Spies for Peace was a British group of anti-war activists associated with the Committee of 100 who publicized government preparations for rule after a nuclear war. In 1963 they broke into a secret government bunker, Regional Seat of Government Number 6 ( RSG-6) at Warren Row, near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, where they photographed and copied documents. The RSGs were to include representatives of all the central government departments, to maintain law and order, communicate with the surviving population and control remaining resources. The public were virtually unaware what the government was planning for the aftermath of a nuclear war until it was revealed by Spies for Peace. They published this information in a pamphlet, ''Danger! Official Secret RSG-6''. Four thousand copies were sent to the national press, politicians and peace movement activists and copies were distributed on the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

's Easter march from

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke ...

. The pamphlet said it was "about a small group of people who have accepted

thermonuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

as a probability, and are consciously and carefully planning for it. ... They are quietly waiting for the day the bomb drops, for that will be the day they take over." It listed the RSGs and gave their telephone numbers. Most of the pamphlet was about RSG-6, which Spies for Peace described in detail. They said that "RSG-6 is not a centre for

civil defence Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

. It is a centre for ''

military government A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...

''", and they listed the personnel who were to staff it. The pamphlet described emergency planning exercises in which RSG-6 had been activated, including a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

exercise in September 1962, FALLEX-62. Spies for Peace asserted that the exercise demonstrated the incapacity of the public services to cope with the consequences of nuclear attack and that the RSG system would not work. The exercise, they said, "proved once and for all the truth of the 1957 Defence

White Paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

that ''there is no defence against nuclear war''." In a possible hint at the source of their information, Spies for Peace said that FALLEX-62 "convinced at least ''one'' occupant of one RSG at least that the deterrent is quite futile". The pamphlet claimed that at the time of the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

, a month after the NATO exercise, RSG-6 was not activated. The authors objected strongly to the fact that the RSG network had not been publicly debated, that its staff were unelected and that they would have military powers. The 1963 Aldermaston issue of the CND bulletin ''Sanity'' included the Spies for Peace revelations and several hundred demonstrators left the Aldermaston route and headed for RSG-6 where they set up a picket. Spies for Peace made front-page news but the press was later advised by an official "

D-Notice In the United Kingdom, a DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice) is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security. DSMA-Notices were formerly called a ...

" from saying any more about the matter. The police tried to prevent any further distribution of the information but failed to do so. RSGs in Cambridge and Edinburgh were also picketed. Although several people were arrested, the original spies were not identified or caught. After

Nicolas Walter Nicolas Hardy Walter (22 November 1934 – 7 March 2000) was a British anarchist and atheist writer, speaker and activist. He was a member of the Committee of 100 and Spies for Peace, and wrote on topics of anarchism and humanism. Background ...

died, it was revealed in 2002 by his daughter

Natasha Walter Natasha Walter (born 20 January 1967) is a British feminist writer and human rights activist. She is the author of a novel, ''A Quiet Life'' (2016), two works of feminist non-fiction: ''Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism'' (2010, Virago) and '' ...

that her father was one of the Spies for Peace. It was revealed in 2013 with her consent, again by their daughter, that Ruth, Walter's wife, was also a member of the group. Obituaries for Mike Lesser and Ken Weller also revealed their involvement in Spies For Peace.

References

External links

"The Spies for Peace and After", in Walter, Nicolas, (ed. Goodway, David), ''Damned Fools in Utopia'', PM Press, 2011
*"The Spies for Peace Story", ''

Anarchy Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopted ...

'', No.29, July 1963
Images of the pamphlet in full
at 28dayslater.co.uk. Accessed Dec 2010. {{anti-war British activists Cold War Espionage British anti-war activists Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom Anti–nuclear weapons movement

See also

References

External links