Michael Randle

Last updated
Michael Randle
Born1933 (age 90–91)
England
Alma mater University of London (BA)
University of Bradford (MPhil, PhD)
Spouse
Anne Randle
​
(m. 1962)​
Children2

Michael Randle (born 1933) 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.

Contents

Early life

Born in England, Randle spent World War II with relatives in Ireland. He became active in the peace movement since registering as a conscientious objector to military service in 1951. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of London (1966), a M.Phil. in peace studies from the University of Bradford 1981 and a Ph.D. in peace studies in 1994, also from the University of Bradford. [1]

Career

Randle was a member of the Aldermaston March committee which organised the first Aldermaston March against British nuclear weapons at Easter 1958. [1]

He was chairman of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War from 1958 to 1961, secretary of the Committee of 100 from 1960 to 1961 and a council and executive member of War Resisters' International from 1960 to 1987. [1]

In 1959 and 1960, he spent a year in Ghana, participating in the Sahara Protest Team against French atomic bomb tests in the Algerian Sahara and helping to organise a pan-African conference in Accra [1] which took place in April 1960. In 1962, he was sentenced, along with five other members of the Committee of 100, to 18 months' imprisonment for his part in organising nonviolent direct action at a USAF Wethersfield in Essex; [1] it was while he was serving that sentence that his first son, Sean, was born. In October 1967, he was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for participating in an occupation of the Greek Embassy in London following the Colonels' coup in April that year. [1]

George Blake escape

During his time in Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1962 and 1963, Randle became friends with George Blake, the British MI6 agent sentenced in 1961 to 42 years imprisonment for passing information to the Soviet Union. His outrage at the sentence imposed on Blake led him and two others, Pat Pottle and Sean Bourke, to assist Blake to escape from prison in October 1966. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Blake then stayed at "safe" houses around London, which were mostly friends of Randle and Pottle. The two wrote that they got Blake out of the area, first to Dover, hidden in a camper van, and then to a checkpoint in East Germany. Randle's children were sitting on the seat above Blake's hiding place to put off any customs officers who might look into the van. [10] From there, Blake was able to get to the Soviet Union. [11] [12]

The admission of their involvement in the escape came in 1989, after the publication of a book about Blake by Montgomery Hyde (George Blake, Superspy; ISBN   0708839924). Pottle and Randle subsequently published a book admitting their involvement, titled The Blake Escape. [13] Pottle later made this comment: "We didn't want needlessly to invite prosecution, but there were stories naming others who weren't involved, accusing us of being communist agents, trying to discredit the anti-nuclear campaign". [14]

They were subsequently arrested, and in June 1991, Randle and Pottle stood trial at the Old Bailey for their part in the escape. They defended themselves in court, arguing that, while they in no way condoned Blake's espionage activities for either side, they were right to help him because the 42 year sentence that was imposed was inhuman and hypocritical. According to Randle, the judge disallowed their defence on the grounds that neither Blake's life nor mental stability was under immediate threat. He passed over the submission of the defendants that though the threat to Blake's well-being was not imminent it would inevitably have occurred unless they had seized the opportunity to help free him before prison security was tightened. Despite the judge's ruling, the jury acquitted them on all counts - an act known as jury nullification in which a jury uses its absolute discretion to find as it sees fit. [15] [16] [17] Randle later told an interviewer that "there are some circumstances in which it is right to break the letter of the law, a point acknowledged by the legal defence of necessity". [18] [19] Bourke was never charged since he lived in the Republic of Ireland. [20]

Activism

Randle has a long history of anti-violence, having registered as a conscientious objector to military service in 1951 and joining Operation Gandhi (Non Violent Resistance Group) in 1952. According to the University of Bradford, he was "chairman of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, 1958-1961; secretary of the Committee of 100, 1960-1961; and a council and executive member of War Resisters’ International, 1960-1987" and has a PhD in Peace Studies (Bradford, 1994). [21]

In 1956, he walked from Vienna to Hungary, hoping to reach Budapest to support Hungarian passive resistance to the Soviet occupation; he was not allowed to enter Hungary. According to a Jisc article, "In 1968, he jointly co-ordinated for War Resisters' International protests in Moscow, Budapest, Sofia and Warsaw against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. In the 1970s and 1980s, he collaborated with the Czech dissident Jan Kavan, then living in London, smuggling literature and equipment to the democratic opposition in Czechoslovakia." [22]

From 1980 to 1987, he was coordinator of the Alternative Defence Commission, contributing to its publications, Defence Without the Bomb (Taylor and Francis, 1983) and The Politics of Alternative Defence (Paladin 1987). He has contributed articles and reviews to Peace News , New Society , The Guardian and other newspapers and journals. He is also the author of several books including The Blake Escape: How we Freed George Blake - and Why [23] and Alternatives in European Security. [24]

From 1988 to 1990, he was coordinator of the Bradford-based Social Defence Project and later coordinated the Nonviolent Action Research Project, also based in Bradford, the proceedings of which were edited into a book Challenge to Nonviolence. [25] He remains an honorary visiting research fellow at the Department of Peace Studies, Bradford University. In 2005, with April Carter and Howard Clark, he co-edited People Power and Protest since 1945: a bibliography on nonviolent action. [26]

