Nuclear disarmament is the proposed dismantling of nuclear weapons. Proponents of nuclear disarmament say that it would lessen the probability of nuclear war occurring, especially accidentally. Critics of nuclear disarmament say that it would undermine deterrence, which, through the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons, has kept the world free of nuclear war since 1945.

The movement for disarmament has varied from nation to nation. A few prominent proponents of disarmament argued in the earliest days of the Cold War that the creation of an international watchdog organisation could be used to enforce a ban against the creation of nuclear weapons. This initial movement largely failed. During the 1960s, a much stronger popular movement against nuclear weapons developed, rallying primarily around the fear of nuclear fallout from nuclear testing.

After the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) which prohibited atmospheric testing, the movement against nuclear weapons was largely quiet through the 1970s, though the movement against nuclear power drew in strength. In the 1980s, a popular movement for nuclear disarmament gained momentum in light of the weapons build-up and aggressive rhetoric of US President Ronald Reagan. After the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s the momentum again faded.

Over the years, many organisations have put pressure on governments to change their nuclear policy. For example, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which advocated a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament in the United Kingdom, influenced Labour party policy in 1960-61 and again in 1980-89. In Australia, groups like the Australian Greens, Greenpeace, the Nuclear Disarmament Party and People for a Nuclear-Free Australia continue to champion this cause.

Children need smiles not missiles, c. 1985 

… in 1985 … an enormous amount of effort was put into events that were inherently nonconfrontational in nature …  For example, Oxford Mothers for Nuclear Disarmament planned a walk – not a march or demonstration – under the theme ‘Children need Smiles not Missiles’.

For a nuclear-free Pacific, Patrick Bros., Melbourne, late 1970s – early 1980s

The slogan relates to French nuclear testing in the Pacific, which was strongly protested by Australians in 1972–1973. The French carried out a total of 193 nuclear tests in Polynesia by the French during the period 1966 and 1996. New Zealand has been particularly vocal in protesting the French use of the region for nuclear testing.

The Nuclear Free Pacific campaign grew from the French nuclear tests [on] Mururoa Atoll. In 1975 the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Group was active throughout the Pacific. The New Zealand Prime Minister sent two frigates in 1973 as one of the ship protests to the islands. Then on 10 July 1985 the French sabotaged the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior which killed Fernando Pereira.

The badges worn for this campaign in Australia through this period were: the Greenpeace badge ‘You Can’t Sink a Rainbow’; ‘Stop French Testing’; ‘For a Nuclear Free Pacific’; and the picture badge of an island with a palm tree and a nuclear warhead.

There were anti-nuclear rallies in Australia through the 1970s and 1980s, often within the Palm Sunday Rallies.

My concern about nuclear radiation, as from nuclear testing, arose from information such as that from Dr Helen Caldicott in 1983, a paediatrician, and Dr Rosalie Bertell, a scientist, in 1980. [They] maintained there is no safe level of radiation. Should the testing continue, people, the land and ocean would be harmed.

Diana Pittock

No more shopping days 'til peace, Women for a Peaceful Christmas, Career Development Center, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1971–1974 

In 1971, sixteen midwest American homemakers began 'Women for a Peaceful Christmas' (WPC) in response to the ongoing war in Vietnam and the spending and waste that increasingly characterized the holiday season. Under the slogan 'No more shopping days ‘til peace', WPC organized ostensibly powerless homemakers into a 'quiet revolt'. 

Australia's first experiences with nuclear matters grew out of the production of nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Several uranium mines in Australia were used to produce uranium for the British nuclear weapons programme. In the 1950s, 12 British nuclear weapons were tested in Australia, at Monte Bello Island off the northwest coast and at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia. In 1953 the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) was set up to undertake and promote nuclear research and oversee mining of Australian uranium. The most significant mine was at Rum Jungle in the Northern Territory which operated from 1958 until about 1970.