Stop the War: The Story of Britain’s Biggest Mass Movement

I am sorry. If you think I am going to sit back and agree with beheadings, kidnappings, torture and brutality, and outright terrorization of ordinary Iraqi and others, then you can forget it. I will not be involved whatsoever, to me it is akin to supporting the same brutality and oppression inflicted on Iraq by Saddam, and the invading and occupying forces of the USA.

–Mick Rix, former left-wing leader of the train drivers’ union, ASLEF, writing to Andrew Murray to resign from the Stop the War Coalition.

Andrew Murray and Lindsey German are, respectively, the Chair and Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition. Their book tells a story about a ‘remarkable mass movement’ which the authors hope ‘can change the face of politics for a generation.’ It tracks the Coalition from its origins with no office, no bank account, just one full time volunteer, through the ‘chaos of its early meetings’ to the million-strong demonstration of February 2003. The book seeks to explain the Coalition’s success in bringing together the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and ‘the Muslim Community’ to create ‘the broadest basis ever seen for a left-led movement.’ The authors attack the ‘imperialist’ doctrines of George Bush and Tony Blair, criticise the arguments of the ‘pro-war left,’ and finish with a chapter opposing the occupation and demanding immediate troop withdrawal. In addition, the book includes a broad range of snapshot contributions – mini essays, poetry, and so on – from some of those who contributed to the ‘movement of millions.’ Murray and German hope that ‘at a time when apathy and cynicism envelop the formal democratic process, the story in these pages is of a potential for political renewal based on peace and democracy.’

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