“A courageous socialist and peace campaigner” – that’s how Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell describes Walter Ayles, Bristol’s most prominent opponent of the First World War and former MP for Bristol North. McDonnell is MP for Hayes and Harlington, the constituency for which Ayles was elected in 1950
At 3.30 pm on Thursday February 16th John McDonnell will visit 12 Station Road Ashley Down, BS7 9LB, the former home of Walter Ayles who was imprisoned in 1916 for his opposition to the war. In April 2016 the Bristol Remember the Real World War One Group unveiled a plaque on his home.
The Bristol Radical History Group has just published “Slaughter No Remedy”, a short biography of Walter Ayles with an introduction by John McDonnell. In it Ayles is quoted as saying: “Because horrible outrages and ghastly crimes have been committed by others, that is no reason why I too should kill and maim and destroy…Hate cannot be destroyed by hate. It can only be transformed by love.”
Join us there on Thursday February 16th if you can.
For more information email rememberingrealww1@gmail.com