Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway (1 November 1888 — 28 April 1988), was a British anti-war activist and politician.
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Archibald Fenner 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. Fenner Brockway joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1907 and was 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, through his position as editor of the Labour Leader, was outspoken in his views about the conflict. 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 Fenner Brockway was again arrested, this time for distributing anti-conscription leaflets. He was fined for this, and after refusing to pay the fine, was sent to Pentonville Prison for two months.[1]
Shortly after his release Fenner Brockway was arrested for a third time for his refusal to be conscripted, after being denied recognition as a conscientious objector. He was handed over to the Army and court-martialled for disobeying orders. As if a traitor, he was held for a night in the Tower of London, in a dungeon under Chester Castle and finally in Walton Prison, Liverpool. Following his release from prison in 1919 he became an active member of the India League which advocated Indian independence. He became secretary of the ILP in 1923 and later its chairman. In 1926, he became the first chairperson of War Resisters' International, serving in this post until 1934.[2]
Fenner Brockway stood for Parliament several times, including in 1924 in Westminster Abbey against Winston Churchill. He was a member of the League against Imperialism created in Brussels in 1927.
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 Fenner Brockway had converted him to socialism. His convictions brought him into difficulties with the Labour Party. He was also outspoken in Parliament, and was once "named" (suspended) by the Speaker while demanding a debate on India at Prime Minister's Question Time.[3]
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. He also wrote the well-known book on the arms trade, The Bloody Traffic, published by Gollancz Ltd in 1934.
With the rise of fascism in Spain, Fenner Brockway began to believe that it might be necessary to fight to preserve the peace in the long run. Despite his previous pacifist commitment, he resigned from War Resisters' International, explaining that he was "faced by this fact: If I were in Spain at this moment I should be fighting with the workers against the Fascists forces. I believe it to be the correct course to demand that the workers shall be provided with the arms which are being sent so freely by the Fascist powers to their enemies. I appreciate the attitude of the pacifists in Spain who, whilst wishing the workers success, feel that they must express their support in constructive social service alone. My difficulty about that attitude is that if anyone wishes the workers to be triumphant he cannot, in my view, refrain from doing whatever is necessary to enable that triumph to take place".[4]
He assisted in the recruitment of British volunteers to fight the fascist forces of Francisco Franco in Spain through the ILP Contingent. He sailed to Calais in Feb 1937 and was believed to have been destined for Spain[5]. Among those who went to Spain was Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell) and it is known that Fenner Brockway wrote a letter of recommendation for Blair to present to the ILP representatives in Barcelona. Following the Spanish Civil War, he advocated public understanding of the conflict. He wrote a number of articles about the conflict and was influential in getting Orwell's Homage to Catalonia published.[6]
Notwithstanding his support for British participation in the Second World War, he served as Chair of the Central Board for Conscientious Objectors throughout the war, and continued to serve as Chair until his death.
Following the war Fenner Brockway 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. From the late 1950s he regularly proposed legislation in Parliament to end racial discrimination, only to be defeated each time. He strongly opposed the use or possession of nuclear weapons by any nation and was a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
He 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 strong views upset many of his constituents. He subsequently accepted a life peerage as The Baron Brockway, of Eton and Slough in the Royal County of Berkshire, and took a seat in the House of Lords.
Lord 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 him include the Presidency of the British Council for Peace in Vietnam, membership of the Advisory Council of the British Humanist Association and the chairmanship of the World Disarmament Campaign.
Brockway wrote over twenty books on politics. This including four volumes of autobiography: Inside the Left (1942), Outside the Right (1963), Towards Tomorrow (1977) and 98 Not Out (1986).[7]
The Baron Brockway died on 28 April 1988, aged 99. He was some six months shy of his centenary.[8]
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 Fenner Brockway stands at the entrance to Red Lion Square Park in Holborn, London.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ernest Edward Alexander |
Member of Parliament for East Leyton 1929–1931 |
Succeeded by 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 |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by New position |
Chair of War Resisters' International 1926–1934 |
Succeeded by Arthur Ponsonby |
| Media offices | ||
| Preceded by J. T. Mills |
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 |
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