Who Are These Marchers?
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| Author | Robin Jenkins |
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234336700400104 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
WHO
ARE
THESE
MARCHERS?*
By
ROBIN
JENKINS
Peace
Research
Centre,
Lancaster
1.
Introduction
Easter
1965
saw
numerous
peace
marches
all
over
the
world.
This
article
reports
some
of
the
findings
from
a
study
of
marches
in
Britain
and
Denmark.
’Peace
action’
and
’peace
movement’
are
descriptive
terms
frequently
applied
to
disparate
activities.
When
a
theoretical
definition
is
attempted,
the
problem
be-
comes
rather
complicated,
partly
because
of
the
wide
variety
of
activities
that
goes
under
the
general
term,
and
partly
be-
cause
there
is
no
adequate
research
on
peace
movements
other
than
a
few
histori-
cal or
journalistic
approaches.
1
However,
there
are
two
obvious
possible
starting
points.
One
is
Galtung’s
theory
of
foreign
policy
opinion
as
a
function
of
social
position
which
is
now
sufficiently
validated
to
become
a
standard
tool
of
in-
vestigation.2
Another
is
the
theory
of
col-
lective
behaviour
propounded
by
Smelser,$
3
though
it is
simply
a
categorical
system
rather
than
a
theory
and
it
has
received
no
adequate
operationalisation,
let
alone
validation.4
Nevertheless,
it
provides
a
useful
perspective -
but
it
is
the
Galtung
theory
of
foreign
policy
opinion
that
pro-
vides the
specific
theoretical
framework
for
the
present
investigation.
Peace
action
is
based
on
generalised
be-
liefs
about
the
interaction
of
nations
and
its
determinants
and
consequences
in
the
social
systems
of
states
and
the
personality
systems
of
individuals.
As
such,
it
can
be
directed
towards
one
of
the
four
functional
problems
of
the
international
system.5
Here
we
are
concerned
only
with
that
peace
action
which
focusses
on
the
goals
of
the
international
system.
Other
types
of
peace
action
have been
considered
else-
where.6
Some
peace
action
is
value-oriented.
It
demands
immediate
and
radical
changes
in
the
ethics
of
human
interaction
both
at
the
individual
and
the
international
level
-
it
is .pacifist.
Other
peace
action,
not-
ably
in
the
anti-nuclear
movement,
tends
to
focus
on
limited
and
specific
changes
in
levels
and
types
of
armaments.
Pacifists
have
a
value-defined
objection
to
the
very
idea
of
violence
whilst
other
sections
of
the
peace
movement
have
a
more
limited
objection
to
certain
methods
of
using
vio-
lence.
Peace
action
can
thus
be
categorised
in
similar
fashion
to
churches
and
sects
in
terms
of
the
extent
to
which
it
accepts
or
rejects
the
centre
of
the
society
and
its
values.’
Whatever
their
orientation
to
the
centre
of
the
society,
these
different
types
of
peace
action
have
more
recently
been
subsumed
under
the
umbrella
of
the
anti-nuclear
al-
liance
which
presented
a
united
front
of
opposition
to
the
testing,
stockpiling,
or
presence
of
nuclear
weapons.
Historically,
this
alliance
dates
back
to
Easter
1957,
when
the
first
Aldermaston
March
was
organised
in
Britain.
The
rapid
growth
of
peace
marches
in
Britain
and
in
most
other
pluralistic
nations
during
the
subsequent
five
years
can
be
described
in
terms
of
six
determinants
of collective
behaviour.8
Firstly,
there
developed
a
generalised
be-
lief
that
the
causal
sequence
(bombs
testing --*
fallout -
strontium
90 -~
leu-
kaemia
and
malformations)
existed.
In
other
words,
it
was
perceived
that
the
di-
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