In some places of employment workers refused to work alongside COs. Over 70 city councils dismissed COs who were working for them. In 1940, with the British government expecting a German invasion at any time, public opinion turned against Conscientious Objectors. Over the next six years a total of 59,192 people in Britain registered as Conscientious Objectors (COs). Most importantly, this time the Tribunals were willing to grant absolute exemption. Tribunals were set up to deal with claims for exemption on conscience grounds, but this time there were no military representatives acting as prosecutors. However, lessons had been learned from the First World War. In April 1939 Neville Chamberlain announced a return to conscription. Kollwitz produced Killed in Action in 1921. Kathe Kollwitz was a pacifist who lost a son and grandson in Conditions were made very hard for the conscientious objectors and sixty-nine of them died in prison. This included 17 who were sentenced to death (afterwards commuted), 142 to life imprisonment, three to 50 years' imprisonment, four to 40 years and 57 to 25 years. However, 528 were sentenced to severe penalties. Over 4,500 went sent to do work of national importance such as farming. By the end of the war, 8,608 appeared before Military Tribunals. A plaque to commemorate them hangs in the offices of the pacifist organisation the Peace Pledge Union.įirst World War Encyclopedia (3,250 pages - £4.95)Īfter the passing of the Military Service Act in 1916, the No-Conscription Fellowship mounted a vigorous campaign against the punishment and imprisonment of conscientious objectors. Conditions were very hard for conscientious objectors, and ten of them died in prison more than sixty died afterwards as a result of the way they had been treated. These included 35 who were sentenced to death (afterwards commuted), and many others who spent up to three years in prison on repeated sentences. However, 6,000 were handed over to the army, and then sentenced to severe penalties for disobeying orders. By the end of the war, 16,000 appeared before Military Service Tribunals. The No-Conscription Fellowship mounted a vigorous campaign against the punishment and imprisonment of conscientious objectors.
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Non-combatant duties in the British Army. Some absolutists such as Allen and Brockway formed the pressure group, the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF).
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People who fell into this category included Clifford Allen, Fenner Brockway, Bertrand Russell, and E. Some pacifists, known as absolute conscientious objectors, rejected any involvement in the war. Forster, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence and Christopher Nevinson. This included Kingsley Martin, Stanley Spencer, E. Some pacifists refused to fight but about 7,000 were willing to help the country by working in non-combat roles such as medical orderlies, stretcher-bearers, ambulance drivers, cooks or labourers. In the First World War pacifists became known as conscientious objectors.
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Pacifism is a belief that violence, even in self-defence, is unjustifiable under any conditions and that negotiation is preferable to war as a means of solving disputes.