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Pacifism |
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Pacifists believe that the use of arms is immoral and so renounce war. One of Wales's most influential pacifists during the first half of the 20th century was George M. LL. Davies who was born in Liverpool. He was imprisoned for opposing the Great War and conscription. |
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He and his friend, Richard Roberts from Blaenau Ffestiniog, formed a Christian society to promote peace in 1914 called the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Cymdeithas y Cymod). They published a monthly periodical under the title Y Deyrnas from 1916 to 1919, with Thomas Rees, principal of Bala-Bangor college, as editor. |
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| There was a strong pacifist tradition within some of the Welsh nonconformist denominations and many refused to fight in the war, becoming conscientious objectors. The poet Gwenallt (David James Jones) spent time in Wormwood Scrubs and Dartmoor during the First World War for refusing to 'wear the Khaki clothes'. His experience as a prisoner motivated him to write his novel Plasau'r Brenin (1934). He objected to the war on Christian, socialist and national grounds. |  |
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Others objected to war on religious and socialist grounds, such as the Communist Arthur Horner who was imprisoned for refusing to fight in the British Army during the First World War. Following the First World War which ended in 1918, the Welsh Council of the League of Nations was established in 1922. | |
| The aim of the League was to secure co-operation between the nations of the world. It was the substantial financial support of David Davies, Llandinam, industrialist and philanthropist, that guaranteed the existence of the Welsh League.The Reverend Gwilym Davies was the first director of the League and it was he who started the Goodwill Message from the children of Wales in 1922. |  |
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As a second World War became more likely, in 1938 the National Temple of Peace and Health was opened in Cardiff. This was another of David Davies, Llandinam's ventures in the name of peace. | |
| The Temple became a memorial to those who had perished in the Great War and also the headquarters for two Welsh societies, the 'Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Society' and the Welsh National League of Nations. | 
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In 1937 the Welsh National Pacifist Society was established with G. M. LL. Davies as president and Gwynfor Evans as secretary. By the end of that year a pamphlet had been published to coincide with the launch of the society under the title, Ymorthodwn â Rhyfel (We Reject War). Dozens of pamphlets were published by this society. | |
| 2,920 conscientious objectors were recorded in Wales during the Second World War. For the first time ever, George Lloyd, Wrexham and Robert J. Evans, Brymbo were prosecuted for their refusal to join the armed forces on the grounds of their Welsh nationalist beliefs. |  |
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| Recruitment and the First World War | Pacifism | CND |
| The Spanish Civil War | The Second World War | |
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