‘Peace with a Capital P’: The Spectre of Communism and Competing Notions of ‘Peace’ in Britain, 1949–1960

Nicholas Barnett,Evan Smith

doi:10.3828/lhr.2017.3

Abstract

This article is concerned with different factions within the British peace movement during the 1950s and early 1960s, each of which gave the word ‘peace’ a different meaning. We argue that the movement was made up of several, often contradictory sections, and despite attempts by groups like the Peace Pledge Union to distance themselves from the communistcontrolled British Peace Committee, popular perceptions were tainted by association with communism until the mid-1950s. Following the onset of the H-bomb era, this taint lessened as people began to fear the destructiveness of hydrogen weapons. When the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament formed in 1958 it became the predominant British organization opposed to nuclear weapons and achieved popularity because it limited its objective to nuclear disarmament whereas the Peace Pledge Union demanded the condemnation of all war.

Highlights

‘Peace with a Capital P’: The Spectre of Communism and Competing Notions of ‘Peace’ in Britain, 1949–1960
We argue that the movement was made up of several, often contradictory sections, and despite attempts by groups like the Peace Pledge Union to distance themselves from the communistcontrolled British Peace Committee, popular perceptions were tainted by association with communism until the mid-1950s
When the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament formed in 1958 it became the predominant British organization opposed to nuclear weapons and achieved popularity because it limited its objective to nuclear disarmament whereas the Peace Pledge Union demanded the condemnation of all war

Summary

University of Plymouth and Flinders University

This article is concerned with different factions within the British peace movement during the 1950s and early 1960s, each of which gave the word ‘peace’ a different meaning. When the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament formed in 1958 it became the predominant British organization opposed to nuclear weapons and achieved popularity because it limited its objective to nuclear disarmament whereas the Peace Pledge Union demanded the condemnation of all war. Disagreements between communist and non-communist organizations, represented largely by the British Peace Committee (BPC) and the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) respectively, divided the peace movement. Both groups’ leadership of the movement was challenged by the formation of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1958. All sides of the fragmented movement worked together to pursue a single aim: ‘unilateral nuclear disarmament’.1

This article is concerned with popular presentations of the British peace

Conclusion

Findings

Notes on contributor