An artful science: activism, non-violence, and radical democracy in Cold War Britain

The Direct Action Committee (DAC, 1958–62) and its parent, the Non-Violent Research Group (NVRG 1949–62) occupy a minor position in British postwar peace historiography where they are generally depicted as a well-meaning fringe group whose political naivety limited their impact. This perspective assumes that success means inaugurating a mass movement or forcing a policy change. It overlooks the group's objections to these strategies and underplays the research dimension of their activities. This article argues that while unilateral disarmament was the DAC's short-term priority, it was always connected to a larger goal of cultivating non-violence as a practical political philosophy and theory of social change. During the 1950s, the group developed an ‘artful science’ of activism which included a poetics of protest inspired by the Gandhian concept of satyagraha. Later, their fieldwork experiences further informed a prosaic theory of activism attentive to the everyday business of organizing as a vital space for building democratic capacity.