A matter of principle
Duncan McCormack was a working-class socialist. At the outbreak of World War I, he determined that he would not participate in what he later called a “fight to redistribute the spoils of colonialism.” When conscription was introduced, he ignored his call-up papers and was eventually arrested by the military police. Here he describes the cycle of military camp, court martial, prison and hard labour which conscientious objectors were subjected to for the remaining duration of the war and beyond. As his second prison sentence was for two years, he was kept in prison even after the war ended.
Year:1979
A matter of principle
Duncan McCormack was a working-class socialist. At the outbreak of World War I, he determined that he would not participate in what he later called a “fight to redistribute the spoils of colonialism.” When conscription was introduced, he ignored his call-up papers and was eventually arrested by the military police. Here he describes the cycle of military camp, court martial, prison and hard labour which conscientious objectors were subjected to for the remaining duration of the war and beyond. As his second prison sentence was for two years, he was kept in prison even after the war ended.
Year: 1979
Length: 27:18
Production Company: Radio New Zealand
Source: Radio New Zealand Collection, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Catalogue Reference: 21884 Spectrum 305: A matter of principle.
People: Duncan McCormack, Alwyn Owen
Tags: Conscientious objectors, Socialism, Labour, Military Service Act 1916, Hard labour, Imprisonment
Subject: Conscientious objectors -- New Zealand, Socialism, Military law, Prison sentences -- New Zealand/Topical
Image Title: Maoriland Worker, 28 November 1917, p.4
Image Source: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MW19171128.2.15&srpos=5&e
While Archibald Baxter is a famous name among New Zealand conscientious objectors, the experience of most objectors was very different. Duncan McCormack describes a much more typical experience than Baxter’s. As a socialist objector, he had no grounds for appeal under the Military Service Act 1916, which gave exemptions only to certain small religious groups, and on special medical or compassionate grounds. The Act stated that “Every man who is guilty of deserting from the Expeditionary Force shall, in addition to his liability under the Army Act, be guilty of an indictable offence punishable by imprisonment with hard labour for any term not exceeding five years, but he shall not be punished twice for the same offence.”[1]
McCormack and others like him were therefore subjected to initial imprisonment and attempts by the authorities to ‘break’ them, before being tried by court martial and sentenced to longer imprisonment, often with hard labour. The test of being ordered to pick up their military kit was an important part of the process; despite having served a sentence already, the new refusal counted as a second offence.
Newspapers such as Truth reported on the hardships and punishments conscientious objectors suffered, and the socialist paper the Maoriland Worker was full of rhetoric against conscription. However, the mainstream newspapers of each district upheld the official line in support of conscription and military service.
[1] Military Service Act 1916 (7 GEO V 1916 No 8), p.90 <http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/msa19167gv1916n8266/>