189.

87 Marwick, Sixties, p. 755; see also Foot, Rise, pp. 66–143; and to a lesser extent, I. Gilmour, Inside right: a study of conservatism (London, 1978), pp. 133–9.

88 Ritchie interview, 2005.

89 Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 76.

90 Marwick, Sixties, p. 755.

91 Shepherd, Enoch Powell, p. 343.

92 Reports on the situation in the Punjab: March 1946 – July 1947, chief secretary to the government, Punjab (POLL 3/1/7).

93 J. E. Powell, at Walsall, 9 Feb. 1968 (POLL 4/1/3).

94 ‘Enoch in India’, Times, 12 Feb. 1968 (POLL 12/1/11).

95 Ritchie interview, 2005.

96 Ritchie interview, 2005.

97 J. E. Powell, ‘Paper on Indian policy’, 3 Dec. 1946 (POLL 3/1/4).

98 Reeves, Race, p. 75.

99 ‘A Conservative’ [J. E. Powell], in Sunday Times, 14 June 1964, in Heffer, Like the Roman, p. 351.

100 J. E. Powell, ‘Notes on Brigadier Grand's paper’, early 1946 (POLL 3/1/1).

101 J. E. Powell, ‘Can we afford to let our race problem explode?’, Sunday Express, 9 July 1967 (POLL 6/1/2); R. M. du Plessis to J. E. Powell, 30 June 1967 (STAF D3123/229).

102 R. M. du Plessis to J. E. Powell, 28 Jan. 1968 (STAF D3123/230).

103 J. E. Powell to Du Plessis, 30 Jan. 1968 (STAF D3123/230).

104 J. Wickenden to Pam Powell, 4 Sept. 1967 (POLL 1/1/19).

105 J. Wickenden to Pam Powell, 12 Jan. 1968 (POLL 1/1/19).

106 Ritchie correspondence, 2005.

107 D. Ceserani, ‘Nationality and ethnicity’, in P. Johnson, ed., Twentieth century Britain: economic, social and cultural change (London, 1994), p. 127; D. Cesarani, ‘The changing character of citizenship and nationality in Britain’, in D. Cesarani and M. Fulbrook, eds., Citizenship, nationality and migration in Europe (London, 1996), pp. 63–70; Gilroy, Union Jack, pp. 46–7; Kearney, H. ‘The importance of being British’, Political Quarterly, 71 (2000), pp. 15–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar; T. T. Kushner, ‘Immigration and “race relations” in postwar British society’, in Johnson, ed., Twentieth-century Britain, pp. 422–4; T. Kushner, ‘The spice of life? Ethnic difference, politics and culture in modern Britain’, in Cesarani and Fulbrook, eds., Citizenship, pp.125–45; Parekh, B., ‘Defining British national identity’, Political Quarterly, 71 (2000), pp. 8–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar; K. Paul, Whitewashing Britain: race and citizenship in the postwar era (Ithaca, 1997), pp. 189; K. Paul ‘From subjects to immigrants: black Britons and national identity, 1948–1962’, in R. Weight and A. Beach, eds., The right to belong: citizenship and national identity in Britain, 1930–1960 (London, 1998), pp. 223–48; S. Saggar, ‘Immigration and economics: the politics of race in the postwar period’, in H. Fawcett and R. Lowe, eds., Welfare policy in Britain: the road from 1945 (Basingstoke, 1999), pp. 172–95; Waters, C., ‘“Dark strangers” in our midst: discourses of race and nation in Britain, 1947–1963’, Journal of British Studies, 36 (1997), p. 208CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weight, Patriots, pp. 435–9.

108 Paul, Whitewashing Britain, pp. 178–9.

109 Gilroy, Union Jack, pp. 47, 88; Layton-Henry, Politics, pp. 70–2; Parekh ‘Defining British national identity’, p. 9; D. Reynolds, Britannia overruled: British policy and world power in the twentieth century (London, 2000), p. 212; Rich, Race, pp. 211–12; Weight, Patriots, pp. 431–5.

110 Gilroy, Union Jack, p. 48; B. Schwarz, ‘Black metropolis, white England’, in M. Nava and A. O'Shea, eds., Modern times: reflections on a century of English modernity (London, 1996), p. 199; Weight, Patriots, pp. 432–3, 437; C. Waters, ‘“Dark strangers” in our midst’, pp. 215–21, 236–8.

111 ‘The Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image’: E. Said, Orientalism (London, 1978), pp. 1–2; see Colley, L., ‘Britishness and otherness: an argument’ Journal of British Studies, 31 (1992), pp. 324–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

112 S. Ward, ed., British culture and the end of empire (Manchester, 2001), pp. 4–6; Webster, Englishness, p. 2.

113 Webster, ‘There'll always be an England’, p. 583; Webster, Englishness, pp. 180–1.

114 Layton-Henry, Politics, pp. 1–15.

115 J. E. Powell, ‘Facing up to Britain's race problem’, Daily Telegraph, 16 Feb. 1967, in Wood, ed., Freedom and reality, p. 225.

116 Metcalf, Ideologies, pp. x, 185–203.

117 Mehta, Liberalism, pp. 149–51.

118 A marked parallel with Edwin Montagu's liberal response to General Dyer's Amritsar Massacre of 1919: Metcalf, Ideologies, p. 230.

119 Ritchie correspondence, 2005.