National Union of Ex-Service Men

Last updated

The National Union of Ex-Servicemen (NUX) was a socialist ex-servicemen's organisation founded in London in early 1919 with close links with the Labour Party. Many of its members were formerly supporters of the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers and the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Union (SSAU). Within six months it had grown from one branch with fifty members to over one hundred branches and claimed a membership of nearly 100,000. [1] [2] Its membership was boosted by the stance of the Federation against the 1919 United Kingdom railway strike in the autumn of that year: it called on Prime Minister David Lloyd George to "hold firm against Labour tyranny", causing tension in its ranks and prompting many left-wing members to leave and join NUX, which had supported the strike. By the end of 1919 NUX had 200,000 members and 200 branches. [3]

The NUX was allied to the Labour Party. It also established close links to the Independent Labour Party. It articulated the grievances of ex-servicemen and campaigned for better living conditions for former soldiers by raising issues such as unemployment, higher back pay, better pensions, inadequate housing and improved medical care for soldiers disabled by injury. It played a role as a claimants union aiming to secure justice for disabled former soldiers and adequate provision for the widows and families of soldiers who died in the First World War. It argued in favour of requisitioning empty homes for the use of unemployed ex-servicemen, [3] for land reform and a tax on profiteering landlords, and pressed for reform of military courts martial. It also pushed to defend and extend the rights of former soldiers with shell shock, forcing the Labour Party to pass a motion condemning their treatment by the government as "pauper lunatics", and bringing the demand for better mental health treatment for ex-servicemen into the political mainstream. [3] It tried to organise a national rent strike. It also supported democratisation of the army. [3] But - unlike other ex-servicemen's organisations - it called upon ex-servicemen to unite to improve society as a whole rather than simply campaigning on veteran's issues. [1] The Union's view was that soldiers should not be seen as a caste separate from the rest of society: that when they served they were "workers-in-uniform", and that when they ended their duty they went back to being workers. [3]

The Union was based in London but had a strong regional presence especially in Birmingham, Glasgow and Lancashire. Its leaders included G. D. H. Cole, Ernest Thurtle and Clement Attlee. [3] Its first President was Duncan Carmichael who was Secretary of the London Trades Council. He was succeeded by John Beckett. Ernest Mander, a London lawyer who sold his home to help finance the NUX and later emigrated to New Zealand, became General Secretary. [4] The NUX produced a monthly publication New World. It operated on a shoestring and always struggled financially although it received some financial support from the ILP.

The NUX was kept under close surveillance by the newly formed Home Office Directorate of Intelligence because of Government fears that it might be promoting subversion or revolution, although little evidence of subversive activity was found. A more militant international offshoot, the International Union of Ex-Servicemen (I.U.X) was formed in Glasgow in 1919, although it claimed only 7,000 members by November 1919. [2] The NUX also supported the Hands Off Russia campaign to oppose British support for the anti-Communist White movement in the Russian Civil War. [3]

Fifty-three NUX supporting Labour Party candidates were elected in the urban district council elections of 1920 but by the autumn of 1920 and following a ballot of its members, the NUX reconstituted itself as a loose federation of autonomous branches many of which were then absorbed into the ILP, the Labour Party or the Communist Party, and it was wound up as a national organisation. [1]

In the eighteen months since its formation, the NUX had conducted vigorous propaganda campaigns throughout Britain and held an estimated 47,000 meetings. [1] The NUX also served as an apprenticeship for future political campaigners such as John Beckett, who became a Labour MP and later a leading fascist, and the Birmingham journalists and politicians Jim Simmons and CE Leatherland.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent Labour Party</span> British political party

The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates. A sitting independent MP and prominent union organiser, Keir Hardie, became its first chairman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Kirkwood</span> Scottish politician, trade unionist and socialist activist (1872–1955)

David Kirkwood, 1st Baron Kirkwood, PC, was a Scottish politician, trade unionist and socialist activist from the East End of Glasgow, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for nearly 30 years, and was as a leading figure of the Red Clydeside era.

Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a significant part of the history of the labour movement in Britain as a whole, and Scotland in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workers' Socialist Federation</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Workers' Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on women's suffrage to eventually become a left communist grouping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Mann</span> British trade unionist and activist (1856–1941)

Thomas Mann, was an English trade unionist and is widely recognised as a leading, pioneering figure for the early labour movement in Britain. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the British labour movement.

