The International Arbitration League was a society of pacifists run by working-class men. It was initially founded out of the British Workmen's Peace Committee, by the

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winner Sir

William Randal Cremer Sir William Randal Cremer (18 March 1828 – 22 July 1908) usually known by his middle name "Randal", was a British Liberal Member of Parliament, a pacifist, and a leading advocate for international arbitration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Pr ...

and fellows from the recently dissolved

Reform League The Reform League was established in 1865 to press for manhood suffrage and the ballot in Great Britain. It collaborated with the more moderate and middle class Reform Union and gave strong support to the abortive Reform Bill 1866 and the success ...

. In 1870 it became known as the Workmen's Peace Association, only later becoming the International Arbitration League. The organisation was run by men from working-class labouring backgrounds who were against increases in military spending or intervention in continental wars. It promoted a "high court of nations" and the development of international law. It was funded by the

Peace Society The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British Pacifism, pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the ...

for its first years, which was a primarily Christian organisation that sought absolute pacifism. Instead the League sought out arbitration, which was familiar with its membership, as the approach was known to work in labour disputes. From 1889 it promoted

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as n ...

, rather than absolute pacifism. The radical reformer Howard Evans was at various times its chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer. He wrote its manifesto, and its first article was the establishment of “High Court of Nations”. He was also the editor of its journal, ''The Arbitrator'' from 1872. It expanded out to Paris and soon had agents covering large parts of Europe. During

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it supported the use of armies by the Allies as a defensive measure. It was a promoter of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

after the war's end. The organization was later incorporated into the Mondcivitan Republic(

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) in 1958.

References

* Howard Evans, ''Radical Fights of Forty Years'', Daily News & Leader, 1913 * Martin Ceadel, ''Semi-Detached Idealists, The British Peace Movement and International Relations, 1854-1945'' Oxford University Press, 2000

References

See also