In March 2003, Randle made an extended appearance on the television discussion programme After Dark , alongside Lord Hannay, Alice Nutter, Ruth Wedgwood, Ken O'Keefe and others. [27]

Randle served as the minutes secretary and bulletin editor of the Committee for Conflict Transformation Support from 1992 to 2009. [28] He is a long-serving trustee of the Commonweal Collection at the J.B. Priestley Library at Bradford University. As of 2018, he was the Chair of the Commonweal Trustees, a group that "supports ordinary people who work for a nonviolent world". [29]

Personal life

He married his wife, Anne, in 1962. They have two sons.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonviolence</span> Principle or practice of not causing harm to others

Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosophy of abstention from violence. It may be based on moral, religious or spiritual principles, or the reasons for it may be strategic or pragmatic. Failure to distinguish between the two types of nonviolent approaches can lead to distortion in the concept's meaning and effectiveness, which can subsequently result in confusion among the audience. Although both principled and pragmatic nonviolent approaches preach for nonviolence, they may have distinct motives, goals, philosophies, and techniques. However, rather than debating the best practice between the two approaches, both can indicate alternative paths for those who do not want to use violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Dellinger</span> American pacifist and activist

David T. Dellinger was an American pacifist and an activist for nonviolent social change. Although active beginning in the early 1940s, Dellinger reached peak prominence as one of the Chicago Seven, who were put on trial in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Lawson (activist)</span> American minister, educator, and activist

James Morris Lawson Jr. is an American activist and university professor. He was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960s, he served as a mentor to the Nashville Student Movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his civil rights activism in 1960, and later served as a pastor in Los Angeles for 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Sharp</span> American political scientist (1928–2018)

Gene Sharp was an American political scientist. He was the founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action, and professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He was known for his extensive writings on nonviolent struggle, which have influenced numerous anti-government resistance movements around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Blake</span> British/Soviet espionage agent (1922–2020)

George Blake was a spy with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a communist and decided to work for the MGB while a prisoner during the Korean War. Discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison, he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in west London in 1966 and fled to the Soviet Union, where he resided until his death in 2020. He was not one of the Cambridge Five spies, although he associated with Donald Maclean and Kim Philby after reaching the Soviet Union.

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 International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1914 in response to the horrors of war in Europe. Today IFOR counts 71 branches, groups and affiliates in 48 countries on all continents. IFOR members promote nonviolence, human rights and reconciliation through public education efforts, training programs and campaigns. The IFOR International Secretariat in Utrecht, Netherlands facilitates communication among IFOR members, links branches to capacity building resources, provides training in gender-sensitive nonviolence through the Women Peacemakers Program, and helps coordinate international campaigns, delegations and urgent actions. IFOR has ECOSOC status at the United Nations.

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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonviolence International</span> Resource center for non-violence and non-violent resistance

Nonviolence International (NI) acts as a network of resource centers that promote the use of nonviolence and nonviolent resistance. They have maintained relationships with activists in a number of countries, with their most recent projects taking place in Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine. They partnered with International Center on Nonviolent Conflict to update Gene Sharp's seminal work on 198 methods of nonviolent action through a book publication. NI has also produced a comprehensive database of nonviolence tactics, which stands as the largest collection of nonviolent tactics in the world. They partner with Rutgers University to provide the largest collection of nonviolence training materials in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War Resisters' International</span> International anti-war organisation

War Resisters' International (WRI), headquartered in London, is an international anti-war organisation with members and affiliates in over 40 countries.

Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: it can involve systematic attempts to undermine or expose the adversary's sources of power. Forms of action have included demonstrations, vigils and petitions; strikes, go-slows, boycotts and emigration movements; and sit-ins, occupations, constructive program, and the creation of parallel institutions of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Lafayette</span> American civil rights activist

Bernard Lafayette, Jr. is an American civil rights activist and organizer, who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He played a leading role in early organizing of the Selma Voting Rights Movement; was a member of the Nashville Student Movement; and worked closely throughout the 1960s movements with groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the American Friends Service Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonviolent resistance</span> Act of protest through nonviolent means

Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constructive program, or other methods, while refraining from violence and the threat of violence. This type of action highlights the desires of an individual or group that feels that something needs to change to improve the current condition of the resisting person or group.

Patrick Brian Pottle, a long-time anti-war campaigner, was a founding member of the Committee of 100, an anti-nuclear direct action group which broke away from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). He was one of five brothers. Born in Maida Vale, his mother was from an Irish Catholic family and his father was a Protestant trades union official.

Sean Aloysius Bourke (1934–1982), from Limerick, aided in the prison escape of the British spy George Blake in October 1966. Blake had been convicted in 1961 of spying for the Soviet Union. After the escape, Blake eventually made his way to Moscow; Bourke did too, but eventually returned to Ireland. Bourke's co-conspirators were Michael Randle and Pat Pottle.

