Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War

The Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) has its origins in the opposition to the first British hydrogen bomb test at Christmas Island in November 1957. Whilst Labour’s H-Bomb Campaign Committee and the National Council for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Tests favoured public meetings, petitions and education work, those in favour of direct action against the test set up an emergency committee to organise and finance a voyage to the test zone by pacifist Harold Steele.

The Emergency Committee for Direct Action Against Nuclear War was launched with a letter in the Manchester Guardian on 12 April 1957. The Peace News offices were used as a base for the committee, which originally comprised Hugh Brock (editor of Peace News from 1955), J Allen Skinner (former editor of Peace News) and Arlo Tatum (War Resisters’ International). Although it did not prove possible for Harold Steele to reach the test zone, the attempt gained sympathy and support for the cause and drew together a group of activists who went on to form the DAC.

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