Conscientious Objectors of the First World War

A Determined Resistance

Ann Kramer

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Social
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781473842441
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War I
• Index: History

The story of conscientious objection in Britain begins in 1916, when conscription was introduced for the first time. Some 16, 000 men the first conscientious objectors refused conscription because they believed on grounds of conscience that it was wrong to kill and wrong of any government to force them to do so. As historians mark the centenary of the First World War much emphasis is placed on the bravery of those men who fought and died in the trenches. But those who refused to kill were also courageous. Conscientious objectors in the First World War were treated brutally: they were seen as cowards and traitors, vilified, abused, forced into the army, brutalised and tortured. Some were even sentenced to death in an attempt to break their resistance. Many spent long months and years in prison. Nothing though that the authorities did broke the determined resistance of these men, whose deeply held principles and belief that killing was wrong carried them through and stands as a beacon for individual conscience to this day. Conscientious Objectors of the First World War: A Determined Resistance tells the stories of these remarkable men. It looks at who they were, why they took the stand they did and how they were treated. To bring their voices and experiences to life, Ann Kramer, has used extensive prime source material, including interviews, memoirs and contemporary newspapers. Working from these she describes what it was like for COs to face hostile tribunals, be forced into the army, defy army regulations, be brutalised and endure repeated terms of imprisonment. She concludes by looking at their legacy, which was profound, inspiring a second generation of conscientious objectors during the Second World War, a continuing story that Ann Kramer describes in her companion volume Conscientious Objectors of the Second World War: Refusing to Kill.

Chapter 1

War Begins

‘The war of 1914–1918 came very suddenly … I was speaking at Oldham … the next Sunday the guns were firing.’

Fenner Brockway

Deliberate policy or tragic accident, one way or another, on 4 August 1914, Britain declared that the country was at war with Germany, which had that day marched into neutral Belgium. The First World War had begun, the first major conflict to be fought on European soil for nearly a hundred years and the world’s first global conflict. At its start very few people could have foreseen what the nature of the war would be and just how many young men would die in the horrors of the trenches. Contrary to popular belief, which claimed that the war would be over by Christmas, the conflict and accompanying bloodbath would continue for four terrible years. As the death toll mounted – worldwide more than more than 30 million men were killed, wounded or declared missing – soldiers on both sides sheltering in the trenches came to believe it would never end.

In August 1914 the British public were not really prepared for war. Although most people were probably aware that that on 28 June 1914 a Serbian nationalist had assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and this had caused turmoil in the Balkans, very few anticipated that within a few weeks there would be war. For most people Serbia was just a distant place of very little interest and there was no reason why Britain should be involved. Towards the end of July, however, the British government realised that problems were developing in Europe. On 23 July Austria-Hungary had delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, followed five days later by a declaration of war against Serbia. Russian forces mobilised in defence of Serbia and the situation escalated. On 1 August Germany, Austria-Hungary’s ally, declared war on Russia and issued an ultimatum to Belgium demanding passage through that neutral country; two days later Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. Britain, allied to France and bound by treaty to support Belgium, issued an ultimatum to Germany, which expired at 11pm on 4 August. Shortly after a royal proclamation declared that a state of war existed between Britain and Germany.

Right up to the beginning of August, there had been little popular enthusiasm for war. Editorials and articles in some newspapers, notably the Manchester Guardian, urged the government to remain neutral. On 1 August 1914 the Manchester Guardian wrote that public opinion was ‘shocked and alarmed’ at the thought that Britain could be dragged into ‘the horrors of a general European war’, particularly given that Prime Minister Asquith and Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey had only the day before stated that there were no treaty obligations on Britain to do so. Big business argued too that intervention in a European war would be disastrous for the economy and a ‘disgraceful failure of British statecraft’. By contrast, other newspapers, among them The Times, vigorously called on the government to go to war in of support of Russia and France.

