‘Objectors & Resisters’ tells the story of those persecuted for trying to stop the war
CONSCIENTIOUS objectors “were indeed coragious people, who stood up for their principles and were in many cases prepared to go to prison for their beliefs”, according to the historian behind the first study of Scotland’s 1910s peace movement.
Objectors & Resisters: Opposition to Conscription and War in Scotland 1914-18, by Rob Duncan, charts the stories of the outstanding women and men who showed great campaigning skills, principles and courage in fighting against the drive to war and the conscription of young, mainly working class men.
Launched on Wednesday in Glasgow, the work is published by Common Print, the publishing arm of the Common Weal think-tank and campaign group.
Conscientious objectors (men who were called up to fight but refused on moral grounds) and the many women and men who were not eligible for service but campaigned against the war were in a minority at the time, but many of the political struggles which defined 20th century Scotland can be traced back to a radical tradition born during the anti-war movement.
The book tells the stories of well-known activists such as John Maxton, Keir Hardie, Mary Barbour and Helen Crawfurd as well as many unknown Scots who made a stand during the war.
The book also contains songs and photographs from the period and local information about how the campaign spread across Scotland. It charts the harsh repression of the movement and the torture-like conditions in which activists were held while in prison and the extent to which Scotland played a major part in the global campaign against the war.
“It is high time to redress the imbalance in the historical record and close the undoubted gap in public awareness of this largely neglected and controversial aspect of wartime Scotland.”
Book author Rob Duncan said: “Despite the continuing spate of books and studies on the First World War, and renewed interest marking the centenary of its start, little attention has been devoted to the experience of those men and women who opposed it and why, especially in Scotland.
“Arguably, it is now high time to redress the imbalance in the historical record and close the undoubted gap in public awareness of this largely neglected and controversial aspect of wartime Scotland.
“Objectors and Resisters is intended as a contribution towards that understanding, and recognition of the courageous and principled stand taken by this dissident minority of war resisters, conscientious objectors, peace activists, and many tens of thousands who can be shown to have demonstrated and organised in support of their efforts.”
Isobel Lindsay, vice convener of Scottish CND and a lifelong peace activist, said: “This book is essential reading for modern campaigners. The opponents of WWI deserve recognition and now they have it. Scotland had the highest proportionate loss of life on the battlefield apart from Turkey and Serbia but Scotland also saw some of the most active opposition to the war.
“The struggles of those who opposed the war in the face of persecution and repression helped to shape Scotland’s radical tradition in ways that live on today. Some of the heroes of this story are well-known in Scottish political history while others deserve to be known very much better than they are. This book tells their story.”
At the book’s launch, feminist campaigner and Common Weal board member Lesley Orr spoke of the heroics of Helen Crawfurd and Chrystal Macmillan.
As suffragette campaigners, Crawfurd and Macmillan organised women’s campaign groups that challenged the war, including forming a delegation to a women’s peace conference at the Hague.
“They were fed up with petitions and education programmes. They wanted far more political action by women for peace, when there was not only great poverty at home but also their brothers and husbands were being slaughtered during the war,” Orr explained.
As suffragette campaigners, Crawfurd and Macmillan organised women’s campaign groups that challenged the war, including forming a delegation to a women’s peace conference at the Hague.
The activists were part of broader movements – such as Mary Barbour’s army which organised rent strikes through community organising.
“They got out there and put their bodies on the line, while speaking at meetings of thousands of people across the country.”
Lecturer Neil Davidson, who also spoke at the event, described the attempts a century on from the war to ‘celebrate’ a brutal conflict. Davidson claimed that attempts to justify the war as a series of blunders, the fault of Germany or a defence of democracy were inaccurate.
He added that instead of blaming individuals or the behaviour of army generals, campaigners today must consider how fragmented left-wing parties failed to unite around a pro-peace position. The leadership of the Labour party in Britain backed the war, while groups such as the Independent Labour Party (ILP) campaigned for peace.
Davidson said: “What allowed [WWI] to happen more than anything else is that the Labour party and other socialist institutions capitulated in the face of war. All of them signed up at the international meeting to support a general strike in the event of war most betrayed that when the war began.”
Duncan now has a running file of over 700 conscientious objectors in Scotland and hopes his work will provide a lasting legacy for the bravery and political activism of Scotland’s peace movement.
The book costs PS7.99 and is available from the shop at the allofusfirst.org website. ( Click here to buy ).
Picture courtesy of Ryan Shultz