• DOI:10.1017/S0018246X00011481
• Corpus ID: 154899222

Lord Cecil and the Pacifists in the League of Nations Union

@article{Thompson1977LordCA,
  title={Lord Cecil and the Pacifists in the League of Nations Union},
  author={J. A. Thompson},
  journal={The Historical Journal},
  year={1977},
  volume={20},
  pages={949 - 959}
}

• J. A. Thompson
• Published 1 December 1977
• Political Science
• The Historical Journal

In the third volume of his political memoirs, devoted to the I930s, L. S. Amery refers to a powerful propagandist body that brought together all 'the theoretical idealists' who believed in making war to suppress war and the extreme pacifists who were prepared 'to run any risks rather than contemplate the possibility of another war'. This was the League of Nations Union led 'with fanatical fervour' by Lord Robert Cecil.' Others, equally unsympathetic, described the Union in similar but cruder terms as a collection of 'bloodthirsty Pacifists' and total ' 2 non-resisters . Union leaders naturally rejected these pejorative labels, but privately sought to reconcile a 'pacifist wing' that preached 'pure pacifism' with a much larger wing of 'orthodox Leaguers' that embraced the concept of 'mutual defence' as outlined in the League Covenant.3 These internal differences were muted in the I92os, but in the early I 930S events served to sharpen contrasting attitudes and force opposing strategies for peace to the surface, and into public discussion. Inside and outside the Union 'pure' pacifists and 'true' Leaguers articulated and advocated their differing approaches to peace. This article proposes to consider Lord Cecil's relationship with the English pacifists, especially during the Locarno era, I925-33.4 As an orthodox Leaguer, how did he respond intellectually to the pacifist position, and as president how did he respond tactically to the pacifist wing within the Union? How could differences with the pacifists be composed, or even muted, without seriously