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OBJECTING TO WAR
FIRST CO TO DIE
2 EUROPE GOES TO WAR
3 COUNTDOWN TO CONSCRIPTION
4 FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN SOCIETY
5 NO CONSCRIPTION FELLOWSHIP
6 THE SECRET PRESS
7 MANY TRADITIONS
8 THE TRIBUNALS
9 TRANSCRIPS
10 THE 'won't-fight-funks'
11 THE COST OF CONSCIENCE
12 UNWILLING SOLDIERS
13 ALTERNATIVES AND DILEMMAS
14 PRISON
15 THE MEN SENTENCED TO DEATH
16 COERCION FAILS
17 DYCE
18 DARTMOOR
19 THEY WORK IN OVERCOATS
20 THE MEN WHO DIED
21 WINDING DOWN
21 SELECTION OF BOOKS
22 FROM CALL UP TO DISCHARGE
WHY WAR? supplement
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‘The Tribunal’ was the official paper of the No Conscription Fellowship and had a surprisingly long life. It was published weekly from March 1916, and at its peak it sold 10,000 copies.
The government tried very hard – and often – to suppress ‘The Tribunal’. Its first editor was arrested and imprisoned, and there were frequent police raids. Eventually police found and removed the press on which ’The Tribunal’ was printed. They took it apart for conversion to scrap iron. As the police dismantled the machinery and again ransacked the NCF offices, one said ‘We’ve done for you this time’. But three days later the next issue of ‘The Tribunal’ was published!
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The NCF’s strong-minded and determined staff had thought ahead. They had lined up two supporters who were skilled printers and did not mind going into virtual hiding for days at a time. A hand printing press had been bought for them, small enough to use in a private house. Supplies of paper and other materials were distributed among NCF members in quantities small enough to avoid suspicion.
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The paper’s contents were smuggled to the two printers, whose ingenuity and dedication helped the NCF to outwit Scotland Yard. ‘The Tribunal’ was now smaller, and fewer copies were printed, but it was still published – and eagerly read.
Police raids did not stop. Acting editor Joan Beauchamp was arrested and charged. She faced either a fine of £200 (a large sum in those days) or a 51-day prison sentence – even though the magistrate said he did not think she was the master-printer. Her case went to the Appeal court. Now it was discovered that the publisher could be fined only for each copy ‘so printed by her’, and the prosecution had not accused her of printing any copies at all. She was still charged, however, since her name appeared on each copy of ‘The Tribunal’. In the end she was sent to prison, but released after 10 days.
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