The Birmingham Council for Peace and Liberty, an umbrella group with a membership comprising all shades of political opinion and social background, was perhaps the main pressure group for the Spanish Republic. They organised pro-Republican demonstrations, lobbied against the government's policy of non-intervention, provided speakers for unio meetings and published educational leaflets and pamphlets. As a result of this work some unions, such as the AEU, organised their own collections to raise funds for the Republic.
The Quaker community in Birmingham was active in providing relief for the refugees of the Civil War. Strictly opposed to war in principle, and therefore non-partisan, the work of the Quakers was nonetheless directed mainly to the Republicans, amongst whom the need was the |
