A review of Sheila Rowbotham’s Friends of Alice Wheeldon by socialist organisation Counterfire revisits the story through the lens of political history.
Counterfire, 25 July 2015: Alice Wheeldon was an anti-war activist during World War I who was unjustly imprisoned by a vindictive and repressive government, writes Jacqueline Mulhallen.
Friends of Alice Wheeldon by Sheila Rowbotham is two books in one. The first half (pp.2-109), entitled Rebel Networks in the First World War consists of some essays on the background to the case of Alice Wheeldon, tracing the links between socialists, suffragists and pacifists. Currently, these are perhaps better known about, but at the time of the book’s original 1986 publication this may not have been the case. The second half is a play script, Friends of Alice Wheeldon (pp.113-35), which has the effect of making the first half appear to be extended programme notes. The book has been revised to include new information about Alice Wheeldon and her family.
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The case of Alice Wheeldon and her family is an important one for many reasons. It explodes the myth that the people of Britain were united behind the government in grim determination to obtain absolute victory over Germany. It exposes the lengths the supposedly liberal British state has taken to suppress and persecute peaceful dissent. The case therefore gives the lie to the idea that World War I was being fought to defend liberal democratic values. It deserves to be much better known.