Direct Action Committee

Last updated

The Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War or the Direct Action Committee (DAC) was a pacifist organisation formed "to assist the conducting of non-violent direct action to obtain the total renunciation of nuclear war and its weapons by Britain and all other countries as a first step in disarmament". [1] [2] It existed from 1957 to 1961.

Contents

Origins

The DAC was formed in response to the British H-Bomb tests carried out between 1956 and 1958. In 1957, at the time of one of the tests on Christmas Island, Harold Steele planned to sail into the test area in protest. [2] He was unable to do so [3] but his supporters formed a committee and marched in support to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

The original committee comprised:

They were soon joined by:

By the end of 1958 the Committee's members also included Alex Comfort, Frances Edwards, Sheila Jones, Francis Jude and Michael Howard [5] (of the Crusade for World Government) [6] who later served as adjutant to Bertrand Russell during his dispute with Canon John Collins over the legitimacy of direct action. [7]

Actions

The DAC's march from London to Aldermaston at Easter, 1958, for which DAC Committee member Michael Howard was the Chief Marshal was, in the event, supported by the newly formed Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and in the upsurge of popular opposition to the H-bomb attracted thousands of people. The Aldermaston March was subsequently run as an annual event by CND.

The DAC organised meetings, marches, vigils and pickets, campaigned in parliamentary elections [2] and carried out acts of civil disobedience to publicise the pacifist cause. [2] Following the principles of the Indian nationalist leader M.K.Gandhi, they believed their actions should be non-violent and carried out at some personal cost to themselves, such as losing their jobs or going to jail. [2] [8]

What differentiated them from other peace organisations at the time was their attempt to persuade people to stop working in industries connected with nuclear weapons, in which they had some successes. [8] After the 1958 Aldermaston march, the DAC stayed in the Aldermaston area to try to stop work at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. They picketed, met with trades unions, held factory gate meetings and canvassed in the surrounding villages. [8] As a result, five workers resigned from their jobs, three job applicants withdrew and five drivers refused to deliver to the establishment. [8] [9] The DAC then moved to Norfolk to campaign against the Thor nuclear missiles at an RAF base at North Pickenham, using similar methods to those they had used at Aldermaston. One worker left the base and others said they would do so if they could find other jobs. [8] They then moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire, to campaign against the de Havilland and English Electric factories, which made guided missiles. [10]

The DAC ran a "No votes for the H-bomb" campaign in the 1959 South West Norfolk by-election. They worked with similar organisations outside the UK, demonstrating against nuclear tests in the Sahara Desert and in a peace march from San Francisco to Moscow, organised by the Committee for Non-Violent Action in 1961. [10] Their final action before being wound up was a demonstration against the Polaris nuclear submarine in spring, 1961.

Sponsors

Demise

The formation in 1960 of the Committee of 100, a mass civil disobedience movement against nuclear weapons, plus considerable financial difficulties, led to the decision in June 1961 to wind down the DAC. Most of its members were active in the Committee of 100. [10]

Assessment

As long as it lasted, the DAC was effectively the direct-action wing of CND, whose leadership were either uncertain about direct action or opposed to it. There was an overlap between supporters of CND and supporters of the DAC. The sponsors of the DAC included the president of CND (Bertrand Russell), three members of CND's executive committee and other CND leaders. Pat Arrowsmith, a pacifist and consistent supporter of direct action, was appointed assistant secretary of CND after the first Aldermaston March. The DAC depended on the support of many local CND groups and was also given money by the CND executive committee. [6]

However, there were differences in age, background and political experience between the members of DAC and the CND leadership, and there were considerable differences in tactics and ideology. [6] Christopher Driver in his book on the early years of CND says of the DAC, "For the most part the members of the DAC were people of exceptionally pure motives. ... Unlike the CND Executive, and unlike some of their successors in the Committee of 100 into which the DAC was eventually merged, many DAC members were not particularity interested in the local and national publicity which their actions evoked, except insofar as it helped to make converts to Gandhi's ideas on non-violent action." [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disarmament</span> Act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons, usually on a national scale

Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms. General and Complete Disarmament was defined by the United Nations General Assembly as the elimination of all WMD, coupled with the “balanced reduction of armed forces and conventional armaments, based on the principle of undiminished security of the parties with a view to promoting or enhancing stability at a lower military level, taking into account the need of all States to protect their security.”

The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States. The organization is celebrating its centennial from the founding date of October 19 into 2024.

The Committee for Non-Violent Action (CNVA) was an American anti-war group, formed in 1957 to resist the US government's program of nuclear weapons testing. It was one of the first organizations to employ nonviolent direct action to protest against the nuclear arms race.

The Committee of 100 was a British anti-war group. It was set up in 1960 with a hundred public signatories by Bertrand Russell, Ralph Schoenman, Michael Scott, and others. Its supporters used mass nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience to achieve their aims.

European Nuclear Disarmament (END) was a Europe-wide movement for a "nuclear-free Europe from Poland to Portugal” that put on annual European Nuclear Disarmament conventions from 1982 to 1991.

