Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad

Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad (12 August 1891 – 9 April 1953) was an English philosopher and broadcasting personality. He appeared on ''The Brains Trust'', a BBC Radio wartime discussion programme. He popularised philosophy and became a celebrity, before his downfall in a scandal over an unpaid train fare in 1948.

Early life

Joad was born in Durham, the only son of Edwin and Mary Joad (née Smith). In 1892 his father became an Inspector of Schools and the family moved to Southampton, where he received a very strict Christian upbringing. Joad started school at the age of five in 1896, attending Oxford Preparatory School (later called the Dragon School) until 1906, and then Blundell's School, Tiverton, Devon, until 1910.

Balliol College

In 1910 Joad went up to Balliol College, Oxford. Here he developed his skills as a philosopher and debater. By 1912 he was a first class sportsman and Oxford Union debater. He also became a Syndicalist, a Guild Socialist and then a Fabian. In 1913 he heard about George Bernard Shaw through the newly founded magazine the ''New Statesman''. This developed his study of philosophy, one of the building blocks for his career as a teacher and broadcaster. After completing his course at Balliol, achieving a first in Honour Moderations in Literae Humaniores (1912), a first in Greats (a combination of philosophy and ancient history, 1914) and John Locke scholarship in mental philosophy (1914), Joad entered the civil service.

Civil service

Joad began at the Board of Trade in 1914 after attending a Fabian Summer School. His aim was to infuse the civil service with a socialist ethos. Joad socialised with other Fabians like Agnes Harben and her husband, and was quoted on the experience of meeting suffragettes recovering from hunger strike mixing with the 'county set'. He worked in the Labour Exchanges Department of the Board of Trade, the department becoming the new Ministry of Labour in 1916. In the months leading up to the First World War he displayed "ardent" pacifism, which resulted in political controversy. Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft,
''Twentieth Century Authors, A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature'', (Third Edition). New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1950, (p.p. 726-7) Joad, along with George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell, became unpopular with many who were trying to encourage men to enlist as soldiers to fight for their country.

Marriage

In May 1915 Joad married Mary White, and they bought a home in Westhumble, near Dorking, in Surrey. The village, formerly home to Fanny Burney, was near to the founder of the Fabian Society, Beatrice Webb. Joad was so fearful of conscription that he fled to Snowdonia, Wales, until it was safe to return. After the birth of three children, Joad's marriage ended in separation in 1921. Joad later caused some controversy by stating his separation had caused him to abandon his feminism and instead adopt a belief in the "inferior mind" of women.

Life after separation

After the separation Joad moved to Hampstead in London with a student teacher, Marjorie Thomson. She was the first of many mistresses, all of whom were introduced as 'Mrs Joad'. He described sexual desire as "a buzzing bluebottle that needed to be swatted promptly before it distracted a man of intellect from higher things." He believed that female minds lacked objectivity, and he had no interest in talking to women who would not go to bed with him. By now Joad was "short and rotund, with bright little eyes, round, rosy cheeks, and a stiff, bristly beard." He dressed in shabby clothing as a test: if people sneered at this they were too petty to merit acquaintance.

Job interviews proved a great difficulty for Joad, due to his flippancy. In 1930, however, he left the civil service to become Head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology at Birkbeck College, University of London. Although the department was small, he made full use of his great teaching skills. He popularised philosophy, and many other philosophers were beginning to take him seriously. With his two books, ''Guide to Modern Thought'' (1933) and ''Guide to Philosophy'' (1936), he became a well-known figure in public society.

1930s–1940s

In his early life Joad very much shared the desire for the destruction of the Capitalist system. He was expelled from the Fabian Society in 1925 because of sexual misbehaviour at its summer school, and did not rejoin until 1943. In 1931, disenchanted with Labour in office, Joad became Director of Propaganda for the New Party. Owing to the rise of Oswald Mosley's pro-Fascist sympathies, Joad resigned, along with John Strachey. Soon afterwards he became bitterly opposed to Nazism, but he continued to oppose militarism and gave his support to pacifist organisations, including the No More War Movement and the Peace Pledge Union.

While at Birkbeck College Joad played a leading role in The King and Country debate. The motion, devised by David Graham and debated on Thursday 9 February 1933, was "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country.” The debate was often interpreted as illustrating both the attitude of Oxford undergraduates and the state of Europe at the time; Adolf Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany just ten days prior to the debate. Joad was the principal speaker in favour of the proposition, which passed by a vote of 275 to 153. Joad's speech was described as “well-organized and well-received, and probably the single most important reason for the outcome of the debate.” Joad's part in the debate caused him to gain a public reputation as an absolute pacifist. Joad was also involved in the National Peace Council, which he chaired, 1937–38.

Joad was an outspoken controversialist; he declared his main intellectual influences were George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells