Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede

Arthur Ponsonby as Queen Victoria's Page

Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede (born February 16, 1871 - March 23, 1946 ) was a British civil servant, politician, writer and pacifist .

Life

Arthur Ponsonby came from a respected family. His father, Sir Henry Ponsonby , had been Queen Victoria's private secretary and he was Queen Victoria's page.

He attended Eton College and then Balliol College at the University of Oxford before entering the diplomatic service.

Initially, Ponsonby was a member of the Liberal Party , for which he moved into the House of Commons in 1908 . In 1914 Ponsonby founded the "Union of Democratic Control" (UDC) with others. The aim of this group was to push back the supposed military influence on the British government and to work for peace. The UDC was particularly opposed to censorship and the introduction of conscription instead of the UK volunteering system.

After the end of the First World War , Ponsonby switched to the Labor Party (which he left again in 1940) and was again a member of the House of Commons since 1922. In the cabinets of Ramsay MacDonald he became State Secretary in various ministries. After he was promoted to peer in 1930 , he was temporarily Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster the following year and then took over offices in the House of Lords .

From 1934 to 1937 he was chairman of the " War Resisters International ".

War Time Lie (1928)

In his book Falsehood in Wartime (1928) he examined and described the methods of war propaganda used by those involved in the First World War. It contains the famous note: "When war is declared, truth is the first casualty" (Eng .: "After the declaration of war, the truth is the first victim."). Anne Morelli systematized and updated his presentation in The Principles of War Propaganda :

We don't want war.
The opposing camp bears sole responsibility for the war.
The leader of the opponent has demonic traits ("the villain of the service").
We fight for a good cause.
The enemy fights with prohibited weapons.
The opponent commits atrocities on purpose, we are mistaken by mistake.
Our losses are small, those of the opponent enormous.
Respected personalities, scientists, artists and intellectuals support our cause.
Our mission is sacred.
Anyone who doubts our reporting is on the side of the opponent and is a traitor.

Fonts (selection)

Falsehood in Wartime. Propaganda Lies of the First World War , first published in 1928 by George Allen and Unwin, London, ( text online ). German-language versions have been published under the title Intentional Lies in Wartime (Seeheim 1967) and Lies in Wartime (Viöl 1999).

literature

Wolfram Beyer : Arthur Ponsonby (1871-1946). War prevention through refusal. In: Christiane Rajewsky , Dieter Riesenberger (Hrsg.): Against the war. Great pacifists from Kant to Böll. Beck, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-406-31885-1 , pp. 89-95.

Individual evidence

^ Anne Morelli: The principles of war propaganda . Translated from the French by Marianne Schönbach. ZuKlampen-Verlag, Springe 2004. ISBN 3-934920-43-8 .

Web links

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede 1930-1946	Matthew Ponsonby

personal data
SURNAME	Ponsonby, Arthur, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ponsonby, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British civil servant, politician, writer and pacifist
DATE OF BIRTH	February 16, 1871
DATE OF DEATH	March 23, 1946

[1] Anne Morelli: The principles of war propaganda . Translated from the French by Marianne Schönbach. ZuKlampen-Verlag, Springe 2004. ISBN 3-934920-43-8 .