Walter Citrine

'This fascinating biography sets the record straight on a giant of the Labour movement... and contains many lessons for us today.' - Frances O' Grady, TUC General Secretary


'Like many trade unionists, Walter Citrine was crucial to my education. A major political figure of the 20th century, Citrine deserves the great biography that Jim Moher has given him.' - Alan Johnson, former Home Secretary and union leader


The forgotten story of a Liverpool lad who rose from the squalor of Edwardian Merseyside's bustling docks to become the confidant of Churchill and Roosevelt as leader of Britain's trade unions during the Second World War.


Walter Citrine's life spanned the late-nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries. During his leadership of the Trades Union Congress, the unions progressed from impotent grandstanding to effective lobbying, influencing governments and employers to transform deplorable working conditions and elevate the worker's place in society.


Through Citrine's life, readers will revisit the key historical episodes in which his work was so influential - the General Strike of 1926, the 'Great Depression' of 1928-34, the rise of Hitler and Fascism, the challenge of Stalin and Communism, the Second World War and the reconstruction afterwards.


At a time when trade unions are once again being consulted by governments on their plans to revive the economy, never has Citrine's story been so relevant.