NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AFTER THE COLD WAR

Part 1: Archives of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1989-1994

Introduction by Bruce Kent, Vice-President, CND

"This extensive collection of documents may come as a surprise to those who thought that CND came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.  Certainly CND faded from media view as the immediate sense of nuclear crisis diminished.  CNDs national membership within a few years dropped to perhaps a quarter of its one-time 100,000+ total.  Moreover CND was no longer politically popular.  'New' Labour was embarrassed by its previous CND connections which it judged to be a political liability.  It fought the 1992 election on a platform which included the retention of British nuclear weapons.

CND - British, Welsh, Scottish, and all the various regional and specialist offshoots - did not in fact disappear.  Indeed, as we now face a new millennium, CND is showing a remarkable power of recovery and renewal.

Thanks to the diligent and painstaking work of Dr Sheila Jones, the CND archivist, and of Adam Matthew Publications, we now have this excellent seventeen reel collection of CND archives covering the years 1994 to 2000.  Their range is very wide.  National Council minutes, annual conference reports, Scottish and Welsh documentation, and regional and local group newsletters, all give a vivid picture of the atmosphere of the time.

The 1990s were not a quiet decade.  They started with the first Gulf War and were dominated by numerous civil wars and the bombardment of a broken Yugoslavia.  Already CND was well into the world of one superpower whose military expenditure equalled that of the rest of the world put together.  Pax Americana, nuclear-underpinned, was the new reality in the last decade of the twentieth century and will be for the foreseeable future.

1995 was a year of significant anniversaries particularly for the peace movement.  1995 marked fifty years since the end of the Second World War, a chapter of cruelty culminating in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It was also the year in which a new chapter of hope began with the signing of the United Nations charter in June 1945.

Many ex-service men and women from different parts of the world came in 1995 to the Rally for Reconciliation held in Central Hall, Westminster.  This was organised by the peace movement, including CND, as their contribution to the national commemorations.

Perhaps the greatest international peace movement gathering of all time took place in The Hague in 1999.  This event commemorated Tzar Nicholas IIs initiative of 1899 when the first government disarmament conference was held. The overall theme was about de-legitimizing war itself: an ambitious project for the beginning of a new millennium.   CND took an active part both in the planning and the three day event itself which involved 10,000 participants from 100 countries, and was addressed by the United Nations Secretary General. 

CND still lived on with vigour in substantial backbench parts of the New Labour.  It was also becoming more influential in church circles as the links between poverty and militarism, nuclear and non-nuclear were better understood.  The years covered by this collection were also years of considerable international activity as CND struggled with partners abroad both to save the nuclear non-proliferation treaty of 1968, and to develop arguments from international law in opposition to nuclear weapons.  Groups like Trident Ploughshares, which challenged the legality of nuclear weapons, had their claims greatly supported by the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of 1996.

These documents are an excellent record of six years in the life of CND's long campaign for peace and genuine security.  Like previous and current campaigns ranging from anti-slavery to anti-arms trade, CNDs work, remembered in these archives, will encourage others in the future to stand up for their own convictions.

'Another world is possible' is the slogan of those who oppose todays economic globalisation.  As these documents show, it is a slogan that could well be shared with CND."

The issue of nuclear disarmament did not die away with the end of the Cold War. Far from it. Huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons were left in the hands of increasingly unstable countries. Prospective members of the 'nuclear club' grew unabated, and those with nuclear weapons continued to test and refine their systems - with apparent disregard for the damage that such tests might inflict or the opinions of those living close to the test areas.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has always been one of the most outspoken critics of those wielding nuclear power - both as weapons and as energy resources. Their marches, protests, publications and political lobbying have made a difference to the climate of opinion - but they will not rest until they achieve their aim of worldwide nuclear disarmament.

The earlier records of CND have already been microfilmed and we are delighted to be able to continue this venture by offering the complete CND archives from 1989 to 1994. These document the first five years after the end of the Cold War. A period that began with much rejoicing as the Berlin Wall fell, countries such as Czechoslovakia and Poland gained independence, and as nuclear weapons destruction treaties were signed by America and Russia. However, a new sense of realism soon set in, as CND and others understood that their task was not over - it had just become more urgent and more complicated.

This project includes full runs of central records such as: 

 - CND Annual Conference Programmes, 1989-1994
 - CND Conference Working Group Committee Papers, 1990-1994
 - Minutes of the National Council of CND, 1990-1993
 - Minutes of the National Executive Committee of CND, 1991-1993
 - Minutes of Sub-Committees of National CND, 1991-1994

This project features all of their periodicals and printed sources including Sanity, 1989-1991 (at which point it was replaced by) Campaign, 1991-1994 and CND Today, 1991-1994; CND Information/Defence Briefings, 1989-1995; and CND Press Releases, 1990-1994.

As such this project enables a detailed analysis of the activities of CND from the top-down and from the bottom-up. The international reporting of CND periodicals is married with the organisation of local marches in the regions; the discussion of worldwide issues at conferences and on committees is balanced by an examination of what CND can do to address these problems and meet their aims.

Archives of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an essential source for all those libraries collecting in the area of peace studies. It will be of value to those working in the area of modern politics, pressure group tactics and popular opinion, and cannot be ignored by anyone concerned with issues arising from nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the period 1989-1994.