The British government too had been divided over the question of war. In 1914 the likelihood of civil war in Ireland, trade-union agitation and the exploits of the suffragettes were of far greater concern to the government than the problems of Serbia. However, as the European situation deteriorated, and although Prime Minister Asquith agonised over the decision, Britain entered the war partly because of existing treaties but also to prevent Germany from threatening national security and upsetting the balance of power. With the invasion of Belgium and subsequent declaration of war, British public opinion by and large swung behind the government and what has been described as ‘war fever’ gripped the country.

Enthusiasm and opposition

On the day war was declared, huge crowds gathered in central London, jamming the streets around Whitehall and packing Trafalgar Square, while they waited for news. According to The Times, the streets were ‘packed with cheering masses … Flags were waved from cabs, omnibuses, and private cars. The plinth of the Nelson Column, the pedestals of the statues in Whitehall, the windows of Government offices served as grandstands … the glimpse of a khaki tunic was the signal for fresh outbursts of enthusiasm …’ According to the same account, as the evening drew on and it was clear Germany had not accepted Britain’s ultimatum so that the country was now at war, the crowds, on the stroke of midnight, started cheering and singing the National Anthem.

Newspaper accounts of that day stressed the enthusiasm and patriotism of the crowds but just two days earlier central London had been witness to another large gathering, though for quite a different reason. On 2 August 1914 several thousand people had gathered in and around Trafalgar Square for a massive anti-war rally. Photographs of the time show Keir Hardie, the inspirational socialist and pacifist, standing at the foot of the famous lions addressing a huge crowd. Among that crowd was a young man called Harold Bing, who had walked 11 miles from Croydon to be there:

My attitude towards the war was of course critical from the start. This was very largely because I had grown up in a pacifist home. My father as a young man had been very much influenced by his reading of Tolstoy, had become a pacifist and opposed the Boer War and many of the friends who he met and who came to our home were people who took that point of view … when war did loom in the July of 1914 naturally I hoped that this country would not be involved. When I heard that a big anti-war demonstration was to be held in Trafalgar Square on the Sunday 2nd August 1914 and Keir Hardie was to be one of the speakers, I walked from my home up to Trafalgar Square, about 11 miles, and took part in that demonstration, listened to Keir Hardie, and of course walked home again afterwards, which perhaps showed a certain amount of boyish enthusiasm for the anti-war cause which was quite a thrilling meeting with about 10,000 people there and certainly very definitely anti-war though of course at that very same time, while we were demonstrating in Trafalgar Square, the Cabinet was sitting in Downing Street discussing the entry of England into the war and deciding on the ultimatum which brought us into the war two days later on the 4th August …

Harold Bing, aged only 18, would take his stand as a conscientious objector two years later, in 1916. He would be one of around 16,000 men who, for reasons of conscience, would refuse to accept conscription and engage in combat.

Anti-war traditions

Keir Hardie was speaking out against the First World War and was well known nationally and internationally for his long and staunchly anti-war stand, a position that influenced many younger men, encouraging some to become conscientious objectors during the war. But over the previous century there had been a number of pacifist and anti-militaristic voices and societies in Britain, North America and, from the late nineteenth century, in Europe as well. They included religious groups, social reformers and activists in the international socialist movement.

Some religious groups incorporated pacifism as part of their fundamental beliefs. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, was particularly well known for its pacifist standpoint, which dated back to the 1661 Peace Testimony. Although some Quakers both in America and Britain had, at times, taken part in combat, most were pacifists and during the First World War took a leading role in opposing war and conscription. The International Bible Students Association, later the Jehovah’s Witnesses, though not pacifist was notable for its refusal to engage in national and international wars and was absolutely opposed to conscription, for which its members were frequently persecuted. Christadelphians also were a large non-combatant religious sect.

In Britain there had been an organised peace movement – albeit very small – that dated back to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, subsequently known as the Peace Society or the London Peace Society, was formed in 1816. Its members, who over the years included some of the leading social reformers of the day such as free trader Richard Cobden and abolitionist Joseph Sturge, advocated arbitration for resolving potential conflicts, the simultaneous and proportional disarmament of all countries and the setting up of an international authority, tribunal or congress – to some extent foreshadowing the League of Nations, which was formed in 1919. At its height the Peace Society had a membership of around 1,500 and promoted its views through conferences, pamphlets and public meetings. It also had links to similar societies in America. Its roots lay in Christian pacifism and the rationalism of the Enlightenment and many of its members were Quakers. Despite being small by today’s standards, the Peace Society was remarkably long-lived and continued until 1930, when it merged with the International Christian Peace Fellowship and soon after ceased to exist.

