Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
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In British politics, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been at the forefront of the peace movement in the United Kingdom and claims to be Europe's largest single-issue peace campaign.
As well as campaigning against military actions that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, they are also in favour of nuclear disarmament by all countries and tighter international regulation through treaties such as the NPT. The most famous and longest-standing annual march is that from Trafalgar Square, London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston held every Easter weekend, taking the whole four days to complete.
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The First Wave 1958-1962
Template:Anti-war topics J. B. Priestley wrote an article for the New Statesman, published on the 2nd November 1957, entitled Russia, the Atom and the West. Priestley's article was heavily critical of Aneurin Bevan for abandoning his policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament. The journal received numerous letters of support for Priestley's article, and Kingsley Martin, then the editor of the New Statesman, organised a meeting of people inspired by Priestley. From this meeting they formed the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament[1].
Prominent founding members of the CND included Fenner Brockway, Canon John Collins, E. P. Thompson, J. B. Priestley, Michael Foot, Victor Gollancz, Bertrand Russell, A.J.P. Taylor, and Dora Russell. Its founder organizer was Peggy Duff. Although many of its members, including religious groups that make up a significant minority of the active membership, are pacifist, the organisation itself is not.
Its logo, designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, became widespread outside of Britain during the 1960s as the "peace symbol". The peace symbol is based on the international semaphore symbols for "N" and "D" (for Nuclear Disarmament) enclosed within a circle. There is a common misconception that Bertrand Russell designed the logo, stemming from his being president of the organisation at the time. In 1960 Bertrand Russell resigned from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in order to form a more militant group called the Committee of 100.
The Second Wave (1980-89)
In the early 1980s the organisation underwent a major revival, as tensions between the superpowers rose with the deployment of American Pershing II cruise missiles in Western Europe and SS20s in the Soviet Bloc countries and the Thatcher government replacing the Polaris armed submarine fleet with Trident.
During this period CND established a number of 'Specialist Sections' to add to Labour CND (est. 1979) and Christian CND (est. 1960), including: Trade Union CND, Liberal CND, Green CND and Ex-Services CND.
Much of National CND's historical archive is at the Modern Records Centre University of Warwick and the London School of Economics, although records of local and regional groups are spread throughout the country in public and private collections.
Current CND
Today, CND has several priority campaigns:
- "Scrap Trident": Against the UK's nuclear weapons
- "Missile Defence: The New Threat": Against the US Strategic Defense Initiative
- "No to NATO"
- "Stop the Plutonium Trade"
In an end to its single-issue focus on the nuclear issue, since 2001 it has become a focus for organising resistance campaigns to U.S. and British policies on the Middle East. Opponents of the wars who don't even agree with CND on nuclear weapons can now find themselves directed through it. Along with the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain, it organised several anti-war marches under the main slogan "Don't Attack Iraq," including those on September 28, 2002 and February 15, 2003 in London, and also a Vigil for the Victims of the London bombings[2] on July 9, 2005 in London.
Structures
There exist several branches of CND to cover the British Isles, namely: Scottish CND, Irish CND and CND Cymru in addition to 'National CND'. This is in addition to several of the 'Specialist Sections' which have continued in some form to the present including: Labour CND, Christian CND, Youth and Student CND, Parliamentary CND and Ex Services CND. Regional groupings also exist covering: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, East Midlands, Kent, London, Manchester, Merseyside, Mid Somerset, Norwich, South Cheshire and North Staffshire, Southern, South West, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
The CND Council is made up of: Chair, Treasurer, 3 Vice-Chairs, 15 Directly Elected Members, 1 Christian CND, 1 Labour CND, 1 Student CND, 3 Youth and Student CND and 27 Members Representing 11 Regional Groups.
Chairs of CND Since 1958
- Canon John Collins 1958–1964
- Olive Gibbs 1964–1967
- Sheila Oakes 1967–1968
- Malcolm Caldwell 1968–1970
- April Carter 1970–1971
- John Cox 1971–1977
- Bruce Kent 1977–1979
- Hugh Jenkins 1979–1981
- Joan Ruddock 1981–1985
- Paul Johns 1985 – 1987
- Bruce Kent 1987 –1990
- Marjorie Thompson 1990–1993
- Janet Bloomfield 1993–1996
- David Knight 1996–2001
- Carol Naughton 2001–2003
- Kate Hudson 2003–
General Secretaries of CND Since 1958
- Peggy Duff 1958–1967
- Dick Nettleton 1967–1973
- Dan Smith 1974–1975
- Duncan Rees 1976–1979
- Bruce Kent 1979–1985
- Meg Beresford 1985–1990
- Gary Lefley, 1990-??
Membership
Taken from Social Movements in Britain, Paul Byrne, Routledge, ISBN 0415071232 (1997), p.91.
| Year | Members | Year | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 2120 | 1986 | 84000 |
| 1971 | 2047 | 1987 | 75000 |
| 1972 | 2389 | 1988 | 72000 |
| 1973 | 2367 | 1989 | 62000 |
| 1974 | 2350 | 1990 | 62000 |
| 1975 | 2536 | 1991 | 60000 |
| 1976 | 3220 | 1992 | 57000 |
| 1977 | 4287 | 1993 | 52000 |
| 1978 | 3220 | 1994 | 47000 |
| 1979 | 4287 | 1995 | 47700 |
| 1980 | 9000 | ||
| 1981 | 20000 | ||
| 1982 | 50000 | ||
| 1983 | 75000 | ||
| 1984 | 100000 | ||
| 1985 | 92000 |
See also
- Anti-war
- Peace movement
- Nuclear disarmament
- Nuclear proliferation
- Independent Nuclear Disarmament Election Committee
- Koeberg Alert
Further reading
- CND - Now More Than Ever: The Story of a Peace Movement, Kate Hudson, Vision Paperbacks, ISBN 1904132693 (2005)
- Holger Nehring (2001), 'From Gentleman's Club to Folk Festival: The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Manchester, 1958-63', North West Labout History Journal, Number 26. pp. 18-28
- Social Movements in Britain, Paul Byrne, Routledge, ISBN 0415071232 (1997)
- A commitment to campaign : a sociological study of CND, John Mattausch, Manchester University Press, ISBN 0719029082 (1989)
- The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Paul Byrne, Routledge, ISBN 070993260X (1988)
- The CND Story: The first 25 years of CND in the words of the people involved, John Minnion and Philip Bolsover Ed., Allison & Busby, ISBN 0850314879 (1983)
- The Protest Makers: The British Nuclear Disarmament of 1958-1965, Twenty Years On, Richard Taylor and Colin Pritchard, Pergamon Press, ISBN 0080252117 (1980)
- Left, Left, Left: A personal account of six protest campaigns 1945-65, Peggy Duff, Allison and Busby, ISBN 0850310563 (1971)
- Middle class radicalism : the social bases of the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Frank Parkin,(1968)