Walter Citrine (1887–1983)

In the later stages of the Winter War between Russia and Finland, TUC leader Walter Citrine went with a group of Labour Party-connected leaders to see for himself what was going on in the war. It is something of a flying visit, and the Finnish government seems to have made a great deal of effort to help them, though if the entries are to be believed, the group did a lot on its own. Citrine seems to have had a bugaboo about lecturing the Finns on labour-management relations, which must have bemused the Finns, and it frankly makes him look like an interfering busybody, in spite of the fact that he was a labour leader. What he saw of combat was limited, save for the Red Air Force bombing. Still, an interesting account if you can get past Citrine's officiousness.… (meer)