Redacting Just War

Abstract

1957 was a significant year for the British nuclear deterrence debate. Christopher Driver (1964) recalls four events that precipitated the emergence of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). First, the Labour Party Conference where Nye Bevan denounced unilateral nuclear reunciation as tantamount to ‘sending a Foreign Secretary naked into the conference chamber’. Second, J. B. Priestley’s New Statesman riposte to Bevan which argued that Britain’s nuclear policy negated democratic politics by placing crucial decisions beyond ordinary citizens. Third, George Kennan’s Reith Lectures because for most people outside the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) they were the first indication that there was a considered alternative to massive retaliation. Finally, the launching of Sputnik I that demonstrated, because the Soviets had the system technology to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles, the West had lost its technological lead over the Soviet Union on which its concept of deterrence rested. To these events of note may be added the Yale statements by the CCIA and the WCC. This latter was the most important for the churches because it amounted to official ecumenical endorsement for ‘third way’ (i.e. nuclear pacifist) engagement. Against this background the British Council of Churches had formed a study group to consider the moral aspects of defence.