The future of the Trident nuclear deterrent system has been significant in the General Election campaigned so far, largely due to the polls claiming significant gains for the SNP in Scotland.
Items in the TUC Library document some of the opposition to nuclear weapons and specifically to Trident when it was introduced in the 1980s:
Anti-Trident poster produced by the Civil and Professional Services Association, 1984
Anti-Trident poster produced by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1984
We also have an extensive collection that covers issues of pacifism, the international anti-war movement and campaigns against the armaments industry.
Various elements of the labour and trade union movement opposed the First World War on religious, political and economic grounds. These views are represented in the collections:
Conscription enters the workshops, 1916
Anti-war cartoon from New Zealand, 1914
On the eve of the Second World War the National Council of Labour – comprising the TUC, the Labour Party and the Parliamentary Labour Party – issued a message to the German workers opposing fascism and calling on them to oppose the war:
“British Labour’s message to the German people”, 1939
The war was also significant in its aftermath, with the outbreak of peace being greeted with a mood of national solidarity instrumental in the creation of the welfare state:
“Plan for Peace” sets out the Labour Party’s programme for post-war reconstruction, 1945
To find out more about the collections, get in touch at 020 7133 3726, tuclib@londonmet.ac.uk