A QUESTïOI\T Otr CONSCIEItrCE: BF.TTISH AND CANI{DTA,N QUAKERS AI,I-D T¡IETR SOCTATTST ÄND PAR],TA}4]]}.ITARY Ã],LIES FACE TËfE GREAT Ì,..IAP" ¡\ Thesi_s Presented. to Faculty of Graduate Stud-ies and Research University of Manitoba In Partial Fulfíllment of the Requirements for the Degree It{aster of Arts by Brian John FeI1 September 1969 urult'fÈiþ, i\\L 'rj" olynrvLün-*^*%= AC ÍiNOVILE D GE Ì'{El'iT S In the process of gathering materia.l for this t, stud-y a-nd its production m.any debts have been incurred. I j would like to thank the Ca-naräa Yearl-y l4eeting for allowing : mefreeaccesStoíts1ibraryinTorontoandforthernateria1 l which I was allowed- to keep in T^Jinnipeg on. indefinite loan. In particular I vrould. like to express many thanks to lt{rs. Dorothy Muma u'ho wasi-instrum.ental in introducing me to i Qu.akers with recollectj-ons of the Great In]ar. Also, gratitude ' musÈ be expressed to Fred Has1am, the Secretary of the Yea-rJ-y , l l4eeting,hrhowaskind.enoughÈodiscusswithmehisown experiences as a conscientious objector in Britain. f ì A special debt is oI¡Iêd to George Zavi-tz for allowing i i me examine and, ciocuments which related- to f to the letters j his period as a conscientious objector in Ontario. He also : ; read-íly agreed to discuss his experiences rvith me at his i farm in Ïlderton, Ontario. i l Thanks must also be extended to the staff of the Elizabeth Dafoe Librarlz of the University of Manitoba for the invaluak¡le help they gave in tracing and acquiring material. For the same reasons I would- also like to thanl< I the staff of the Provincial Library of Manitoba. other i i v¡as supplied by Dartrnouth College Library, Flonover material " IrTew Hampshire and the Manuscript Division of the Public Archives of Canada. 2- Mention must be made and thanks expressed to the following institutions which reaclily answered. my enguiries: Edmonton Pul:lic Library; the Greater Victoria pul:lic Libra-ry; Haverford College Library; Swarthmore College Library¡ the Hoover rnstiiution on î¡'lar ï Revolution and peace; the society of Friend-s, Lond-on, Engla"nd; the society of Friend.s, victoria, B.c.; ancl þij-nnipeg Pubiic Library. To Dr. I4ichael Kinnear of the History Department of the University of Manitoba special thanks a::e c-ue. He of ferec encouragement, ad-vice and criticism at every stage of the stucly anC suppliecl a wealth of material and information frorn his personal library. Pa"rticularly ira,_oortant in this respect was the loan of The Pl.oughsha-re,. Lh-e_TliÞuna] and. th_e _C-O.lj; sansarcl. I,iy wife helped with proof rea,ling, typing and bibliogra¡:hicaI work and- gave encouragiernent ín 'bhe periods v¡hen progïess was s1or.;. Brian J. FelI A. QUESTTON OF CONSCIE}ÏCE: BRITISH A}TD CANADTAN QUAKERS AND TFIETR SOCIALTST AND P7{R¡TAMENTARY ALLÏES FACE THE GREAT IVAR Abstract A study of Suakerism in Britain and. Canafa during tire Great .I¡far ievealed that service for others prompted. the actions of the majority of euakers in both countries. British Quakers worked amonq enemy aliens in Britain and some euakers went overseas to perform ambulance worl< both in the firing zone and behind the Allied. lines. When the battle moved" onn euakers helped the civilian popula.tion by rebuildíng shattered homes and. by supplying aqricultural necessities. hlhen conscription was introd-uced into Brilain in I9L6r ma-ny Ouakers still put service for others before a total r¡¡ithdrawal from any contact urith !\zar. They worked_ on mine- sv'reeping operations or with a-rmy medical corps. Others accepted agricultu.ral of forestry 'r¡orl< and_ other work designated. as alt.ernate service. some euakers decided to enlist and abandoned the Oual<er peace testimony altogether. ïÈ v¡as argued in this study that euaker participation in the international peace movement of the nineteenth century and in the political life of the nation \^7ere signs that the quietist period of the Society of Friend.s was at an end and- tha-t this had been brought about by the influence of evangelicalism and by the growth of euaker t-¡usiness inÈerests. euakers bega.n to send out rnissionaries and to send aid. to war-torn areas of the worrd. This Ied to a different euaker approach to war for Quakers became more involved. in activities rvhich took them toward.s closer contact with arms and- fighting. Many euakers st'ill maintained that Í^¡ar \,/as r.