The late nineteenth century had seen the emergence of a powerful socialist movement, linked to the labour or working class movement that was strongly anti-militarist. Not all socialists embraced pacifism – the absolute rejection of violence – believing as they did in a continuing class struggle that might well involve taking up arms against the ruling class but equally they laid emphasis on the worldwide brotherhood of the working classes. Capitalists and the upper classes created wars; working people were cannon fodder and should resist a situation where the workers of one country were forced to fight their working class comrades in another.

The question of war and militarism was discussed at various international congresses following the formation of the First International (International Workingmen’s Association) in 1864. However, delegates were rarely able to agree on a strategy for preventing war, although the most frequent suggestion was that of the general strike. In 1868 the Brussels Congress passed a resolution stating that working men’s associations in all the respective countries, working class societies and workers’ groups should ‘take the most vigorous action to prevent a war between their peoples …’ on the grounds that it would be ‘a struggle between brothers and citizens’ and urging workers to strike should war break out in any of their countries. However, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870 neither German nor French workers’ movements made any attempt at a strike.

In 1899 the Second International was formed in Paris. An escalating arms race and shifting European alliances meant that the question of war and how it could be prevented assumed greater importance for the socialists and labour groups attending the congresses. In 1891 delegates meeting in Brussels discussed the possibility of a European war and urged labour organisations to ‘resist vigorously’. In 1893 at Zurich, Congress urged workers to fight for a reversal of the arms race and for disarmament. War continued to be discussed but agreement was not reached. At the 1907 Congress, divisions were clear: French socialists led by Jean Jaurès argued that socialists should oppose any aggressor; Germans argued that socialists should be prepared to support wars of liberation, such as siding with Russian workers against Czarist oppression – foreshadowing the dilemma for anti-war activists during the Spanish Civil War – and French syndicalists called on workers to stage general strikes and insurrections.

In the event, the final resolution stated that if war threatened to break out, it was the duty of the ‘working class and of its Parliamentary representatives in the country involved ‘to exert every effort to prevent the outbreak of war by means they consider most effective …’. And if war broke out, the workers should ‘intervene in favour of its speedy termination’, as well as rousing the peoples to ‘hasten the abolition of capitalist class rule’. Keir Hardie for the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and French socialist and pacifist Edouard Vaillant consistently argued for a general strike against war, although once war broke out Vaillant, a lifelong pacifist, like many others supported the French government.

Trying to prevent war

In the month leading up to the outbreak of war, anti-war demonstrations took place in Britain and across Europe. On 25 July 1914, the day that Austria delivered its ultimatum to Serbia, Austrian socialist members of the Austrian parliament published an anti-war manifesto. Over the next few days, German socialists held anti-war demonstrations in Berlin, the French and German sections of the International protested against the war, as did the British Socialist Party. At a meeting of international socialists in Brussels, delegates pledged to demonstrate and lobby against war, while Keir Hardie, Jean Jaurès and others addressed a crowd of some 6,000 Belgian socialists, declaring a ‘war on war’. During the last week of July 1914 socialists in France, Germany and Belgium organised street protests, issued manifestos and anti-war demonstrations but, even before the war actually began, it was clear that their protests would have little impact. And in France, the anti-war protest suffered a serious blow when Jaurès was assassinated by a pro-war patriot.

When war actually arrived, there was a surge of patriotic nationalism in all the belligerent nations, as the public swung behind their governments. The European socialist movement was shattered by the coming of war; in France and Germany most socialists acknowledged their failure to prevent war and, in the interests of national unity, gave their support to what many described as a ‘defensive’ war for survival, particularly in France. Courageously some German socialists, among them Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin and Karl Liebknecht maintained their anti-war stand but they were in a small minority. The reality was, as Keir Hardie later concluded, international socialism had failed to stop the war.

