Background
Wolfgang was born in Germany. As Jews, his family suffered persecution under the Nazis, and in 1937 his parents arranged for the teenaged Walter to move from Frankfurt to Britain (this was before the start of the Kindertransport programme). Wolfgang attended Ottershaw College, Chertsey, while his parents followed him to Britain two years later and settled in Richmond. During World War II, Wolfgang volunteered to serve in the RAF but was rejected due to a physical condition. After the war, Wolfgang qualified as an accountant; he joined the Labour Party in 1948. He allied with the left and was Secretary of the Bevanite pressure group 'Victory for Socialism' from 1955 to 1958. He co-authored several of Victory for Socialism's pamphlets, including In Pursuit of Peace (1954) and The Red Sixties (1959); Wolfgang also assisted Hugh Jenkins in writing Summit Talks and on an unpublished work on Socialism in general in the late 1950s.
In 1956, Wolfgang co-wrote a pamphlet Tho' Cowards Flinch calling for all meetings of the Parliamentary Labour Party to be made open meetings for the press to report, and for the abolition of the standing orders of the PLP in order to allow Labour MPs freedom to defy the Labour whip. In the 1959 general election, Wolfgang was Labour candidate for Croydon North East, polling 15,440 votes, losing to sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, John Hughes-Hallett.
Read more about this topic: Walter Wolfgang
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