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.

Civilian-based defense or social defence describes non-military action by a society or social group, particularly in a context of a sustained campaign against outside attack or dictatorial rule – or preparations for such a campaign in the event of external attack or usurpation. There are various near-synonyms, including "non-violent defence", "civilian defence" and "defence by civil resistance". Whatever term is used, this approach involves preparations for and use of a range of actions – which can be variously called nonviolent resistance and civil resistance – for national defence against invasion, coup d'état and other threats.

George Russell Lakey is an activist, sociologist, and writer who added academic underpinning to the concept of nonviolent revolution. He also refined the practice of experiential training for activists which he calls "Direct Education". A Quaker, he has co-founded and led numerous organizations and campaigns for justice and peace.

Howard Clark was an active pacifist who was Chair of War Resisters' International (WRI) from 2006 until his sudden death from a heart attack. As well as having played an important role in the WRI from the 1980s, he had been an active contributor to the British pacifist magazine, Peace News.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Michael Randle - Special Collections". University of Bradford. Retrieved 2023-11-11.
  2. ↑ "Patrick Pottle (obituary)". The Daily Telegraph . London. 4 October 2000. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  3. ↑ Norton-Taylor, Richard (3 October 2000). "Pat Pottle". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  4. ↑ Cohen, Nick (9 October 2000). "A jailbreak out of an Ealing comedy". New Statesman . London. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  5. ↑ Michael Randle and Pat Pottle, The Blake Escape: How We Freed George Blake - and Why, ISBN   0-245-54781-9, 1989
  6. ↑ Harrington, Illtyd (29 May 2003). "Forget the train robbers, this was the great escape". Camden New Journal . London. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  7. ↑ O’Connor, Kevin (2003). Blake and Bourke and The End of Empires. ISBN   0-9535697-3-X.
  8. ↑ "Extradition (Irish Republic)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . House of Commons. 30 July 1982. col. 1481–1490.
  9. ↑ Bourke, Sean (1970). The Springing of George Blake. ISBN   0-304-93590-5.
  10. ↑ "The Blake Escape". Do or Die: Voices from the Ecological Resistance. No. 10. pp. 296–298. Archived from the original on 14 February 2005.
  11. ↑ Norton-Taylor, Richard (22 October 2016). "'No regrets' says man who aided double agent George Blake to escape". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  12. ↑ "George Blake obituary". The Guardian. London. 26 December 2020. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  13. ↑ Randle, Michael; Pottle, Pat (1989). The Blake Escape: How We Freed George Blake and why. London: Harrap. ISBN   0-245-54781-9.
  14. ↑ "Pat Pottle". The Guardian. London. 3 October 2000. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  15. ↑ Randle, Michael (1995). How to defend yourself in court (PDF). The Civil Liberties Trust. ISBN   9780900137419. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021– via Legal Defense and Monitoring Group & Green And Black Cross.
  16. ↑ Norton-Taylor, Richard (3 October 2000). "Pat Pottle: Anti-war campaigner who helped spring Soviet spy George Blake from jail". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020. insisted that their action was morally justified, and, ignoring a clear direction from the judge to convict, the jury unanimously acquitted them.)
  17. ↑ "George Blake (1922-2020) – and our part in his escape". 29 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "7 decades of nonviolence activism: Introducing Trustee Michael Randle PART 2". Commonwealth Non Violence. 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  19. ↑ "Escape from Wormwood Scrubs: The True Story Of 'Spy' George Blake by Giovanni Di Stefano". OPC Global News. 27 December 2000. Archived from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020. )
  20. ↑ Root, Neil (11 October 2011). Twentieth-Century Spies. Summersdale. ISBN   9780857653314. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  21. ↑ "Papers of Michael Randle". University of Bradford. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2020. This collection is dominated by files on the George Blake case and the prosecution of Michael Randle and Pat Pottle for their role in his escape from prison, 1989-1995)
  22. ↑ "Papers of Michael Randle (b.1933)". Jisc University of Bradford Special Collections. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2020. )
  23. ↑ Randle, Michael; Pottle, Pat (1989). The Blake Escape: How we Freed George Blake - and Why. ISBN   9780245547812 . Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  24. ↑ Alternatives in European Security. Dartmouth Publishing Group. 1990. ISBN   9781855210509.
  25. ↑ "Challenge to Nonviolence". Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford. 1992. Archived from the original on 12 January 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2020– via civilresistance.info.
  26. ↑ People Power and Protest since 1945: a bibliography on nonviolent action. Housmans. 2006. ISBN   0852832621. Archived from the original on 19 February 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2020– via www.nonviolent-conflict.org.
  27. ↑ After Dark, BBC4 series, accessed 21 July 2014.
  28. ↑ "The Evolution of the Committee for Conflict Transformation Support (CCTS), 1992-2006 Online archive". c-r.org/ccts. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  29. ↑ "7 decades of nonviolence activism: Introducing Trustee Michael Randle PART 2". commonwealnonviolence.org. Commonweal. 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020. )
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.