Edwards, Robert (Oral history)

Sound: © IWM

246437928
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Sound: © IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80004629&media_id=176120" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>
1010689269
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Sound: © IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80004629&media_id=176121" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>
1748154527
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Sound: © IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80004629&media_id=176122" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>
1793563545
Use this audio under Non-Commercial licence

Embed this sound recording for online use under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence
By embedding this audio file you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non-Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is:

Sound: © IWM

Accepted Non-commercial Use

Permitted use for these purposes:
Personal use for non-commercial research and private study and other uses under the UK’s exceptions to copyright and those exceptions to copyright in place where the user is located.
Use on websites that are primarily information-led, research-oriented and not behind a paywall.
Use on personal social media accounts, provided the individuals are not promoting themselves commercially.
Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training.
Downloading audio-visual for non-commercial offline listening or viewing.
Free exhibitions held in venues, which do not charge an entry fee.

If you would like to use IWM collections materials in a way that is not covered above, require a commercial licence, high-resolution copies, or have manipulation requests, please contact the Image and Film Licensing Team. Digital files of films and sound recordings are available at cost depending on intended use.

Embed

<iframe src="https://www.iwm.org.uk/embed/?id=80004629&media_id=176123" height="430" width="480" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Description

Object description

British civilian member of Young Socialist International and Independent Labour Party in Liverpool, GB, 1924-1936; commanded Independent Labour Party Contingent attached to Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) in Spain, 9/1936-6/1937

Content description

REEL 1 Background in Liverpool, GB, 1905-1924: formative political influences; reaction to speeches by Keir Hardie and Edmund Morel; attitude towards First World War; family. Aspects of period as member of Independent Labour Party in Liverpool, GB, 1924-1936: activities with disarmament movement and Independent Labour Party during 1920s; trade union attitudes towards disarmament; opinion of Independent Labour Party policy during 1930s; Independent Labour Party disaffiliation from Labour Party, 1935; unsuccessfully standing as Independent Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Chorley during 1935 general election; influence of spread of Fascism on his pacifist views; opinion of German rearmament. REEL 2 Continues: nature of pacifism in GB prior to Spanish Civil War; activities with Young Socialist International; story of how leading Socialists were smuggled out of Europe during Second World War; meeting Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin during visits to Soviet Union in 1926 and 1934; purpose of visits to Soviet Union; involvement in General Strike in Liverpool, 5/1926; dismissal from Communist delegation. Recollections of period commanding Independent Labour Party Contingent attached to Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) in Spain, 9/1936-6/1937: role persuading council of Independent Labour Party to send contingent to Spain; attitude towards saluting; assuming command of contingent; memories of George Orwell. REEL 3 Continues: discussion with wife about his decision to go to Spain; his rejection of pacifism; refusal to recruit married men; attitudes in Independent Labour Party towards pacifism; opinion of effects of Republican victory; opinion of non-intervention treaty; opinion of effects of social revolution on war; memories of George Orwell; teaching Spaniards to take cover; disagreement over war aims; incident of mistakenly walking into Nationalist held town; nature of war; reaction to war. Recollections of period as civilian in GB. 1939-1945: opinion of international situation, 1939; ineligibility for recruitment to British Army due to Spanish Civil War experience; memories of Stan Iveson; opinion of treatment of conscientious objectors; Independent Labour Party campaign for Second Front; story illustrating support for conditional surrender in 1945. REEL 4 Continues: his defence of conscientious objectors; question of church's attitude towards pacifism; writing anti-nuclear pamphlet; by-election in Newport, 5/1945; question of Labour Party's attitude towards Europe, 1945; story of visit to Germany to reorganise trade unions, 1946; political outlook, 1945-1980.

Object Details

Category: Sound
Related period: 1945-1989 (production), Interwar (content), Interwar (association), Second World War (association)
Creator: IWM (Production company)
Smith, Lyn E (Recorder)
Edwards, Robert (Interviewee/Speaker)
Production date: 1980-07-28
Dimensions: whole: Duration 120, Number Of Items 4
Catalogue number: 4669

Object associations

Associated people and organisations

Edwards, Robert
Hardie, Keir
Morel, Edmund Dene
Trotsky, Leon
Stalin, Joseph
Orwell, George
Iveson, Stanley
British Political Party, Independent Labour Party
British Political Party, Labour Party
Spanish Political Party, The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification
Associated items

Letters Relating to the ILP Contingent in the Spanish Civil War
Associated places

England, United Kingdom
Liverpool, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Chorley, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Spain
Soviet Union
Associated themes

Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
Anti-War Movement

Our collections information

We have over 1.7 million object records online, and we are adding to this all the time. Our records are never finished. Sometimes we discover new information that changes what we know about an object, such as who made it or used it. Sometimes we change how an object is interpreted. We sometimes make mistakes in our spelling, transcription or categorisation, or miss information out of our records.

Read more about our collections and the information we hold. Developing our collections information

If you have concerns about the language in this record, or you have information to improve it, please share your feedback.

We receive a lot of comments and can't respond to each one, but we do read them all and will respond where we can.

Edwards, Robert (Oral history)

Description

Object description

Content description

Object Details

Object associations

Associated people and organisations

Associated items

Associated places

Associated themes

Our collections information

Related content

How Europe Went To War In 1939

How Britain Hoped To Avoid War With Germany In The 1930s

Continuing Conflict: Europe after the First World War