Abstract
To Leonard, the outbreak of war in 1914 meant the destruction of civilization and way of life he had known. In contrast to Bloomsbury friends, he felt that German aggression should be resisted and could not claim conscientious objection on pacifist principles. He was exempted from military service because of his inherited nervous tremor. It was his writings about international government and the prevention of war that constituted his contribution to the British cause. In the 1920s he held out hope for the new internationalist spirit and looked to the League of Nations to mitigate national antagonism. Like others on the left, he perceived the failure to disarm as the root cause of mutual hostilities but refused to sanction rearmament under the National Government. By 1936 he had begun to despair at the impossibility of collective security under the auspices of the League of Nations and pressed for a policy of alliances with anti-Fascist powers, including the Soviet Union. Soon disabused of hopes for collaboration with Stalinist Russia, he advocated drastic changes in Labour attitudes towards rearmament and collective security, including a willingness to enter a coalition under Churchill. During the Second World War, Leonard urged Labour to work to revive international institutions and later opposed British building of nuclear weapons.
Published Version
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