<i>Peace News</i> British pacifist magazine started in 1936

Peace News (PN) is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 was co-published with War Resisters' International.

Gerald Herbert Holtom was an English artist and designer. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, in 1958 he designed the Nuclear Disarmament (ND) logo, which was adopted the same year by the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and later became an international peace symbol.

The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is a non-governmental organisation that promotes pacifism, based in the United Kingdom. Its members are signatories to the following pledge: "War is a crime against humanity. I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war. I am also determined to work for the removal of all causes of war", and campaign to promote peaceful and nonviolent solutions to conflict. The PPU forms the British section of War Resisters' International.

The Aldermaston marches were anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations in the 1950s and 1960s, taking place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of fifty-two miles, or roughly 83 km. At their height in the early 1960s they attracted tens of thousands of people and were the highlight of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) calendar. Similar demonstrations also took place around the world.

Anti-nuclear organizations may oppose uranium mining, nuclear power, and/or nuclear weapons. Anti-nuclear groups have undertaken public protests and acts of civil disobedience which have included occupations of nuclear plant sites. Some of the most influential groups in the anti-nuclear movement have had members who were elite scientists, including several Nobel Laureates and many nuclear physicists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom</span> Groups in the United Kingdom that oppose nuclear power and nuclear weapons

The anti-nuclear movement in the United Kingdom consists of groups who oppose nuclear technologies such as nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Many different groups and individuals have been involved in anti-nuclear demonstrations and protests over the years.

Margaret P. Arrowsmith was a British author and peace campaigner. She was a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace movement</span> Social movement against a particular war or wars

A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peace. Some of the methods used to achieve these goals include advocacy of pacifism, nonviolent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts, peace camps, ethical consumerism, supporting anti-war political candidates, supporting legislation to remove profits from government contracts to the military–industrial complex, banning guns, creating tools for open government and transparency, direct democracy, supporting whistleblowers who expose war crimes or conspiracies to create wars, demonstrations, and political lobbying. The political cooperative is an example of an organization which seeks to merge all peace-movement and green organizations; they may have diverse goals, but have the common ideal of peace and humane sustainability. A concern of some peace activists is the challenge of attaining peace when those against peace often use violence as their means of communication and empowerment.

The Anglican Pacifist Fellowship (APF) is a body of people within the Anglican Communion who reject war as a means of solving international disputes, and believe that peace and justice should be sought through nonviolent means.

Michael Randle is an English peace campaigner and researcher known for his involvement in nonviolent direct action in Britain and also for his role in helping the Soviet spy George Blake escape from a British prison.

Hugh Brock (1914–1985) was a lifelong British pacifist, editor of Peace News between 1955 and 1964, a promoter of nonviolent direct action and a founder of the Direct Action Committee, a forerunner of the Committee of 100.

Operation Gandhi was a pacifist group in Britain that carried out the country’s first nonviolent direct action protests in 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament</span> British organisation advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It opposes military action that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, and the building of nuclear power stations in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie Hislam</span>

Laurence Hislam was an English peace activist. Hislam's anti-war feelings and activism developed from about 1938, first in the Peace Pledge Union working with Basque child refugees from the Spanish Civil War. His first notable individual activism was in 1939, when he released "rubber ball bombs" from a suitcase, causing chaos in Downing Street, for which he served one month hard labour. As an anarchist conscientious objector in WWII he served periods of imprisonment, wrote for War Commentary and distributed anti-war literature. In 1945 he joined The London Forum discussion group and later worked for the Freedom Defence Committee in London. In 1951 Hislam moved to Gloucestershire, where he continued with anti-war protests and activism including having his head shaved in 1964 and 1965 for a vigil to commemorate the dropping of a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, many local CND demonstrations and a pilgrimage to Rome hoping to influence Pope John XXIII to condemn nuclear weapons. He was a founder member of the Committee of 100 and took part in many CND protests. He was killed in a car crash in 1966.

References

  1. ↑ "Records of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, University of Bradford" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Archive of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War - University of Bradford". www.bradford.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  3. ↑ LSE Archives
  4. ↑ Arlo Tatum is by origin American. He was the national co-ordinator of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and produced the Handbook for Conscientious Objectors (1952) and Guide to the draft (1969). [ page needed ][ ISBN missing ]
  5. ↑ Greer, Herb. "The Story of C.N.D."
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Christopher Driver, The Disarmers: A Study in Protest, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1964
  7. ↑ Russell, Bertrand. The Selected Letters of Bertrand Russell: The Public Years, 1914–1970. p. 539.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Allen Lovell, "Where Next for the Campaign?" Universities and Left Review, No.6, Spring 1959
  9. ↑ ""Pat Arrowsmith recalls organising against Britain's Bomb", Socialist Worker, 22 March 2008". Archived from the original on 26 March 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 "Records of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, University of Bradford,". Archived from the original on 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.