We say no!: British Conscientious Objection in the Second World War

在第二次世界大战期间在英国应征入伍的所有男子中，有1%的人表示认真反对。然而，尽管人们高度关注他的第一次世界大战对手，但出于良心拒服兵役的人基本上没有出现在英国关于第二次世界大战的流行和文化表现中。与第一次世界大战不同，征兵是在1939年至1945年的冲突中预先计划的。1939年《国家兵役(军事)法》不仅对战时征兵作了规定，而且还允许男子以良心为由反对服兵役。在第二次世界大战的六年中，近60,000名男子申请了反对者身份，相比之下，在第一次世界大战的两年征兵期间，男子申请的反对者人数为16,000人。这项研究建立在由IHR Scouloudi研究补助金资助的一个试点项目的基础上，该项目表明，英国军官在两次世界大战中的战时经历存在根本差异。在第一次世界大战期间，狱警与国家之间的关系是敌对的，英国政府利用其权力以武力吸引狱警参军，并判处长期监禁。相比之下，在第二次世界大战期间，英国政府试图最大限度地利用依良心拒服兵役者的人力。在表示依良心拒服兵役的人中，有12,204人被拒绝，3,577人获得完全豁免。45,000人，占压倒性多数，被指示从事被认为在民事和军事领域具有“国家重要性”的工作。同样，极少有专制主义者。许多人，如果不是大多数的话，愿意为战争努力工作，特别是在人道主义背景下，前提是他们不必挥舞武器。正如特格拉·戴维斯在其附属于贵格会的朋友救护部队的历史中所写的那样：他们认为和平主义得到了国家的认可，应该在行动上表明它可以做些什么来缓解多年战争必然带来的痛苦和痛苦。然而，尽管有这种非常不同、更复杂的关系，但出于良心拒服兵役的学术仍然专注于第一次世界大战，忽视了非常不同的战争，甚至忽略了发生在第二次世界大战反对战争中的非常不同的英国。从根本上说，有一个不为人知的故事需要找回，它不仅是理解英国第二次世界大战的核心，也是理解英国对抗议的态度的关键部分。到目前为止，英国还没有关于依良心拒服兵役的单一社会历史研究。罗斯(2004)顺便指出，出于良心拒服兵役的人与他们的同龄人对理想化的男子气概持有不同的概念。然而，还没有对这些思想进行系统的研究，也没有更广泛的CO的生活经验。事实上，现有的工作，例如雷切尔·巴克(1982)和托比亚斯·凯利(2015)，侧重于反对拿起武器的国家和机构进程，而不是反对拿起武器的男子的社会影响。这项研究将使用未被发掘的资料来源，尤其是口头证词和自传，并结合重要的档案资料，了解英国战时依良心拒服兵役者的生活经历，因此，首次将反对者置于研究的核心。

1 per cent of all men who were conscripted in Britain during the Second World War conscientiously objected. However, despite the heavy focus on his First World War counterpart, the conscientious objector is largely absent from popular and cultural representations of the Second World War in Britain. Unlike the First World War conscription was pre-planned for the 1939-1945 conflict. The National Service (Armed Services) Act 1939 not only made the provisions for wartime conscription but also allowed men to object to service on the grounds of conscience. Nearly 60,000 men applied for objector status during the six years of the Second World War, in comparison to 16,000 who men applied in the two years of conscription during the First World War. This research builds on a pilot project funded by an IHR Scouloudi Research Grant that has suggested that there were fundamental differences in the wartime experiences of British COs in the two world wars. During the First World War the relationship between COs and the state was hostile and the British Government used its power to draw COs into the military by force as well as imposing lengthy prison sentences. By contrast, during the Second World War the British state sought to make best use of the manpower of conscientious objectors. Of those who professed a conscientious objection, 12,204 were rejected and 3,577 were granted complete exemption. 45,000 men, the overwhelming majority, were directed to work deemed of "national importance" in both the civilian and military sphere. Similarly, there were very few absolutists. Many, if not most, COs were willing to work for the war effort, especially in a humanitarian context, provided they did not have to wield arms. As CO Tegla Davies wrote in his history of the Quaker-affiliated Friends Ambulance Unit: 'They felt that pacifism having been recognised by the state, should show in action what it could do to relieve the suffering and agony which years of war were bound to produce."Yet, despite this very different, and more complex, relationship, scholarship on conscientious objection remains fixated on the First World War and ignores both the very different war and indeed the very different Britain in which Second World War objection took place. Fundamentally, there is an untold story to be recovered which is not only central to understanding Britain's Second World War but also a key part of understanding British attitudes to protest. To date, there is no single socio-historical study of conscientious objection in Britain. Rose (2004) notes, in passing, that conscientious objectors held differing conceptions of idealised masculinities than their peers. However, there has been no systematic study of these ideas nor the more general lived experience of the CO. Indeed, existing work, for example by Rachel Barker (1982) and Tobias Kelly (2015) focus on the state and institutional processes of objecting rather the social impacts on men who objected to taking up arms. This research will use underexplored sources, most notably oral testimony and autobiography, in conjunction with significant archival sources to understand the lived experiences of Britain's wartime conscientious objectors and, therefore, put the men who objected at the heart of the research for the first time.