Letter: Missing the point (1986)

Letter to the Editors from the May 1986 issue of the Socialist Standard

Dear Editors.

Below is a copy of a letter of resignation I wrote to CND prior to taking up membership of the Socialist Party. I have also enclosed the reply 1 received. As you can see, Meg Beresford has completely missed the point of my letter, which was to declare that the world will never be rid of weapons of any kind while the capitalist system prevails, and therefore campaigning with CND is a waste of time and effort.

Dear Secretary. 

I am writing to inform you that I wish to discontinue my membership of CND as from now. 

The reason for this decision is that I have come to the conclusion that nuclear weapons are an inevitable symptom of the capitalist system, that is, governments have to protect their individual interests through war and therefore must obtain the most up-to-date weapons available. 

As CND exists merely to put pressure on leaders in the naive hope that they will abolish nuclear weapons, while at the same time supporting the system that spawned them, then I consider its efforts to be futile and contrary to the true interests of the working class. 

In my view, weapons of any kind will only be removed from the planet following the establishment of a socialist society, including the removing of all international frontiers, minority ownership and privilege, exploitation and money.

Nick Brunskill,  Bridgend

Dear Mr Brunskill,

Thank you very much for your letter. I am very sorry to see that you are discontinuing your membership of CND and I understand your reasons. I do not see quite why you cannot campaign for nuclear disarmament within CND on the one hand and involve yourself in other organisations which are working for the socialist society that you would like to see on the other, but there it is.

Meg Beresford 

General Secretary, CND