¡rong in all circumstances, L,ut by I9L4 the association r¿ith aid fo:: strícken areas had become so much a part of Quaker life that it seeroed natura't for many young 0uakers to take their place a-s ambulance rvorkers aL the Front. Yet for other euakers the peace testimony of the society of F::iends was something which they could_ not violate. Idhen conscríption came, the¡z refused. to perfcrm any r.vork under the military or civil authorities, for they argued that. doing such work forced ot]:ers into Èhe war zone. Fu.rther u they argued that the Government haC made r:rovision for absolute exemption for conscientiou-s objectors, but that many objectors had been refused this exemptíon" Qualcers \¡¿ere a minority among the absolu-uist. objectors in Britain, for most absolutists were socialísts. Manlz soeialists objected to the rva"r because of a l:e1ief in the brotherhoo<l of man. Others vrere out to embarrass the Government by refusincr to perform military or eivilian service. Al-1 these socialists believed that 'Lhe r¡.zar rvas the prod-uct of capitalisrn; and for capitalism they would- not fight. The only work in ivhich they said. they could engage was work for peace. Amont the euaker absol-utists were many who held both Qual<er and socialist viervs. These men v,zere merabers of the sociajist-Suaker society, a society which sought to acquaínt Qua-kers with the doctrine of socialism. This was not an easy task, for many Quakers were industrialists or business nen v¡ho could- not be expected to welcorne socialj-srn-. By frugal living and- inter-marriage, Quaker families h.ad- built up large business collcerns and a_lthough there vrrere profit sharing and welfare schemes ín rnanlz Quaker f a.ctories, it v¡as not the intention of the eua.ker employer to give control of his business to his employees. An examination of @, the sociarist-guaker monthllzo showed that Socialist-Qua-kers linked war with capitalj-sn. They felt that unless economic reform u'as instituted- which would. remove the inequa.lity between man and. man anrl. between nationa and nation, then the germs of war v¡ouid ahnrays be present in t.he v¡orld. Guild socialismu they believed., would- remove the cause of friction between em-ployer ancl employee and thus remove one of the basic causes of strife within society. socialíst-oualcers cla-imed. that they had something síqnifica.nt to say a.bout wa-r and peace ruhich other purely religious pacifists rnrere incapa.ble of saying. They wanted to change Society by social reconstruction. To att::ibute v/ar to vague terms such as greed of rust v¡as noÈ sufficient for them. They felt that war could be examined ra.tionally and. they tried. to convince other Quakers that t.his should be d-one. Economic inequality was the root cause for most of the world's ailments, argued the Socialist* Ouakerso and they never faileC to express this forcibly in their writings. htithin the society of Friends, the socialist-euakers act'ed a-s a left-v'¡ing minority. Yet despite the smallness of their number, thelz exerted a grea.t influence in the peace movement during the vrar. They served on the Friend-s Servíce Committee and on tire national executive of the No-conscription Fellowship. The lives and wartime activities of some of these men \trere examined. in this study. rn the life of Corder Cat.chpool rvas seen the t-ransition of a Quaker from the al-ternativist to the a-bsolutist position and the I ife of Stephen îiobhouse shov¡ed the conversíon of a man to : Ouakerism a-nd, his part in the Qua-ker mcvenent d.u-ring the tiiar. BotSr ffiêrì 1r¡€rê active in social uzorl< before the i¿ar anit_ it t.. i rças the i:elief that sociaii sm could- re.r.nove social il-ls v¡hich t, ettractec-l- 'L.hem io the socialist inovem-e:nt. Thelz rejected the fatalistic tendencies of many religious I:elieve::s and. souEht. to chanqe society rather than to prepare for the next world. , Conscien-ticus objection r^¡ou'lii- not have been ¿n im;oor-L.ant issue in Britaín if conscription had. not been ir:t.::oduced in 1916" I Tt v¡a"s found. th.at ouposition to conscription r¡¡as provij---*'_------''J äed by a j : lllixture of Lil:e::a.Ls, f "L"P" meieJrers ancl sonÌe other La-bour : te;rrese:nLatives" Nu¡nerica-lly, Liberals rnzere the stronger of the r ; j i cornpone:rt pa-rts of the anti-r¡¡ar group. Before th.e advent. of : :.ì conscription there ri¡êre signs ttra-t eonscr-iption rvoul d- be stronglv'---'-)-J i , r . opposed., for iSritaii: had a fear of a stanäing .Army da-tincrkack i : . to the seventeenth century. : i , }lorlever,u the+l^^ -----^^-? !i --- I r opposition to conscri-ption dwind.led- ai.tay as I i--: : ' first Lhe rrish r,¡ational-ists r,¡itnd.rer,v tlleÍr supiüort and then Jaþour l meruberE becane alnoet equalJy dr-vided for and.