Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The largest and most politically orthodox organization associated with the two waves of mass agitation against the British nuclear deterrent and US nuclear bases in Britain during the late 1950s and again in the early 1980s. It was formed in 1958 by establishment intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell and J. B. Priestley and urged unilateral British nuclear disarmament. It soon became involved in demonstrations and protests organized by the smaller anarchist-orientated Direct Action Committee. The Easter 1958 march to the Aldermaston nuclear base in Berkshire attracted up to 10,000 supporters and 1959 and 1960 saw the numbers approaching 100,000. The success of a unilateralist motion at the 1960 Labour Party Conference was a high point, but Gaitskell managed to reverse the decision in 1961 and the signing of the 1963 Test Ban treaty caused CND to lose momentum.

It re-emerged as a mass movement in the 1980s as a result of the expansion of nuclear weapons systems and a new iciness in American–Soviet relations. It again proved to be a broad church, with strong trade union, youth, Labour, Liberal, Christian, and Green subgroups, though some radical protesters, such as the Greenham Common women's Peace Camp, were not part of CND. By 1982 it had about 100,000 members and drew an estimated 400,000 people to its Hyde Park rally. One consequence of the Labour Party's move to the left was the Gang of Four's decision to defect and set up the Social Democratic Party. Further multilateral agreements to control nuclear weapons were both welcome to CND and blunted its cutting edge. Though it did not succeed in its main objective, CND was a remarkable organizational feat and showed more stamina than most political lobbies, even if its main achievement was to damage the Labour Party.

Christopher N. Lanigan