In Britain the ILP, originally formed in 1893 and led by Keir Hardie, Scottish socialist, pacifist and champion of working people, consistently stood out against war, bringing many supporters into the campaign. One who came under Hardie’s influence was Fenner Brockway, who would serve time in prison as a conscientious objector.

The son of missionary parents, Brockway described himself as a rebel from childhood. By the age of 14 he had developed a keen interest in politics and subsequently joined the Liberal Party. After leaving school he became a journalist and was sent to interview Hardie. Armed with note-pad and pencil, Brockway began to ask questions but after a while Hardie told him to put his paper and pencil away and listen. According to Brockway, Hardie spoke for an hour about his own life and the creation of the ILP. The impact on the young journalist was enormous and he remained a socialist for the rest of his life:

I joined the ILP and was very much under the influence of Keir Hardie … also the whole ILP was anti-militarist, internationalist, we could never think in terms of taking up arms against our fellow workers and, as the war … approached, we became very strongly against the danger of war. Keir Hardie went to international working-class conferences, urged a general strike by all the workers of Europe against the war …

The Labour Party, initially formed as the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, saw its main purpose as looking after the interests of working people, and was more ambivalent in its attitude to war. Even so, there were many anti-war voices not just within the Labour Party but also among the Liberals. From 1911 Labour and ILP MPs, notably Philip Snowden, MP for Blackburn, and Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Labour Party, attacked Liberal Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey for policies that they claimed would lead directly to war. In 1912 the Labour Party Conference supported a motion from Keir Hardie, protesting against the Liberal government’s anti-German policy. In the two years leading up to the war the ILP highlighted and campaigned against the growing arms industry. As late as 30 July 1914 the Parliamentary Labour Party stated their hope that ‘on no account will this country be dragged into the European conflict …’ and urged labour organisations to take ‘effective action’ to oppose war.

Liberal and socialist newspapers such as the Daily Herald and the Daily Express called for mass demonstrations, while on 30 July 1914 the ILP’s own newspaper, the strongly anti-war Labour Leader, included an editorial by Fenner Brockway, who was by now editor of the paper, headed ‘The War Must be Stopped – and We Must Stop It’. Within his editorial, Brockway, who would soon be a major activist in the no-conscription and conscientious objector movement, argued that if the European labour movement worked together war would be impossible: ‘No Socialist conscience would approve the war which is looming before us if it came upon us. We have the power to stop it. We must do so. How? By demonstrating in such numbers and with such fervour all over Europe that the various Governments will be made to realise and fear the strength of the anti-war party …’

Plans were made for massive demonstrations to take place on 2 August. The ILP urged the largest of its branches to take action and organise anti-war meetings in their localities; in Scotland, James Maxton, chairman of the Scottish ILP, estimated that more than 100 meetings had taken place throughout Scotland. Largest of all the demonstrations was the one held in London’s Trafalgar Square, where an estimated 15,000, including Harold Bing, gathered to hear Keir Hardie, George Lansbury, Will Thorne and others speak out against war. The crowds listened to speeches, waved red flags and banners and sang ‘The Red Flag’ and ‘The International’. Possibly as many as 100,000 socialists and Labour supporters demonstrated across Britain on 2 August, but in reality they were in a very small minority.

The following day, 3 August, Sir Edward Grey announced in the House of Commons that Britain’s commitment to France meant war was a matter of ‘national honour’. The Conservatives, under Bonar Law, pledged support for the Liberal government, as did the Irish Nationalists. There were three senior members of the government who opposed the war – Charles Trevelyan, Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Education, John Burns, President of the Local Government Board, and John Morley, Secretary of State for India – and they resigned in protest. Others, among them Philip Snowden, voted against the decision, while Ramsay MacDonald, leader of the Labour Party, told the House of Commons that the decision was wrong, arguing that Britain should remain neutral, a stand that brought him considerable abuse from the public...