Scots Against War, 1914-18 style

Augmented BOOK REVIEW about -  

Robert Duncan, Objectors & Resisters: Opposition to Conscription and War in Scotland 1914-18 (Glasgow: Common Print/Common Weal, 2015)

Previous publications in the past few years have looked at manifestations in Britain of opposition to the First World War (refs. below) and on the impact of the war more generally in Scotland. While all these works necessarily pay some attention to aspects of the Scottish anti-war scene, Robert Duncan's informative book breaks new ground, drawing together evidence from official records and dissident, mostly left-wing press, sources. His half-dozen chapters cover not only such fairly well-known topics as the Glasgow rent strike, the imprisonment of prominent conscientious objectors (COs) - John MacLean, James Maxton - industrial unrest, and the launch of the Women’s Peace Crusade, but also many lesser-known people and events, deploying newly unearthed material. Some great group photographs and two portraits (of women, Helen Crawfurd and Agnes Dollan) enhance its attractive presentation.

The narrative runs from perspectives and protest in the prelude to war through the mass protest rallies and evolving of the anti-war position in the early months of the conflict to the growth of opposition to the threat of conscription. That threat was of course carried out in early 1916, and the longest chapters (4 and 5) deal with COs: what they said for themselves and what was said against them; their trials, testimonies, and punishment in prisons and labour camps; and their ways of surviving and coping. Finally there is an overview of repression and resistance, peace campaigns, and radical politics, 1916-1918 and the striving for a lasting peace – until the sowing of the "seeds of future conflict" at Versailles.

Without dwelling at undue length on cases of ill-treatment in barracks and prisons the book illustrates the sort of ordeals COs had to face, and the authorities' wilful incomprehension of their principled stand:

‘In my opinion Sangster is more than a little daft, and Maxton more insane than sane. Neither is accessible to reason. They are alike in their exaggerated egoism and in their want of a sense of proportion, and I should not be at all surprised if either or both of them become certifiably insane.’  - Scottish Prison Commissioner Dr James Devon on James Maxton and James Edny Sangster, two COs in Perth prison, 10 Feb.1917.
‘His mind has lost grip to a large extent. That such a man should have been a teacher is a marvel and a mystery. He may yet have to be certified. If he were liberated I do not say he would be quite sane, and he may be a cause of trouble in these times.’ – Dr Devon, report on Maxton as above, 16 June 1917. (Both quotations on p.84)

One of the individuals Duncan looks at who deserve to be more widely remembered is Dr John MacCallum, an Edinburgh graduate in Arts and Medicine who in his early 30s had become Medical Officer of Health for Ayrshire, specialising in tuberculosis (and was a Scottish rugby international). He chose to become a CO rather than seek occupational exemption, and was one of those sent to do noxious work in appalling conditions at an ‘artificial manure’ manufacturers in Broxburn, near Edinburgh, where he was victimised. He had spoken out against abusive treatment of the workers and was accused of exerting a bad influence. (p. 109) A letter of protest about his arrest and recall to the army was addressed to the Home Office in May 1917, but he was returned to Perth prison, where he served a third sentence in 1918.

There are interesting similarities between some of the book’s findings and those of researchers elsewhere, notably the harrowing experiences of COs and their capacity for resistance, the existence of support networks, the active part played by women, and the fact that jingoistic hostility, while troublesome, was less than universal. At the same time special features of the anti-war scene north of the border are brought out, such as the apparently higher incidence of ‘political’ (especially Independent Labour Party) rather than purely religious motivation for conscientious objection, and the greater disinclination for the martyrdom consequent upon maintaining ‘absolutism’ to the point of refusing all alternatives to repeated prison sentences. (p.99) 

The map of opposition is extended beyond Glasgow and ‘Red’ Clydeside to show the varying strength of the movement in other cities - considerable in industrial Dundee. It was more difficult to get the anti-war message across unmolested in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, although there were certainly supporters in each, with large rallies in the former, and Quakers from the latter providing much-needed food and encouragement to COs at Dyce camp. Names of smaller towns like Kilmarnock crop up too, but the map seems to stop short of the Highland line, not surprisingly perhaps since the sources used are mainly concerned with the more populous industrialised areas. Demographic and social factors would have made for a lower number of COs in the Highlands and Islands but there were some in even the most remote locations (see previous posts listed below). In this and other respects the research effort is already being extended as more records become generally available. Appeal tribunal records for Lothian and Peebles, used by Duncan, are now online as are those for the Isle of Lewis, and shortly after the book's publication the invaluable Pearce Register of COs with 17,426 records at time of writing was added to the Imperial War Museum website for Lives of the First World War.

