Records of Just Defence

Archive reference: Cwl JD.

One of several Commonweal archives documenting the development of ideas about defence without nuclear weapons.

Just Defence was a membership-based non-party organisation that grew out of concerns about the threat of nuclear war during the early 1980s. It affirmed an approach to national defence that was “non-provocative, non-nuclear” with a view to preventing war by seeking consensus and creative problem solving. Co-founded by Professor Frank Barnaby and Stan Windass, Just Defence was launched in 1983. The group encouraged discussion of defence issues at conferences and seminars, and produced reports, newsletters, briefings and other publications, and publicised a Charter outlining non-nuclear defence principles.

This small collection, which we believe to have been donated to Commonweal Library during the late 1990s, consists of minutes, business papers, publications, material relating to events, and correspondence.