Black Cat Weekly #242

Michael Randle was one of the pioneers of nonviolent direct action in Britain, against nuclear war and in support of radical social change. In 1952 he registered as a conscientious objector to conscription and joined the recently formed activist group, Operation Gandhi (subsequently renamed The Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, or DAC), centred round the weekly pacifist paper Peace News and its editors, J. Allen Skinner and Hugh Brock. In December 1957, he took part in an attempt, sponsored by the DAC, to walk from Vienna to Budapest with leaflets in Hungarian, German and English, which expressed opposition to the Soviet military intervention in Hungary and in support of the ongoing civil resistance there to Soviet control. He was a member of the Aldermaston March Committee, set up by the DAC to organise the first march from London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston over the 1958 Easter period. The Committee adopted the now ubiquitous nuclear disarmament symbol, designed by the artist Gerald Holtom. Michael was Chair of the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War (1958-61), and Secretary of the Committee of 100 (1960-61), headed by Bertrand Russell. For acting on his convictions, Michael was imprisoned several times. In 1962-63, he, along with five other Committee of 100 members-Helen Allegranza, Terry Chivers, Ian Dixon, Trevor Hatten and Pat Pottle-were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for their part in organising a nonviolent occupation of Wethersfield USAF Airbase, in protest against the deployment of nuclear weapons there. Michael served a further eight months in 1967-8 for participating in an occupation of the Greek Embassy in London, following the Colonels' Coup in Greece. In 1968, he co-ordinated simultaneous international demonstrations by the pacifist organisation, War Resisters International, in Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest and Sofia, opposing the Soviet-led invasion and continued domination of Czechoslovakia. Michael served on the Council of War Resisters International from 1960 to 1987, and as its Chair from 1966 to 1973. He co-ordinated the Bradford University-based based Alternative Defence Commission from 1980 to 1988 which published two major reports, Defence Without the Bomb (Taylor & Francis, 1983), as well as The Politics of Alternative Defence (Paladin, Grafton Books, 1987).