Between Labour’s barefaced militarism and a domesticated peace movement, it falls to anarchists to step up resistance to weapons of mass destruction
~ Ned Skinn’ ~
The patriotic flag-waving and bunting to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day has for now kept our attention away from another upcoming anniversary—that of the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The images of destruction and human suffering that followed showed a horrific reality, reflected in ‘what it could be like’ films like Threads. Humanity took a deep breath in and decided no-one wanted that again. It was the fear of ‘mutually assured destruction’ that has, arguably, kept the nuclear peace since then.
But now, for the first time in almost 20 years, it has just been announced that American nuclear weapons are to be based on British soil. The British Prime Minister tells us that we must prepare for war. There is talk of conscription and a ‘Dad’s Army’-style volunteer defence corps. The right-wing press tries to sell us the lie that we could survive a nuclear exchange. Businesses are being offered courses on remaining operational during war. Even ‘enemies within’ like Palestine Action are being created and police powers increased to quell potential civil unrest.
Against all this, the anarchist movement in this country has a long history of involvement in anti-militarism and resisting nuclear weapons, much of which may have been forgotten. It may be useful to reflect on that past.
Shortly after Britain started testing its own nuclear weapons, in 1952, came the first generation of anti-nuclear protestors with the formation of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the more radical Committee of 100. They had massive support from the public and it wasn’t long before the Labour Party realised the potential to gain votes from that support. Public concern, particularly after the global tension created by the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, meant that many believed Labour when they promised, “Vote for us and we’ll ban the bomb!”.
As anti-militarists, anarchists had been involved in earlier movements against war, and warned that the Labour Party could not be trusted. Sure enough, in 1964, the ‘ban-the-bomb’ Labour Party returned to government and wasted no time deciding to further develop Britain’s nuclear arsenal. Those lies and that betrayal should have been a lesson to remember forever.
Unfortunately, like many movements with radical beginnings, the CND and other peace movement organisations had come to be led by middle-class liberals, Christian pacifists, and entryist state-socialists. Since then, generations of people wanting to ‘do something’ have been drawn into the same dead end of writing to politicians, going on marches, and being encouraged to “vote Labour without illusions” again and again. This attitude carried on into the 1980s’ intensification of the Cold War. Despite mass demonstrations and the camp at Greenham Common, the mainstream leadership of the peace movement continued to channel it all into innocuous protest and and electoral politics.
The 1980s also saw a resurgence of the anarchist movement. Interest in what was later to become the Class War Federation started after their presence at CND demos. The anarcho-punk scene and anarchists’ involvement in the animal rights and environmental movements boosted interest in our ideas. Direct action, in all its forms, became popular. Tory attacks on the working class provoked major strikes like the miners, printers and ambulance staff, encouraging class-struggle anarchist politics and leading to the creation of specifically working-class organisations like Anarchist Communist Federation.
So, what next? We can only wait and see what effect that recent events have on the wider population, particularly the working-class. I believe things might have to get worse before they get better. With the increasing authoritarianism and militarism of our society and intensified attempts to suppress dissent, the Labour government is showing its true colours. How much will the population take before they rouse from their sleep and do something?
We must remain anti-militarist and point out the clear fact that the Labour Party is not the solution but the cause. This will put the left in a quandary, so while we may be small in numbers we must speak and act with integrity. We need to take care but we also need to stand up, shout and get organised. It is anarchism that could provide the kindling that ignites the fire of change. We just need to light that match.
Top image: Anti-nuclear blockade at Faslane, 15 April 2013. Ric Lander on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
