No Conscription Campaign

The No Conscription Campaign was an Australian campaign that started during World War I.

No Conscription Campaign
SuccessorLeague for Freedom;
League for Freedom and World Friendship
Formation1916 (1916)
Founded atNew South Wales, Australia
PurposeAnti-Conscription in Australia
HeadquartersSydney, Australia
Key people
James Catts, David Watkins, Kenneth Kenafick, Maurice Blackburn,

It was succeeded by the League for Freedom, later becoming the League for Freedom and World Friendship.

Organisation

The campaign was based in MacDonell House in Sydney.[1]

History

In 1916, James Catts was the general organiser and Director.[1] The campaign's first meeting took place on November 27, 1917 in the Mechanic's Hall in Singleton, New South Wales, less than a year after the 1916 Australian conscription referendum. Organisers David Watkins, Daisy Loughran, and Mayor Alderman McDougall as chair. Speakers at the event were D. J. McGuire and Austin Elliott who spoke about conscription for World War I.[2]

In 1917, ahead of the 1917 Australian conscription referendum, the campaign published a leaflet calling upon mothers to vote against conscription.[3] The campaign's pamphlet Wholesale Slaughter read "Maintain ‘White Australia’! This cannot be done if our manhood is deported!", arguing that killed white Australian conscripts would trigger an increase non-white immigration to Australia.[4]

Maurice Blackburn's involvement in the campaign was documented in Kenneth Kenafick's 148 page book Maurice Blackburn and the No-conscription campaign in the Second World War.[5] Kenafick was the secretary for the campaign, and later the secretary of the group's successor League for Freedom.[6]

After being succeeded by League for Freedom, the organisation later became the League for Freedom and World Friendship.[6]

The League for Freedom and World Friendship published the journal Anti-Militarist News and Review in Melbourne, edited Kenafick.[7]

See also

References
  1. No-Conscription Campaign letter, 1916, State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales
  2. Northcote, J. S. (1917-11-29). "NO-CONSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN". Singleton Argus. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  3. "Propaganda and the conscription debate". Old Treasury Building, Melbourne. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  4. "Propaganda at Home (Australia) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)". 1914-1918-online. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  5. "Maurice Blackburn and the No-conscription campaign in the Second World War / by K.J. Kenafick". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  6. "Kenafick Collection". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 12 Dec 2013.
  7. www.bibliopolis.com. "ANTI-MILITARIST NEWS AND REVIEW on Bibliomania". Bibliomania. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
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