[A version of this review may be published in Medicine, Conflict and Survival in due course: now online: 

free eprint available for the first 50 to click here]

References

Objection Overruled: conscription and conscience in the First World War, by David Boulton, Dent, Cumbria, Dales Historical Monographs in Association with Friends Historical Society, 2014.

Comrades in Conscience: the story of an English Community’s opposition to the Great War, by Cyril Pearce, London, Francis Boutle, 2014.

A Small Vital Flame: anti-war women in NW England 1914-1918, by Alison Ronan, Manchester, Scholars’ Press, 2014.

(Combined review of the 3 above in Medicine, Conflict and Survival - online 6 Nov 2014)

The Flowers of the Forest: Scotland and the First World War, by Trevor Royle, Edinburgh, Birlinn, 2013.

Chapter titles and selected additional notes

1. Prelude to war: perspectives and protest

            Labour Leader claimed 100 protest marches in Scotland, from the Borders to Fraserburgh

2. Wartime objection and protest in Scotland: August-December 1914

            “No war fever” in Glasgow, except in the Jingoistic press...

                    few cases of confrontation or obstruction

3. Opposing the conscription threat: 1915-early 1916

              Munitions Act: Militarisation of labour, "industrial slavery"

                   Glasgow rent strike: 40,000 households. May-Nov. 1915

4. Conscription and conscientious objection 1916-1918: testimonies and trials of objectors

               200 Local Tribunals in Scotland + 50 Appeal Tribunals - 

                    Glasgow busiest, most troubled. Supporters in gallery singing Red Flag, often. 

                    Dundee: <50 applications on opening, many moral/political, nearly all refused

                       – furious reaction in town   

                Central Tribunal test case, Cameron Roberts: setback – political objection ruled out 

                      but Exemption from Combatant Service if sincere objection to taking life.

                Case studies [more on some of these to follow] e.g. Hugh Gemell - 

                        class-war socialist, ILP: "willing to fight to defend a workers’ state."

5. Objection and punishment: prisons and labour camps

                Detention in army camps inc. Cromarty, Fort George;

                                          soldiers “kind & considerate” to CO, mutual help

                 Prison: Barlinnie, Calton, Perth. Health effects: cold, food, hard labour 

                          - almost continual solitary confinement, strict silence;

                          mental & cultural deprivation.

                          “COs developed persistent melancholia & committed suicide” - 

                       Charles Yachnies, Feb.1918, certified insane, “criminal lunatic”

                           – committed to Colney Hatch; died 27-7-18.

                  Not to waste lives as martyrs; opting to disappear; 

                            on the run, anti-war propaganda for board & lodging,

                  Work centres usually in country; compulsion, penal conditions.                                                                           Ballachulish. Cancellation of Xmas leave, 1916:

                              6 AWOL; confrontation, arrests 

                              - hunger strike in prison, threat of forced feeding. Letters, pleas in support.

                                (Primitive, reactionary diagnosis of state of mind - see Maxton above). 

                      Dundee COs refused to act as beaters on Cruachan estate 

                               - shooting birds wrong, inappropriate, against principles                                       

                      Willie McDougall, Glasgow anarchist, tried to organise strike at Dartmoor 

                       - successful escape bid, on bike - with help made it back to Glasgow,  

                        "resumed his political activities." 

6. Repression and resistance, peace campaigns, and radical politics: 1916-1918

             Range of repressive measures, disruption; police raids.

             Early 1917 Aberdeen South by-election - F Pethick-Lawrence; jingo mob.

