Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament

In British Politics , the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been at the forefront of the Peace Movement in the United Kingdom and claims to be Europe's largest Single-issue Peace Campaign .

As well as campaigning against military actions that may result in the use of Nuclear , Chemical or Biological Weapon s, they are also in favour of nuclear disarmament by all countries and tighter international regulation through treaties such as the NPT . The most famous and longest-standing annual march is that from Trafalgar Square , London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston held every Easter weekend, taking the whole four days to complete.

THE FIRST WAVE 1958-1962

J. B. Priestley wrote an article for the New Statesman , published on the 2nd November 1957 , entitled ''Russia, the Atom and the West''. Priestley's article was heavily critical of Aneurin Bevan for abandoning his policy of Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament . The journal received numerous letters of support for Priestley's article, and Kingsley Martin , then the editor of the New Statesman, organised a meeting of people inspired by Priestley. From this meeting they formed the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament {Link without Title} .

Prominent founding members of the CND included Fenner Brockway , Canon John Collins , E. P. Thompson , J. B. Priestley , Michael Foot , Victor Gollancz , Bertrand Russell , A.J.P. Taylor , and Dora Russell . Its founder organizer was Peggy Duff . Although many of its members, including religious groups that make up a significant minority of the active membership, are Pacifist , the organisation itself is not.

Its logo, designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom , became widespread outside of Britain during the 1960s as the " Peace Symbol ". The peace symbol is based on the international Semaphore symbols for "N" and "D" (for Nuclear Disarmament) enclosed within a circle. There is a common misconception that Bertrand Russell designed the logo, stemming from his being president of the organisation at the time. In 1960 Bertrand Russell resigned from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in order to form a more Militant group called the Committee Of 100 .

THE SECOND WAVE (1980-89)

In the early 1980s the organisation underwent a major revival, as tensions between the superpowers rose with the deployment of American Pershing II Cruise Missile s in Western Europe and SS20s in the Soviet Bloc countries and the Thatcher government replacing the Polaris armed Submarine fleet with Trident .

During this period CND established a number of 'Specialist Sections' to add to , Liberal CND , Green CND and Ex-Services CND .

Much of National CND's historical archive is at the Modern Records Centre University Of Warwick and the London School Of Economics , although records of local and regional groups are spread throughout the country in public and private collections.

CURRENT CND

Today, CND has several priority campaigns:

"Scrap

"Missile Defence: The New Threat": Against the US Strategic Defense Initiative

"No to NATO "

"Stop the Plutonium Trade"

In an end to its single-issue focus on the nuclear issue, since , 2005 in London .

STRUCTURES

There exist several branches of CND to cover the British Isles, namely: , Christian CND , Youth And Student CND , Parliamentary CND and Ex Services CND . Regional groupings also exist covering: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, East Midlands, Kent, London, Manchester, Merseyside, Mid Somerset, Norwich, South Cheshire and North Staffshire, Southern, South West, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and Yorkshire.

The CND Council is made up of: Chair, Treasurer, 3 Vice-Chairs, 15 Directly Elected Members, 1 Christian CND, 1 Labour CND, 1 Student CND, 3 Youth and Student CND and 27 Members Representing 11 Regional Groups.

CHAIRS OF CND SINCE 1958