Abstract

"Voluntary organizations and government partnership – the perfect combination? The British government and the China Campaign Committee, 1937-1945"

Mark Crowley, University of Utah (mark.crowley@eccles.utah.edu)

Following the invasion of Nanjing by Japanese forces in 1937, an event that saw the beginning of the Second World War in China, the British trade union movement expressed horror and explored ways by which they could help. The speed and scale of the Japanese advance had left thousands dead and millions displaced and/or wounded. While the British Government regarded it as their responsibility to ensure good protection for refugees entering the United Kingdom since many had fled tyrannical regimes such as the German Third Reich and Fascist Italy, the protection of those living in Asia but the victim of similar aggression was not something that gained immediate attention from the government. Once the British government realized the strategic importance of protecting China from Japanese advances in terms of protecting its wider interests in Asia, collaboration was facilitated with voluntary organizations to ensure targeted, knowledge-based support sustained by the first-hand experience of the voluntary movement with the refugee community in China, while also reducing the burden on the state. In the short-term, the Government believed that it was sensible to continue insisting that voluntary organizations helped refugees, especially with the growing pressures facing the economy. Funding would primarily come from monies acquired from donors, with a minimal Government top-up. In the interest of transparency, official Government control over expenditure was deemed appropriate to ensure accountability, since some of the money originated from the exchequer. This saw the creation of a new group, the China Campaign Committee (CCC) which explored methods by which financial aid and practical assistance could be provided to China. While the efforts of the CCC on the British Home Front were noteworthy as a form of reducing the levels of British money arriving in Japan through consumption (initiated through the boycott movement), they also pursued initiatives to provide direct assistance to Chinese citizens. Drawing on a wide range of archival material from the Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, the South Wales Coalfield Collection, Swansea University and the Ch