| Main Performers | Mr Winston Churchill MP,
Earl of Lytton,
Sir Walter Citrine (Presiding),
Lady Violet Bonham Carter MP,
Mr A M Wall (Secretary, London Trades Council) - speakers |
| Set List | Welcome (Sir Walter Citrine)
Messages from Supporter: Archibishop of Canterbury, Archbishop of Westminster, Sir Austen Chamberlain MP, Viscount Cecil, Mr J R Clyes MP, Sir Herbert Samuel, Lord Rutherford, Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, Bishop of Lichfield, Sir Michael Sadler (Sir Walter Citrine)
Speeches:
Lady Violet Bonham Carter,
A M Wall,
Winston Churchill,
Earl of Lytton,
Sir Walter Citrine
'God Save the King' (The National Anthem) |
| Performance Notes | The meeting was arranged by speakers with an array of political views (Labour, Liberal and Conservative) in order to pledge full support for democracy and to inform the British public of the grave danger the Nazi regime in Germany, Fascists in Italy, civil war in Spain and Communisim posed to international peace and freedom. They called for other free and peace-loving nations of the world to stand together against aggression and stop any future War.
Approxiamately 75 people representing all sections of the public were invited to be seated on the platform (stage): Richard Acland, Lord Allen of Hurtwood, The Duchess of Atholl, P J Noel-Baker and Mrs Baker, G N Barnes, Gerald Barry, Sir Comyns Berkely, Robert Bernays, Reverend S M Berry, Robert Boothby, L J Cadbury, Reverend J C Carlile, the Dean of Chichester (representing the Archbishop of Canterbury), Mrs Clementine Churchill, Lady Citrine, Sir Robert Waley-Cohen, Lord Davies, Vice-Admiral S R Drury-Lowe, Major C K Entwhistle, Emrys Evans, Sir Robert Evans, Dr Marwell Garnett, Milner Gray, Reverend Benjamin Gregory, the Right Reverend J H Greig, Kingsley Griffith, Mr and Mrs Philip Guedalla, Dr Haden-Guest, Hon. Oscar Guest, Sir Percy Harris, Joseph Henderson, the Very Reverend Dr J H Hertz, Sir Arthur Haworth, Reverend S W Hughes, Reverend John Hutton, Harcourt Johnstone, Commissioner David Lamb, Sir Walter and Lady Layton, Dame Adelaide Livingstone, Commander O Locker-Lampson, the Countess of Lytton, W Mabane, Miss MacDonald, Dr J J MaIIon, Reverend David Matthew (representing the Archbishop of Westminster), A E W Mason, D Mason, Lord and Lady Melchett, Lord Merthyr, Lt.-Colonel Moore-Brabazon, H Le Provost, Ivliss Bleanor Rathbone, Lt.-Colonel Raynsford, A H Richards, J A de Rothschild, Reverend J H Rushbrooke, Mr and Mrs Duncan Sandys, Sir Archibald and Lady Sinclair, Mr and Mrs E Spier, H Wickham Steed, Lord Strabolgi, V Tewson, J C Wedgwood, Mr and Mrs John Wilmot, Sir Richard Winfrey, Viscount Wolmer, and a representative of the Bishop of Willesden.
In addition to letters of support read out by Citrine, messages expressing full approval of the objects of the meeting were also received from Lord Dickinson, Lord Howard of Penrith, Sir Hugh Seely Bt MP, Vyvyan Adams MP and J R H Cartland MP.
There were protests by Communists and Fascisit groups outside the Hall.
"Mr Churchill was the principal speaker at a meeting at the Albert Hall last night attended by members of nearly all political parties and arranged by members of nearly all political parties and arranged by the League of Nations Union in defence of freedom and peace. Sir Walter Citrine presided and every seat was taken'. (The chair read messages of support from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, the Sir Austin Chamberlain, Lord Cecil, Mt Clynes, Mr Herbert Samuel and others).