             Women activists' aim of mobilising anti-militarist campaign 

                         with strong base among working-class women

                         Networks: tenements, streets.

              Glasgow May Day, 1918: the 1st of May was a Wednesday  - 

                   thousands took a day off  (strike, unpaid): 

                   70,000 at  Glasgow Green, 20 platforms.for speakers; "mass civil disobedience".

Plus: Introduction, End Notes, and Names Index.

Previously on this blog:-

Not All Like Lambs to the Slaughter

Conscientious Objectors from Lewis, continuing.

First World War Conscientious Objectors from Scottish Islands: Skye

More Scottish First World War COs: from Orkney, Shetland and Cullen

Scotland's First World War COs: Two Fletts from Findochty

To follow on this blog: More about some of the personalities featured in the book.

At the People's Palace, Glasgow:

"IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO OPPOSED WORLD WAR ONE 

IN ORDER TO CHALLENGE THE PURPOSE OF THE WAR AND THE WASTE OF LIVES.

THEY ALSO CAMPAIGNED FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE, 

AND AGAINST THE EXPLOITATION OF THOSE WHO LIVED IN THE CITY DURING THE WAR."

Outbreak of Peace at War Museum

Conference Report (2007)

Originally published in Medicine, Conflict & Survival, vol.23, no.4. Republished here in anticipation and some apprehension of the full reopening of the Imperial War Museum following the massive refurbishment at present under way preparatory to reorganisation around the First World War commemoration. It seems unlikely to enhance its peace-museum side.

Autumn 2013: “IWM London is undergoing a major building redevelopment, transforming our museum to mark the Centenary of the First World War.”

(The spelling-out of Imperial would seem to have become, belatedly, something of an embarrassment)

Braving the enormous naval guns dominating the approach and the tons of military hardware looming oppressively inside its main entrance, about a hundred assorted anti-war activists, students and interested parties made their way to London's Imperial War Museum (IWM) on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 April 2007 to attend a conference entitled 'Peace History: Encouragement and Warnings'. The invasion was officially sanctioned, and the event which occasioned it organised by the International Peace Bureau and the Movement for the Abolition of War, in association with the Imperial War Museum itself, a cooperative effort welcomed and appreciated on both sides.

            The object of the exercise was to draw attention to forgotten or neglected aspects of history concerned with peace-building, with an emphasis on practical examples drawn mainly from the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. Before proceedings began and at intervals throughout the two days, participants had the opportunity to learn or remind themselves about many of these examples by browsing an impressive array of exhibits on the walls, celebrating women activists for peace on one side and Nobel prize winners on the other, while the Peace Museum (Bradford) was prominent among many organisations which made literature, posters, and speakers available. A banner of the Movement for the Abolition of War (MAW) beside the platform caught the eye and set the tone with its equation of war with poverty.

A later flyer for the Bradford Peace Museum

            After introductory remarks from Bruce Kent, long-serving former chair of CND, and from the Director of the IWM pointing out that this location for such a conference was less incongruous than might appear, in view of its origin (commemorating the end of the First World War), Peter van den Dungen from the University of Bradford gave an informative paper on Bertha von Suttner, 'the woman behind the Nobel Peace Prize'. He summarised her eventful career and the influence of her writings, in particular Die Waffen Nieder! (1889), translated in 1892 as Lay Down Your Arms). Another two outstanding personalities were remembered in the following sessions: Hodgson Pratt, in connection with the early history of the International Peace Bureau (IPB); and Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the 'Frontier Gandhi' who proclaimed and fostered a non-violent Islamic tradition in the face of daunting difficulties. These two figures, as described by Verdiana Grossi (Univeristy of Geneva) and Shireen Shah (Bradford Peace Museum) respectively, had in common, in addition to their dedication to campaigning for peace, an awareness of the social context of their efforts and of the inestimable value of education. More social background, and more emphasis on collective action and general movements rather than individuals, was evident in the lively presentation on 'Civilian Resistance to US entry to the First World War', by Joe Fahey of Manhattan College, New York, who made the point that the peace movement needed to organise protest from below instead of always trying to appeal to the better natures, if any, of those in positions of power.

