Direct Action Committee

Direct Action Committee

The Direct Action Committee against nuclear war (DAC) was a pacifist organization formed "to assist the conducting of non-violent direct action to obtain the total renunciation of nuclear war and its weapons by Britain and all other countries as a first step in disarmament".[1] It existed from 1957-1961.

Contents

Origins

The DAC was formed in response to a protest against British H-Bomb tests on Christmas Island in which Harold Steele tried to sail into the test area.[1] Steele failed in his attempt,[2] but his supporters formed a committee and decided to march in protest to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

The original committee comprised:

  • Allen Skinner
  • Hugh Brock and
  • Arlo Tatum.[3]

They were soon joined by:

By the end of 1958 the Committee's members also included Alex Comfort, Frances Edwards, Michael Howard (of the Crusade for World Government), Sheila Jones and Francis Jude.[4]

Actions

The DAC's march from London to Aldermaston at Easter, 1958, was, in the event, supported by the newly-formed Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and in the upsurge of popular opposition to the H-bomb attracted thousands of people. The Aldermaston March was subsequently run as an annual event by CND.

The DAC organized meetings, marches, vigils and pickets, campaigned in parliamentary elections[1] and carried out acts of civil disobedience to publicize the pacifist cause.[1] Following the principles of the Indian nationalist leader M.K.Gandhi, they believed their actions should be non-violent and carried out at some personal cost to themselves, such as losing their jobs or going to jail.[1][5]

What differentiated them from other peace organizations at the time was their attempt to persuade people to stop working in industries connected with nuclear weapons, in which they had some successes.[5] After the 1958 Aldermaston march, the DAC stayed in the Aldermaston area to try to stop work at the Atomic Weapons Establishment. They picketed, met with trades unions, held factory gate meetings and canvassed in the surrounding villages.[5] As a result, five workers resigned from their jobs, three job applicants withdrew and five drivers refused to deliver to the establishment.[5][6] The DAC then moved to Norfolk to campaign against the Thor nuclear missiles at an RAF base at North Pickenham, using similar methods to those they had used at Aldermaston. One worker left the base and others said they would do so if they could find other jobs.[5] They then moved to Stevenage, Hertfordshire, to campaign against the de Havilland and English Electric factories, which made guided missiles.[7]

The DAC ran a "No votes for the H-bomb" campaign in the South West Norfolk by-election, 1959. They worked with similar organisations outside the UK, demonstrating against nuclear tests in the Sahara Desert and in a peace march from San Francisco to Moscow, organised by the Committee for Non-Violent Action in 1961.[7] Their final action before being wound up was a demonstration against the Polaris nuclear submarine in spring, 1961.

Sponsors

The sponsors of the DAC were:[4]

Later sponsors were:

Demise

The formation in 1960 of the Committee of 100, a mass civil disobedience movement against nuclear weapons, plus considerable financial difficulties, led to the decision in June 1961 to wind down the DAC. Most of its members were active in the Committee of 100.[7]

Assessment

As long as it lasted, the DAC was effectively the direct-action wing of CND, whose leadership were either uncertain about direct action or opposed to it. There was an overlap between supporters of CND and supporters of the DAC. The sponsors of the DAC included the president of CND (Bertrand Russell), three members of CND's executive committee and other CND leaders. Pat Arrowsmith, a pacifist and consistent supporter of direct action, was appointed assistant secretary of CND after the first Aldermaston March. The DAC depended on the support of many local CND groups and was also given money by the CND executive committee.[4]

However, there were differences in age, background and political experience between the members of DAC and the CND leadership, and there were considerable differences in tactics and ideology.[4] Christopher Driver in his book on the early years of CND says of the DAC, "For the most part the members of the DAC were people of exceptionally pure motives. ... Unlike the CND Executive, and unlike some of their successors in the Committee of 100 into which the DAC was eventually merged, many DAC members were not particularity interested in the local and national publicity which their actions evoked, except insofar as it helped to make converts to Gandhi's ideas on non-violent action."[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Records of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, University of Bradford
  2. ^ LSE Archives
  3. ^ Arlo Tatum is by origin American. He was the national co-ordinator of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and produced the Handbook for Conscientious Objectors (1952) and Guide to the draft (1969).
  4. ^ a b c d e Christopher Driver, The Disarmers: A Study in Protest, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1964
  5. ^ a b c d e Allen Lovell, "Where Next for the Campaign?" Universities and Left Review, No.6, Spring 1959
  6. ^ "Pat Arrowsmith recalls organising against Britain's Bomb", Socialist Worker, 22 March 2008
  7. ^ a b c Records of the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, University of Bradford,

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Direct action — For other uses, see Direct action (disambiguation). Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include… …   Wikipedia

  • Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerrilla —   …   Wikipedia

  • Direct Action Against Drugs — (DAAD, français : Action directe contre la drogue) est un groupe armé dit vigilant d Irlande du Nord ayant revendiqué l assassinat de plusieurs suspects de trafic de drogue[1]. Il est considéré comme un prête nom pour l IRA Provisoire[2]. Un …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Direct Action Day — Dead and wounded after the Direct Action Day which developed into pitched battles as Muslim Hindu mobs attacked and killed each other across Calcutta in 1946, the year before independence Direct Action Day (Bengali: প্রত্যক্ষ সংগ্রাম দিবস) (16… …   Wikipedia

  • Direct Action (trade union) — Part of a series on Organized labour …   Wikipedia

  • Political action committee — In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation.[1] Legally, what …   Wikipedia

  • political action committee — PAC PAC (p[a^]k), n. [Acronynm from Political Action Committee.] (Politics) A {political action committee}, a committee formed by an organization or special interest group to raise money to support candidates for office or to influence… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • National Conservative Political Action Committee — The National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC; pronounced nick pack ) was a New Right political action committee in the United States that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative Republicans in the early 1980s,… …   Wikipedia

  • AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts — Founded in 1983, AIDS Action Committee (AAC) of Massachusetts is a not for profit, community based health organization whose mission is to stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic by preventing new infections and optimizing the health of those already infected …   Wikipedia

  • Arab American Political Action Committee — The Arab American Political Action Committee is a Political action committee that was established in 1998 by a group of Arab American professionals to organize and encourage the political activities of Arab Americans . * Formed: January 1998 *… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”