Direct Action and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1958–62

Abstract

The simplicity of the message ‘Ban the Bomb’ was the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s (CND) greatest asset and greatest liability. It enabled the organisation to attract a wide variety of people, but it also meant that they needed to undertake actions which would not alienate any of these disparate people. As the 1960s progressed CND, and its adherence to moderate activities, was increasingly marginalised within the radical left. As Adam Lent argues, ‘more than anything else’ the distinction between CND’s respectful lobbying strategy and the more urgent, rebellious approach of direct action ‘encapsulated the shift in movement politics during the 1960s.’1 Focussing on the first four years of the CND, from its inaugural meeting in February 1958 through the passing of its first constitution in April 1962, we see an organisation at the vanguard, but also one fraught with tension over methodology. CND called for Britain to unilaterally renounce nuclear weapons, appealing to the morality of both politicians and the public. But it was not the only group making this demand. The Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) also used moral arguments to call for British unilateral nuclear disarmament. The two groups diverged in their belief about the best way to accomplish this goal. While the CND hoped to use the pressure of mass public support to sway politicians to adopt unilateralism, the DAC thought that politicians could only be forced into this attitude through the use of direct action.KeywordsDirect ActionNuclear WeaponExecutive CommitteeCivil DisobedienceLabour PartyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.