The Dominion Labour Party (DLP) was formed in Canada in 1918 in opposition to Canadian participation in World War I. The party enjoyed its greatest success in the province of Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Union of Seamen</span> Former trade union of the United Kingdom

The National Union of Seamen (NUS) was the principal trade union of merchant seafarers in the United Kingdom from the late 1880s to 1990. In 1990, the union amalgamated with the National Union of Railwaymen to form the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. D. Sheehan</span> Irish politician

Daniel Desmond Sheehan, usually known as D. D. Sheehan was an Irish nationalist, politician, labour leader, journalist, barrister and author. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland representing Mid-Cork from 1901 to 1918, a constituency comprising the districts of Ahadallane, Ballincollig, Ballyvourney, Blarney, Coachford, Farran, Inchigeelagh, Macroom, Millstreet and Shandangan. As co-founder and President of the Irish Land and Labour Association, he was credited with considerable success in land reform, labour reforms and in rural state housing. From 1909, he was General Secretary of the Central Executive of the All-for-Ireland League, favouring a policy of National reconciliation between all creeds and classes in Ireland. During World War I he served as Irish regiments officer with the 16th (Irish) Division in France, 1915–16. He resigned his parliamentary seat in 1918 and lived in England for several years, returning to Dublin following the ending of the civil war, when he was appointed editor of the Dublin Chronicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Beckett (politician)</span> British politician

John Warburton Beckett was a British politician who was a Labour Party MP from 1924 to 1931. During the 1930s, he joined the fascist movement, first in the British Union of Fascists and later as a founder of the National Socialist League. During World War II, he was interned in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bruce Glasier</span> Scottish socialist politician, 1859–1920

John Bruce Glasier was a Scottish socialist politician, associated mainly with the Independent Labour Party. He was opposed to the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheffield Trades and Labour Council</span>

The Sheffield Trades and Labour Council, usually known as the Sheffield Trades Council, is a labour organisation uniting trade unionists in Sheffield.

The National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers (NADSS) was a British veterans' organisation.

The National Federation of Discharged and Demobilised Sailors and Soldiers (NFDDSS) was a British veterans organisation.

The Officers' Association (OA) is a registered charity in the United Kingdom, supporting Former-officers and their families providing advice and financial assistance, it was founded in February 1920 and incorporated under Royal Charter on 30 June 1921.

The Organisation of Scottish Labour is a body established under the national rules of the UK Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Socialist Party</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war right wing. After the victory of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia at the end of 1917 and the termination of the First World War the following year, the BSP emerged as an explicitly revolutionary socialist organisation. It negotiated with other radical groups in an effort to establish a unified communist organisation, an effort which culminated in August 1920 with the establishment of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The youth organisation the Young Socialist League was affiliated with the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Democratic Federation</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Connolly and Eleanor Marx. However, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's long-term collaborator, refused to support Hyndman's venture. Many of its early leading members had previously been active in the Manhood Suffrage League.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) was an organisation of former Independent Labour Party members who wished to remain part of the Labour Party after their former party disaffiliated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes Dollan</span> Scottish suffragette and political activist

Agnes Johnston Dollan MBE, also known as Agnes, Lady Dollan, was a Scottish suffragette and political activist. She was a leading campaigner during the Glasgow Rent Strikes, and a founding organiser of the Women's Peace Crusade. In 1919, she was the first woman selected by the Labour party to stand for election to Glasgow Town Council, and later became Lady Provost of Glasgow.

Henry William Sampson, OBE, often known as "Sammy", was an English-born South African trade unionist and politician.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 The National Union of Ex-Servicemen and the Labour Movement, 1918-1920. David Englander. History. 1991
  2. 1 2 Intelligence Surveillance of British Ex-Servicemen, 1918-1920. Stephen R Ward. The Historical Journal. 1973
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Barnett, Marcus; Broder, David (12 November 2018). "Comrades at War". Jacobin . Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. ↑ The Rebel Who Lost His Cause - The Tragedy of John Beckett MP. Francis Beckett. 1999
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.