From Greenham Common to Red Square: women for life on Earth and cross-bloc activism in the 1980s

Barnett, NJ

Abstract

This article examines how the activist group Women for Life on Earth (WFLOE)
attempted to persuade the USSR to ditch their nuclear weapons. The article finds that
WFLOE began a women-led campaign and engaged with unofficial activists and ordinary
people in the USSR to lobby the Soviet government to disarm. WFLOE’s fame as ‘Greenham
Women’ helped them to publicise their overseas activism and they attempted to challenge
predominant representations of peace campaigners in the UK by campaigning against Soviet
nuclear weapons. However, this success was limited with the Cold War maintaining primacy
for the British press and WFLOE only gaining positive coverage when they caused
embarrassment to the Soviets.

Citation

Barnett, N. (2022). From Greenham Common to Red Square: women for life on Earth and cross-bloc activism in the 1980s. Contemporary British History, 36(3), 459-481. https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2022.2100987

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 8, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 17, 2022
• Publication Date: Jul 17, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 26, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2024
• Journal: Contemporary British History
• Print ISSN: 1361-9462
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 459-481
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2022.2100987
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13619462.2022.2100987