Making the Book by Dr. Alison Ronan

Be astonished by the detailed accounts of a riot in Oldham! Find out how Manchester was silenced! See how links were made in Rochdale with other campaigns for peace! Find out why Manchester women were imprisoned in the summer of 1917. Read new stories of the indefatigable Women's Co-operative Guild. See what happened in Cumbria when an activist , sacked from teaching, takes on the organising of local Crusades. See why more women were imprisoned in Bradford and what happened in Bolton, where the Crusade went largely unreported by the local press. In Blackburn and Nelson, conscientious objector families, local socialist weavers and suffragists came out in their thousands to support the Crusade. Read about the radical women in each town who organised and supported the Crusades.

Although I have edited the book, and added some factual information, each chapter retains the individual characteristics of the author[s]. There is a short piece by an actor, the film maker and script writer and a copy of the entire film script, which was edited in the final film version.

The project also wanted to write about the enduring campaigns against militarism and war; so we have included a piece which links contemporary international, national and local campaigns for peace. As the Greenham Common women sang:

"You can't kill the spirit, she's like a mountain
Old and strong, she goes on and on"