'Mr Churchill who was received with cheers, said they were gathered together on that platform with one object. They wanted to stop this war of which they had so much talk. They would like to stop it while it remained, for we had enough of the last war not to want another. The seriousness and urgency of the danger was exemplified by the divergency of political opinion represented on the platform. We had reached a fateful milestone in human history.
Continuing, Mr Churchill said that apostles of various kinds of error presented themselves. There were those like Sir Oswald Mosely who were fascinated by the spectacle of brutal power. They would like to use it themselves. They grovelled to Nazi dictatorship in order that they could make people in their turn grovel to them. They offered to the Nazi domination of the Colonies for which Britain held mandates under the League of Nations irrespective of the will of the natives. Sir Oswald Mosely hastened to pay his tribute to his spiritual Lords and Masters. At the other end of the political scale there were Trotsky-ite Communists, furious fanatics whose sole aim was to throw the world into one supreme convulsion. Then there was Sir Stafford Cripps, who was in a class by himself. He wished British people to be conquered by the Nazis in order to urge them into becoming Bolsheviks. It seemed a long way round. (Laughter). And not much enlightenment when they got to the end of their journey.
Lastly, there were the absolute non resisters like Canon Shepherd and Mr Lansbury. They were pious men, but they would lead the country to ruin, even more surely than all the others.'
Churchill argued that it was essential for the League of Nations to bring together as many countries as possible and invite Germany to ward off the horrors and calamities of war."
(The Times, 4 December 1936)
"The aims to be announced at the meeting were:
To unite British citizens irrespective of politics or creed in defence of freedom as secured by democratic government and private law; in resistance to all efforts to dominish or destroy that freedom by violence at home or attacks from abroad, and in support of our international duty to join with others in preserving peace and withstanding armed aggression."
('FOCUS: A Footnote to the History of the Thirties', Eugen Spier, Oswald Wolf (Publishers) Limited, London, 1963, page 55)
"In the first volume of his war memooirs The Gathering Storm (pp.195-6) Churchill wrote:
"...the culmination of the campaign was to be a meeting in the Albert Hall. Here on December 3rd we gathered many of the leading men from all parties, strong Tories of the Right Wing earnestly convinced of the national peril, the leaders of the League of Nations Peace Ballot, the representatives of the many great trade unions, including, in the chair, my old opponent Sir Walter Citrine, and of the Liberal Party and its leader Sir Archibald Sinclair. We had the feeling that we were upon the threshold of not only gaining respect for our views but of making them domiant."
There are some minor errors her, probably slips of memory. The meeting was not the culmination, but the beginning of the campaign, and the we was the Fosuc, and only the Focus, which had with much difficulty assembled the distinguished audience to which Churchill refers. Prominent among the speakers and in no small way responsible for the meeting were Lady Violet Bonham Carter and A M Wall, secretary of the London Trades Council. Wickham Steed, Sir Robert Waley-Cohen and Sir Norman Angell also played an important part in bringing about this meeting, and their good work should not be forgotten."
('FOCUS: A Footnote to the History of the Thirties', Eugen Spier, Oswald Wolf (Publishers) Limited, London, 1963, pages 13-14)
"If we wish to stop this coming warif coming it is-we must in the year that lies before us-nay, in the next six months - gather together the great nations, all as well-armed as possible and united under the Covenant of the League in accordance with the principles of the League, and in this way we must reach a position to join this organisation of world security. We must invite them to take their place freely in the circle of nations to preserve peace, where we shall be able to assure them that we seek no security for ourselves which we do not extend most freely to them.
We should rally and invite under the League of Nations the greatest number of strongly arrned nations that we can marshal. Let us invite Germany to take her part among us. Then we should be sincerely believed, having done not only our best but
having succeeded in warding off from the world calamities and horrors the end of which no man can foresee."
(Excerpt from Winston Churchill's speech, 'FOCUS: A Footnote to the History of the Thirties', Eugen Spier, Oswald Wolf (Publishers) Limited, London, 1963, page 72)
Booklet entitled ''5 Minutes of Your Time'' written by A A Milne, also included. |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1936/69) |