On the 3rd October 1952, Britain detonated their
first atomic weapon on the north-west coast of Australia, this was a success
for Britain, but had a different knock-on effect in the long run. Britain’s ownership
of nuclear firearms did not have a huge support from the British public.
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| Picture from: https://www.commondeams.or |
5 years later a
fire broke out in Cumbria on the 10th October 1957, infamously known
as the “windscale fire”, it was ranked the worst nuclear accident in Great
Britain with the severity level a 5 out of 7, 1“At the time the British government released only sketchy details of the
accident and in general tried to minimize its seriousness”.
One year later the “Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament” (CND) was
formed in 1958 founders included novelist JB Priestley, and others, it was
formally announced at a highly attended meeting in Westminster. In October of
that year the US stopped testing and so did the Russians, the CND tried to take
direct credit for this and asked more from Great Britain. The CND was formed to
campaign against, any military actions which may lead to use atomic, chemical
or biological weapons.
With Europe being gripped of the reality of possible nuclear
conflict, from the height of the cold war, fear struck, and protests began
around the UK to stop this from happening.
Organised by the “Direct Action Committee” (DAC) marches
from Aldermaston to London had begun to campaign to get rid of nuclear weapons.
One of the first Aldermaston marches was held shortly after the CND was formed
this happened yearly till 1963 as this was the same year as the international
test ban treaty was signed.
‘Ban the Bomb’
became iconic during the 60’s with the commonly recognised peace symbol being
designed for the British CND. Britain wanted to disarm their nuclear weapons to
set an example to the rest of the world, with membership increasing rapidly
year after year the number of people taking part in these marches rose with this.
CND was formed all over the world from Ireland to New Zealand. The CND helped
bring in students, and party activists to help protest. Bringing a safe
community where everyone agreed on the same outcome, but also had the element
of seriousness. On the Easter weekend of the 1962 Aldermaston march 200,000
people participated in 13 different countries. This rose to 20 countries
marching on the Easter weekend in 1964 with half a million protestors.
By 1963, the
abolition of nuclear weapons was backed by 9 to 1 by the British public, in
1964 Marches stopped, debt had exceeded, and the number of members dropped.
Around the world CND began to fade away in the mid 1960’s but the long lasting
effect of the CND stimulated a global debate on the need for nuclear firearms and
this debate still goes on today.
Bibliography – Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament
1Windscale
fire, (2015), Available at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Windscale-fire ,Last
opened:22nd November.
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