No-Conscription Fellowship Manifesto
In September 1915, as conscription loomed, the No-Conscription Fellowship national committee issued 100,000 copies of its Manifesto declaring the Fellowship’s ‘solemn and unalterable’ refusal to fight, whatever the consequences.
The case for and against compulsory military and munition service is being argued by many who, for reasons of age or sex, would not be subject to it. The signatories to this Manifesto think it imperative to voice a protest in the name of a large body of men in this country who, though able-bodied and of military age, will – in the event of coercive measures – be bound by deep conscientious conviction to decline these services, whatever the consequences of the refusal.
We yield to no-one in our admiration of the self-sacrifice, the courage and the unflagging devotion of those of our fellow-countrymen who have felt it their duty to take up arms. Nevertheless, we cannot undertake the same forms of service; our conviction is solemn and unalterable.
Whatever the purpose to be achieved by war, however high the ideals for which belligerent nations may struggle, for us ‘Thou shalt not kill’ means what it says. The destruction of our fellow-men – young men like ourselves – appals us; we cannot assist in the cutting-off of one generation from life’s opportunities. Insistence upon individual obligations in the interests of national well-being has no terrors for us; we gladly admit – we would even extend – the right of the community to impose duties upon its members for the common good, but we deny the right of any Government to make the slaughter of our fellows a bounden duty.
We have been brought to this standpoint by many ways. Some of us have reached it through the Christian faith in which we have been reared, and in our interpretation of which we plead the right to stand loyal. Others have found it by association with international movements; we believe in the solidarity of the human race, and we cannot betray the ties of brotherhood which bind us to one another throughout the nations of the world.
All of us, however we may have come to this conviction, believe in the value and sacredness of human personality, and are prepared to sacrifice as much in the cause of the world’s peace as our fellows are sacrificing in the cause of the nation’s war.
Believing it is the imperative duty of every citizen to serve his country, we are eager to render national service through such occupations as shall help to build up the life and strength of our country without inflicting loss on that of other people.
We have not emphasised the objections to Conscription which are widely held by many who do not share our views on war. There are many who are now exposing the folly of forced service from the military standpoint; there is the vast body of Trade Unionists who view with suspicion the agitation of the National Service League and the Conscriptionist Press, and see in it a menace to the working class; there are experts who demonstrate that the revolution entailed would undermine the financial and commercial stability which is not the least valuable asset this country offers to the Allied Powers; there are the advocates of national unity who for that reason alone deprecate the raising of so disruptive an issue; and finally there are those whose objections are held on the ground of the great traditions and liberties of our country.
We, too, recognise to the full the grave dangers to those liberties and those traditions in the present agitation for Conscription, and especially as it must affect the workers of the nation, but first and foremost our decision rests on the ground of the serious violation of moral and religious convictions which a system of compulsion must involve.
We believe the real inspiration that prompts all efforts towards progress is a desire that human life may become of more account. This ideal we cannot renounce; its claim is absolute.
The Manifesto was signed by Clifford Allen, chairman; Fenner Brockway, honorary secretary; Edward Grubb, honorary treasurer; and a committee consisting of A Barratt Brown, A Sutherland Campbell, William Chamberlain, J H Hudson, Morgan Jones, C H Norman and Leyton Richards. Grubb, Barratt Brown and C H Norman were Quakers, and Richards represented the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
