Evan Durbin

Evan Durbin

British economist and left-wing politician
Date of Birth: 01.03.1906
Country: Great Britain

Biography of Evan Durbin

Evan Durbin was a British economist and left-wing politician known for his work that praised planned economy while also advocating for the indispensability of market mechanisms in price formation. According to historian David Kynaston, Durbin was the most interesting of the Labour thinkers of the 1940s, if not the entire 20th century.

Durbin was born in 1906 into the family of a Baptist clergyman. He attended schools in Plympton, Exmouth, Exeter, and Taunton. He then pursued higher education at New College, Oxford University, where he studied zoology, philosophy, politics, and economics. Durbin was known to be part of a group of outstanding young socialists referred to as the "Cole's Group" by Ben Pimlott. During the General Strike of 1926, Durbin became friends with Hugh Gaitskell, the future leader of the Labour Party. Durbin represented the striking workers while Gaitskell served as his driver.

In 1929, Durbin received a scholarship to study economics at University College, London, where Gaitskell was already a lecturer. Their friendship grew stronger during their time in London and continued until Durbin's death in 1948.

In the autumn of 1930, Durbin became a lecturer at the London School of Economics, where he remained until 1945. He made unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament as a Labour candidate from East Grinstead in 1931 and Gillingham, Kent in 1935.

In early 1939, Durbin, along with Douglas Jay and Hugh Gaitskell, attempted to convince the Labour Party leaders to support the government's proposal for conscription into military service. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in persuading the party to endorse the conscription, which proved to be a mistake in hindsight.

During the war, Durbin joined the economic division of the secretariat of the wartime government, alongside notable economists such as Lionel Robbins and Harold Wilson. He also served as a personal assistant to Clement Attlee, the Deputy Prime Minister, for a period of time.

From 1945 to 1948, Durbin represented the Labour Party in Parliament for Edmonton. He attended the "Young Victors Dinner" organized by Hugh Dalton at St Ermin's Hotel, where he was joined by other prominent Labour figures such as George Brown, Richard Crossman, John Freeman, Hugh Gaitskell, Harold Wilson, and Woodrow Wyatt. Durbin held the position of Parliamentary Private Secretary from 1945 to 1947 and worked in the Ministry of Works from 1947 to 1948.

Tragically, Durbin drowned on September 2, 1948, while trying to save one of his daughters on the coast of Cornwall, near Bude. Despite his untimely death at the age of 42, Durbin's legacy continued to inspire the Labour Party, largely due to the influence of his friend Hugh Gaitskell.

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