Liberation was founded in 1954 as the Movement for Colonial Freedom (MCF), under the leadership of Archibald Fenner Brockway. Its aim was to campaign in Britain for the freedom of colonial subjects from political and economic domination, and to unify the activities of smaller organisations that were concerned with these issues. It was an amalgamation of the British Branch of the Congress Against Imperialism, the Central Africa Committee, the Kenya Committee and the Seretse Khama Defence Committee. The organisation operated from a succession of offices in central London including 318 Regents Park Road, then at 374 Grays Inn Road, and 313-315 Caledonian Road.
Funds were provided through affiliations and membership, cultural events and appeals totalling approximately 2-3,000 per annum. This allowed for a staff of two or three, the publication of a bi-monthly journal, information sheets and campaign material, and the holding of private and public meetings. It had an individual membership of around 1000, and regional, national and international affiliates, which brought the total number involved to about 3 million. Affiliated organisations included trades unions, constituency Labour parties, trades councils, co-operative societies, peace societies and student organisations.
The MCF was largely associated with the left-wing of the Labour Party and other radical groups. It established Area Councils in different parts of Britain. Standing Committees were established for every sphere of the world where colonial and neo-colonialist issues were dominant, including the Mediterranean, the Middle East, South East Asia, East Africa, Rhodesia, South Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. The MCF also established a Standing Committee to address racial discrimination in Britain, and a Trade Union Committee to assist trades unions in developing countries. Each Standing Committee was chaired by an MP, and met at the House of Commons. The MCF was sponsored by up to 100 MPs. The Committees were composed of MPs and experts on the different territories, whose role it was to stimulate questions and debates in Parliament, and recommend activities to the Council of the MCF, which was representative of all the nationally affiliated organisations and Area Councils.
The general trend of the MCF's activities falls into two distinct stages. Up to the mid-1960s, the organisation focused on the issues of political independence, particularly in Africa. After this period concern centred on the international struggle for economic self-determination.
MCF helped to bring into being a large number of political pressure groups and charities including the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Chile Solidarity Campaign Committee, the Committee for Peace in Vietnam, War on Want and the World Development Movement.
The Movement for Colonial Freedom was renamed Liberation in 1970.
The collection comprises minutes, correspondence, subject files, reports, pamphlets and printed ephemera of Liberation (incorporating The Movement for Colonial Freedom), and also of some of its Area Councils, affiliated organisations and associated bodies such as the Committee for Peace in Nigeria (1954-1970).
The material has been split into two sections: the Movement for Colonial Freedom, and the Committee for Peace in Nigeria. Within the MCF, the collection has been arranged in the following sections: Executive Committee; Central Council; Secretary's reports; committees; finance; area councils; affiliates; Annual Delegate Conference; general correspondence; countries; activities; office management; publications, and miscellaneous.
Deposited on permanent loan in 1984
Accruals expected
Copyright held by Liberation, 37 Great Guildford Street, London SE1 0EF.
Unrestricted
Unpublished handlist
Associated Material held elsewhere: Papers of J. Murumbi (an early member of the MCF) are held at the Kenyan National Archives. Papers of Archibald Fenner Brockway held at Churchill Archives centre, Cambridge University [ref. Guide 1992 FEBR]
Related Collections at SOAS: Movement for Colonial Freedom publications (part of the Southern African Materials Project) [ref. MS 380210]; Diane Noakes. [PP MS 56].
The Committee for Peace in Nigeria (CPN) was an all-party, representative committee established as a result of concern raised by the conflict between Biafra and Nigeria, in the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). The Committee acted as an independent body, but was closely associated with the work of the Movement for Colonial Freedom (MCF). Lord Fenner Brockway chaired both the MCF and the CPN. Members of the CPN included leading figures from all three political parties, representatives from the missionary societies (Anglican, Catholic and Free Church) working in Nigeria, former members of the Colonial Service in Nigeria including two ex-Governors General, business representatives and other notable figures. The CPN also included Africans from both the Federal and the Biafran sides of the conflict.
The Committee was active from 1968, campaigning for the intervention of the British Government and international governments in the Nigerian conflict. Representatives of the CPN met with both sides of the conflict and representatives from the British Commonwealth Office, and in 1968 sent an all-party deputation to the British Prime Minister. A result of the deputation was that the Rt. Hon. James Griffiths MP and Lord Brockway met with Colonel Ojukwu of Biafra (3-12 December 1968) and General Gowon of the Nigerian Federal Government (18-22 December 1968) to put forward their practical proposals for a ceasefire.
The CPN forwarded a set of practical proposals around which a ceasefire should be based. These included the presence of an international peace-keeping force; the cessation of the supply of arms by the British Government to either side in the conflict; that the government should take the initiative in securing the agreement of other countries to stop supplying arms; the demilitarisation of routes for relief supplies and an international relief effort to be planned on a government and UN level, for those areas suffering from starvation.
Records, 1967-1969, of the Committee for Peace in Nigeria, including records of membership; minutes; correspondence, including that between Lord Brockway and the Prime Minister, and that conducted with Colonel Ojukwu and General Gowon; reports and statements on official visits; press releases; publications, pamphlets and publicity material.
Deposited on permanent loan in 1984 as part of the archive of the Movement for Colonial Freedom.
Unrestricted
No publication without prior written permission. Apply to SOAS Archives in first instance.
Handlist available for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Room of SOAS Library.
The School of Oriental and African Studies also holds papers relating to the Nigerian Civil War (Ref: MS 321463) and Biafra (Ref: MS 380252).
This description originally compiled in 2000. Revised by Rosemary Seton, Archivist, SOAS.