Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Archibald Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway (November 1, 1888 – 28 April 1988) was a British anti-war activist and politician.

Brockway was born in Calcutta, India which was at that time under British Imperial rule. While attending the School for the Sons of Missionaries then in Blackheath, London (now Eltham College) from 1897-1905, he discovered an interest in politics.

After leaving school he worked as a journalist for a variety of papers and journals including The Quiver and the Daily News and the Christian Commonwealth. It was while working at this last paper that he had the opportunity to meet and interview many of the radical left-wing thinkers of his time. Among others, he interviewed such notables as H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw.

Brockway joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1907 and a regular visitor to the Fabian Society.He was appointed editor of the Labour Leader (the newspaper of the ILP, later called the New Leader) and was, by 1913 a committed pacifist. He opposed British involvement in the First World War and was outspoken in his views about the conflict through his position as editor of the Labour Leader. The offices of the Labour Leader were raided in August 1915 and Brockway was charged with publishing seditious material. He pleaded not guilty to this charge and won his case in court.

In 1916 Brockway was again arrested, this time for distributing anti-conscription leaflets. Brockway was fined for this, and after refusing to pay the fine, was sent to Pentonville Prison for two months. Shortly after his release Brockway was arrested for a third time for his refusal to be conscripted. Considered a traitor under the Military Services Act, Brockway was imprisoned in the Tower of London, in a dungeon under Chester Castle and finally in Walton Prison, Liverpool. Following his release from prison in 1919 Brockway became an active member of the India League which advocated Indian independence. He became secretary of the ILP in 1923 and later its chairman.

Brockway stood for Parliament several times, including in 1924 in Westminster Abbey against Winston Churchill. In 1929, he was elected Member of Parliament for Leyton East as a Labour Party candidate. He polled 11,111 votes and, immediately after the election, the Liberal candidate announced that Brockway had converted him to socialism. His convictions brought him into difficulties with the Labour Party. In 1931 Brockway lost his seat and the following year he disaffiliated from the Labour Party along with the rest of the ILP. He stood unsuccessfully for the ILP in a 1934 West Ham by-election and in Norwich in the 1935 election.

With the rise of Fascism in mainland Europe Brockway began to believe that it may be necessary to fight in order to preserve the peace in the long run. Despite his strong pacifist beliefs he began assisting with the recruitment of British volunteers to go to fight Francisco Franco in Spain through the ILP Contingent. Among those who went to Spain to fight fascism was Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell) and it is known that Brockway wrote a letter of recommendation for Eric Blair to present to the ILP representatives in Barcelona, Spain. Following the Spanish Civil War Brockway advocated public understanding of the conflict. He wrote a number of articles about the conflict and was influential in getting George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia published.

Following the Second World War Brockway reaffirmed his belief in pacifism and rejoined the Labour Party. In 1950 he won the House of Commons seat of Eton and Slough.

In 1951 he was one of the four founders of the charity War on Want, which fights global poverty. Brockway strongly opposed the use or possession of nuclear weapons by any nation and was a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He chaired the Movement for Colonial Freedom.

Brockway very narrowly lost his seat in the House of Commons at the 1964 election, despite the national swing to Labour at that election, possibly because his strongly left-wing views upset many of his constituents. Brockway subsequently accepted a life peerage as Baron Brockway, of Eton and Slough in the Royal County of Berkshire and took up a seat in the House of Lords.

Brockway continued to campaign for world peace and was for several years the chairman of the Movement for Colonial Freedom. Other important posts held by Brockway include the Presidency of the British Council for Peace in Vietnam and the chairmanship of the World Disarmament Campaign. His life and legacy are celebrated in his old constituency of Slough with the now annual FennerFest, a community arts and culture festival. A statue of Brockway stands at the entrance to Red Lion Square Park in Holborn, London.

[edit] External links

• General Information
• First World War

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Ernest Edward Alexander	Member of Parliament for East Leyton 1929–1931	Succeeded by Sir Frederick Mills
Preceded by Benn Levy	Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough 1950–1964	Succeeded by Anthony Meyer
Political offices
Preceded by James Maxton	Chairman of the Independent Labour Party 1931–1933	Succeeded by James Maxton
Preceded by John Paton	General Secretary of the Independent Labour Party 1933–1939	Succeeded by John McNair
Media Offices
Preceded by ?	Editor of the Labour Leader 1912–1916	Succeeded by Katherine Glasier
Preceded by H. N. Brailsford	Editor of the New Leader 1926–1929	Succeeded by John Paton
Preceded by John Paton	Editor of the New Leader 1931–1946	Succeeded by George Stone and F. A. Ridley