            The first day's proceedings ended with a panel discussion and the programme continued on the Saturday, with an introduction on the IPB leading on to a paper from Terry Charman of the IWM on the League of Nations and the Briand-Kellogg Pact, which had sought, in the optimistic aftermath of the 'war to end wars', to outlaw war as an instrument of national policy. The history of the League was covered in some detail, acknowledging its short-lived successes and achievements in the areas of tackling epidemics; work for refugees and against slavery, provision of a passport for the stateless; in relation to labour conditions and in industrial health and safety. At the same time its limitations and the factors inhibiting it from achieving its ideal aim of guaranteeing world peace in perpetuity were discussed, including: problems of representation; dependence on the victorious powers; the occurrence of expulsions and withdrawals; a tendency to perennial indecision; and the fact that there was no legal obligation upon states to apply sanctions which it was anyway reluctant to enforce, indeed lacking the means to do so.

            Kate Hudson (South Bank University), current Chair of CND, continued the story of attempts to ensure international peace, this time with reference to the World Government Movement, looking at its early history, 1945-1950. One impulse for its creation was a critique of the United Nations, based on the perception that sovereign states were part of the problem, therefore not the solution, and that their existence was itself the cause of war. The newly emerged atomic threat lent urgency to the project, which gained widespread support, recruiting about 400 communities to 'mondialisation' and speading the gospel of world citizenship, recorded in an International Registry in Paris. Its own model came in for some criticism, however, as being too closely based on western, even imperialist assumptions, Peace News, the newspaper of the Peace Pledge Union, being among those to voice dissent. There were concerns over the apparent intention that the proposed World Government was to have a monopoly of military force, including atomic and other weapons of mass destruction, and of weapons research and development, while mechanisms for control and accountability were unclear. Nevertheless a People's World Committee was established in 1950-51 in Geneva, and the plans included a World Bill of Rights, and Food Bank. That the idea still has its adherents, despite its decline with the onset of the Cold War and outbreak of the Korean War, was attested by at least one member of the audience, a world citizen still belonging to a mondialised community.

            The afternoon began with a return to the theme of individual rejection of particpation in war, in a survey by Guido Grunewald (War Resisters International) of the history of conscientious objection, illustrated in its early stages by efforts that predated the First World War, in the form of non-violent anarchist publications and the English Peace Society's Pledge for Young Men (1902). The risks run by and suffering inflicted on those who followed this path, especially in wartime, were shown and compared, with an account of the legal situation in different places. While some governments enacted laws allowing for bona fide conscientious objectors (COs) to be excused from military conscription on some terms at least, their implementation was not always straightforward: in France, while such a law existed, there was a ban on publicising that same law, and Greece was carrying out executions for refusal of military service as late as 1949. Several countries were slow to introduce laws to make any provision for COs, delaying until the 1960s and 1970s. Discussion followed, in the course of which Bill Hetherington of Housmans Bookshop announced that a database of COs in the UK had collected 5,000 names, and people were encouraged to contribute to its further development if they knew of anyone in this category whose stand should be remembered.

            In the last formal presentation the 'history of art working for peace' was summarised with reference to various modes of cultural production but especially using the visual arts, including posters and ephemera, many of which were shown in pictures of exhibits from the Bradford Peace Museum, and again supporters were invited to join in the preservation of this history by searching out any artefacts in their possession that might be offered to the collection. The conference concluded, after a summary of its coverage and success, with a film on Danish resistance to Nazi occupation, and a closing reception. Participants are likely to have taken more encouragement than warning from it overall, and anyone who wandered in from the IWM at large (leaflets were left at the main desk) could perhaps have come away with the feeling that working for peace is a less eccentric notion than the media would sometimes have us believe. 

L. W.

July 2007

 Also available in pdf format with (publisher's caveat)

The Peace History Conference series was to continue, sometimes back at the IWM:-

April 2009

June 2017

One way of looking at it… (Such fun!) -