Britain in the early 1930s was strained by economic crisis, social unrest, and international tension. In 1932, thousands of people gathered in Hyde Park as the National Hunger March attempted to deliver to Parliament a million-signature petition in protest against laws that had plunged countless people into poverty. Among the protestors was Liberty’s founder Ronald Kidd.

The petition was blocked from reaching Parliament, and violence erupted in central London, leaving many seriously injured. In Trafalgar Square, Kidd witnessed police agent provocateurs disguised as workers attempting to incite violence among the peaceful protestors.

Ahead of the next Hunger March, planned for February 1934, Kidd attempted to raise awareness of the threat to peaceful protest. He put out a circular letter to a number of eminent figures of the day, gathering support from across the political spectrum, from politics, law, the arts and sciences.

On 22 February 1934, at a meeting at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, the Council for Civil Liberties was formed. Their immediate goal was to make sure that the next march was peaceful and safe. But the founders agreed that the Council would be needed long after the march was over, to defend ‘the whole spirit of British freedom’.

The formation of the Council and their pledge to act as responsible and neutral legal observers on the next march was announced in a letter printed on 24 February in The Manchester Guardian. It was signed by 14 of the Council’s most prominent supporters, including HG Wells, Vera Brittain, Dr. Edith Summerskill, Clement Atlee, Kingsley Martin, and Prof. Harold Laski.

On the day of the march, thousands of protestors gathered in Hyde Park, and although politicians had predicted bloodshed, they were proved wrong – the rally was entirely peaceful.