Sydney
Silverman,
the son of a draper, was
born in Liverpool on 8th October 1895.
The family were very poor and two of the four children died before
reaching adulthood.
Silverman
won a scholarship to Liverpool Institute, the most important grammar
school in the city. He also won a scholarship to Liverpool University.
In 1916
the government introduced military conscription.
Silverman, a pacifist,
refused to join the British
Army during
the First World War. Registered as a conscientious
objector, Silverman served several prison sentences for his beliefs.
His experiences in Wormwood Scrubs made him an advocate of penal reform.
After the war was over
Silverman returned to Liverpool University to complete his studies.
In 1921 he successfully applied for a teaching post at the University
of Helsinki.
Silverman returned to England
in 1925 and after further studies at Liverpool University he qualified
as a solicitor in 1927. Over the next few years he developed a reputation
as a solicitor who was willing to defend the interests of the poor
in Liverpool. This included workmen's
compensation claims and landlord-tenant disputes.
A member of the Labour
Party, Silverman was elected as a city councillor in 1932. Soon
afterwards he was adopted as the parliamentary candidate for Nelson
and Colne and entered the House of Commons
following the 1935 General Election.
Silverman retained his
pacifists
views until he discovered
what was happening to the Jews in Nazi
Germany. He therefore gave his full support to Britain's involvement
in the Second World War.
When the Labour
Party won the 1945 General Election Silverman
was expected to be offered a post in the new government. However,
Silverman held strong left-wing opinions and Clement
Attlee decided
against offering him a job. Over the next few years Silverman became
highly critical of Ernest
Bevin and his
role as foreign secretary. He was particularly upset by his dealings
with the Soviet Union.
Silverman was a strong
opponent of capital punishment and in 1948 managed to persuade the
House of Commons to agree to a five year
suspension of executions. However, this clause in the Criminal Justice
Bill was defeated in the House of Lords.
As a result Silverman founded the Campaign for the Abolition of the
Death Penalty. In 1953 he published his book, Hanged
and Innocent?
In November 1954 Silverman,
Michael
Foot,
and three others were expelled from the Labour
Party for opposing its nuclear defence policy.
Three years later Silverman joined with Kingsley
Martin, J.
B. Priestley,
Bertrand Russell, Fenner
Brockway, Vera Brittain, James
Cameron,
Jennie
Lee,
Victor Gollancz, Richard
Acland, A. J. P. Taylor, Canon
John Collins and Michael Foot to
form the Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
Silverman
continued to campaign against capital punishment and in 1956 he introduced
a private member's Bill for abolition. Once again it was defeated
in the House of Lords.
After
the 1964 General Election the new Labour
Government agreed to introduce legislation to abandon capital punishment
for five years. With overwhelming support in the House
of Commons the House
of Lords
agreed
to pass the measure.
Sydney
Silverman
died in hospital in Hampstead on 9th February 1968.
(1)
Sarah McCabe, Sydney Silverman, Dictionary National Biography (1970)
In a powerful address, delivered without notes, Silverman moved the
second reading of his new Bill. There was now no doubt about the result
in the House of Commons and, in due course, the Bill went to the Lords,
which had rejected all previous attempts to abolish capital punishment.
But the Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty had done its
work well and the Bill went through. This was the climax of Silverman's
parliamentary career, for he died before the expiry of the five years'
suspension period and did not see the completion of one of his great
parliamentary endeavours.
As a final assessment
of this astute parliamentarian it can be said that he had a passion
for justice and equality that kept him well to the left of his party,
so that he did not commend himself to the establishment. Besides,
he was not good at collective action; most of his battles he fought
alone, for he enjoyed twisting the tails of his antagonists and might
have been deprived of this enjoyment if he had worked with others.
Nevertheless his contribution to the thinking of his party, to the
progress of penal reform, and to the welfare of his fellow Jews remains
unquestioned. To his constituents and to his agent he was unfailing
in his service. They responded with a warm personal devotion to him.
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