Tony Smythe: He radicalised the human rights campaigns of his generation

Tony Smythe, who has died aged 65, was one of those people rightwing commentators blame for the alleged decline of British standards and values in the 1960s and 1970s. He was associated with, and in many cases spearheaded, most of the important human rights and emancipatory campaigns then and in subsequent decades. He became general secretary of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) in 1966.

He was educated at University College School and conscription was the catalyst for his radical activism. In 1958, he was imprisoned for three months as a conscientious objector, refusing not only military service, but also alternative civilian service. He became, and remained until his death, a radical anarcho-pacifist. But this, far from signifying a retreat from politics, led to a lifetime of practical action.

Shortly after his spell in prison, he joined the staff of the London-based War Resisters International as its assistant secretary and, in December 1960, played a major role in organising its triennial conference in India. Among those who attended was the veteran US pacifist, AJ Muste and the civil rights campaigner, Bayard Rustin, who, in 1963, coordinated the march on Washington at which Martin Luther King made his famous "I have a dream" speech.

Tony was also a key organiser of the conference in Beirut in January 1962 to establish a world peace brigade, whose aim was to engage in non-violent intervention in areas of crisis and conflict. He was also active in anti-war campaigning in Britain and was one of the founder members of the Committee of 100 launched in 1960 on the initiative of the philosopher Bertrand Russell and the anti-apartheid and anti-nuclear campaigner the Rev Michael Scott. The committee was established to organise mass civil disobedience against Britain's own "weapons of mass destruction".

In August 1961, he, and about 40 other members of the committee were imprisoned for a month for refusing to be "bound over to keep the peace". Among his fellow prisoners on that occasion were some of the leading creative minds of the period - Russell himself, Alex Comfort, Christopher Logue, Arnold Wesker, Robert Bolt. Among his publications was Conscription: A World Survey, published by War Resisters' International in 1968.

Tony's elevation into a public figure came in 1966 when he took over from Martin Ennals at the NCCL - now Liberty. By encouraging it to broaden the scope of its activities, including monitoring the conduct of police and participants at major demonstrations, he raised the profile of the organisation and helped expand its membership from 1,800 to 5,400.

NCCL also campaigned for the rights of children, against racism, and for homosexual rights. Tony himself was vice-president at one point of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. NCCL also played a seminal role in the establishment of the civil rights campaign in Northern Ireland and campaigned for an impartial investigation into the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in January 1972.

In 1971, he left NCCL to join MIND, the campaign to advance the views, needs and ambitions of people with mental health problems. Again he succeeded in catapulting what had been a little-known and relatively low-key campaign into public prominence. He established an executive committee that started the process which led to users of the service becoming involved in management and policy decisions. Again, this chimed with Tony's anarchist belief.

He continued to be involved in anti-nuclear and other anti-war activities, and, during the 1980s, helped to bring into being, and became director of, MEDACT, the Medical Campaign for Global Security. He was also one of the first British peace activists to visit the disintegrating state of Yugoslavia and establish contacts with grass-roots human rights and anti-war campaigners in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.

But he was always his own man, prepared to take unpopular positions including, at times, some which went against accepted opinion within the movements in which he was engaged. He was opposed, for example, to the closed shop in trade unions. During his time at NCCL, the organisation campaigned against the attempt to ban scientologists from entering the country despite having no sympathy with the views of scientologists themselves.

His lifelong partner, and fellow-anarchist campaigner and organiser, Jeanne, died in 2001, a shattering blow from which he never really recovered. Both he and Jeanne had kept open house for friends in the movement. He was a lot of fun to be with.

He is survived by five daughters.

· Clifford Anthony Smythe, campaigner, born August 2 1938; died March 27 2004

Taken from The Guardian, Monday March 29 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/mar/29/guardianobituaries.humanrigh…