''The Week'' was a British newspaper from 1933 until 1941, described by its founder as an "extreme left-wing news sheet".

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

journalist Claud Cockburn launched the first British publication known as ''The Week'' as a

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...

in the spring of 1933, after he had returned from reporting on

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It focused on the rise of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

Jessica Mitford Jessica Lucy "Decca" Freeman-Mitford (11 September 1917 – 23 July 1996) was an English author, one of the six aristocratic Mitford sisters noted for their sharply conflicting politics. Jessica married her second cousin Esmond Romilly, who ...

in ''A Fine Old Conflict'' attributed the journal's influence to its use of undercover sources. It ceased publication in 1941. Article and quotes from sources. In the late 1930s, ''The Week'' was highly critical of

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...

and his policy of

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

.Watt, Donald Cameron "Rumors as Evidence" pages 276-286 from ''Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy'' edited by Ljubica & Mark Erickson, London:

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

, 2004 page 278. Cockburn maintained in the 1960s that much of the information in ''The Week'' was leaked to him by Sir Robert Vansittart, the Permanent Under-Secretary of the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

. At the same time, Cockburn claimed that

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

was spying on him because of ''The Week''; but the British historian D.C. Watt considered that it was more likely that, if anyone was spying on Cockburn, it was the

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

, who were less experienced in this work than MI5. Cockburn was an opponent of

before the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

. In a 1937 article in ''The Week'', Cockburn coined the term

Cliveden set The Cliveden set were an upper-class group of politically influential people active in the 1930s in the United Kingdom, prior to the Second World War. They were in the circle of Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, the first female Member of Parliament ...

to describe what he alleged to be an upper-class pro-German group that exercised influence behind the scenes. ''The Week'' was banned and ceased publication shortly after the war began. Watt alleges that the information printed in ''The Week'' included rumours, some of which suited Moscow's interests.Watt, Donald Cameron "Rumors as Evidence" pages 276-286 from ''Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy'' edited by Ljubica & Mark Erickson, London:

, 2004 page 283. Watt used as an example the claim ''The Week'' made in February–March 1939 that German troops were concentrating in Klagenfurt for an

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...

, which Watt says had no basis in reality.

References

News magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct political magazines published in the United Kingdom English-language magazines Magazines established in 1933 Magazines disestablished in 1941 Marxist magazines United Kingdom in World War II {{Europe-poli-mag-stub