The Sheffield peace movement 1934-1940. STEVENSON, David Anthony Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3916/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Please visit http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3916/ and http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html for further details about copyright and re-use permissions. REFERENCE ProQuest Number: 10701051 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10701051 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 The Sheffield Peace Movement 1934 -1940 David Anthony Stevenson A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Sheffield Hallam University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2001 Abstract: The object of the thesis was to build a portrait of a local peace movement in order to contrast and compare it with existing descriptions of the peace movement written from a national perspective. The Sheffield Peace Movement is examined from the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War to the disestablishment and reformation of the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council in 1940 as a result of its support for the anti-war line taken by the Communist Party of Great Britain. The peace movement is treated holistically. Political, religious and other organisations associated with it are discussed alongside groups specifically devoted to the issues of peace. These various strands are followed through from the impulse to unity which existed after the successful operation of the Peace Ballot, through the fundamental division between pacifist and pacificist outlooks which began with the War in Abyssinia, to the final split of the movement when its large pacificist majority accepted the necessity for war with Germany. The character of local peace movements, it is suggested, depended very much on the political, social and economic context in which they flourished. The history of the Sheffield movement is characterised by competition between three groups for its leadership. The Labour Party dominated its political relationships but is scarcely to be understood without reference to Communist- inspired efforts to form a Popular Front of socialist and liberal groups. The Anglican Church leadership provided a strand of pacificism difficult to distinguish from defencism but nevertheless crucial to the position of the majority of the movement at the outbreak of war, while Nonconformism dominated the city’s pacifism. Despite the strength of both these party political and religious influences, however, the League of Nations Union led the Sheffield movement during two key periods. The growth of the pacificist consensus, which at a national level saw the formation of a coalition spanning both right and left of British politics, is a stronger theme in Sheffield than the move of the minority pacifist wing into absolutism. The impact of a new “realism” on the “utopian” theories of the first decade and a half after the Great War is generally to be found in the move from the quasi-pacifism of the early thirties, which found expression on the Left in Sheffield in the policy of working-class war-resistance, to the rather crude version of League of Nations inspired Collective Security embodied in the mutual defence pacts and guarantees sought by Britain after March 1939. The ideological complexion of Sheffield’s Left-wing and its importance in the deliberations of the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council ensured that, overlaying the general move towards pacificism, were a number of specific objections to aspects of the “realist” policies espoused by the national Labour leadership rooted in Communist Party policy and opposition to Chamberlain’s National Government. The superficial similarities between communist objections to specific aspects of war preparations and the policies of the pacifist rump of the peace movement gave the impression that Sheffield was a centre of opposition to the war. The fundamental division between the pacificist and pacifist approaches ensured, however, that these two groups, the only remaining anti-war elements of the Sheffield movement after October 1939, never entered a formal alliance. The Communist Left remained wedded to interaction with working class groups while the remaining pacifists became isolated and increasingly quietist under the relentless pressure of the pro-war majority including their former pacificist colleagues in the peace movement. Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction 1 The Peace Movement Nationally 8 A Chronology of Events Impacting on the Peace Movement 34 Sheffield, the Economic, Social and Political Background 42 Chapter 2: Do You Want Peace or War? 61 From the National Congress Against War and Fascism to the Peace Ballot (August 1934 - May 1935) Commemoration 61 The National Youth Congress Against War and Fascism and the Impact of the United Front 63 Attitudes to the League of Nations 69 The Aftermath of the Congress 73 The Peace Ballot: (a) Preparations 77 (b) Political Reactions 80 (c) Reactions in the Churches 87 (d) The Results 89 The Sheffield Disturbance and the United Front 93 Summary of Chapter 2 100 Chapter 2, Appendix: Peace Ballot Results 103 Chapter 3: Towards a United Peace Movement: 105 From the Esperantists’ Peace Council to Reactions to the Hoare-Laval Plan (June 1935 - January 1936) (a) Sheffield and Eccleshall Cooperative Society Education Committee and the Sheffield Esperantists 106 (b) Sheffield Youth Peace Council 108 (c) The Women’s Peace Rally 110 (d) The Council of Action for Peace and Reconstruction 112 (e) The STLC Peace Committee 113 The War in Abyssinia 115 Air Raid Precautions 123 The General Election 125 Summary of Chapter 3 132 Chapter 3, Appendix: General Election Results in Sheffield and Nationally: 135 Chapter 4: Bringing Eveiybody In 137 From Reactions to Rearmament to the First Phase of the Spanish War (February - December 1936) Reactions to Rearmament 139 The First Sheffield Peace Week and the Formation of the Sheffield Peace Council 145 The Sheffield Youth Peace Council 157 The League of Nations Union in Difficulties 161 Pacifism and the Beginnings of the Peace Pledge Union 168 The Influence of the Communist Party 176 The Effect of the early months of the Spanish War 180 Summary of Chapter 4 188 Chapter 5: No Haliway House and... No Compromise 191 From the Unity Campaign to Saving China and Peace (January 1937 - January 1938) The Unity Campaign 191 The Impact of Labour Party Attitudes to Rearmament on the Peace Movement 196 Sheffield Peace Council and the Second Sheffield Peace Week 203 The Revival of the League of Nations Union 207 Anti-Militarism and the Peace Movement’s Defence Policy 215 The Peace Pledge Union in Operation 221 Domestic Fascism in Sheffield 225 The Second Phase of the Spanish War 228 Summary of Chapter 5 232 Chapter 6: Despised and Abused by Future Historians 235 From Eden’s Resignation to Munich and its Aftermath (February - December 1938) The Resignation of Eden 23 5 The Popular Front 241 The League of Nations Union and the International Peace Campaign 245 The Shape of the Consensus: 252 (a) Spain 253 (b) The Sheffield China Relief Committee and the "Refugee Problem" 257 (c) Air Raid Precautions 262 Developments in the Peace Pledge Union 267 Munich 272 Summary of Chapter 6 285 Chapter 7: Amid the Ruins 289 From the Invasion of Czechoslovakia to the Outbreak of War (January - September 1939) The End of Appeasement 289 National Voluntary Service and the Introduction of Conscription 297 The Roles of the Two Peace Unions 308 The Defeat of Republican Spain and the Effect of the Refugee Question 316 Attitudes to Air Raid Precautions in the Last Months of Peace 322 The Unity Question 326 Reactions to the Polish Guarantee 330 Summary of Chapter 7 337 Chapter 8: Doing So Regretfully 341 From the Phoney War to the Fall of France (October 1939 - July 1940) Supporters of Britain’s Declaration of War: 341 (a) The League o f Nations Union 345 (b) Federal Union 348 (c) The Labour Party 354 Opponents of the War: (a) The Fascists 357 (b) The Pacifists 359 (c) Conscientious Objectors 366 (d) Sheffield Labour and Communist Parties 313 Summary of Chapter 8 391 Chapter 8, Appendix: Sheffield Conscientious Objectors Appearing Before the Leeds Tribunal 396 Chapter 9: Conclusion 397 Bibliography Primary Sources 412 Secondary Sources 415 Abbreviations used in the thesis: AEU Amalgamated Engineering Union ARP Air Raid Precautions ASLEF Amalgamated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen BAWM British Anti-War Movement CO Conscientious Objector CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain DLP Divisional Labour Party ETU Electrical Trades Union FoR Fellowship