Heber C Kimball, Orson Hyde and their companion missionaries arrived in Preston, Lancashire from Kirtland, Ohio in July 1837. Queen Victoria had just ascended to the throne and a general election had been triggered. The first Latter Day Saint missionaries to Britain saw political banners including “Truth Will Prevail” in the Preston election campaign. The slogan resonated with hope for them; it was an encouraging sign that became a slogan for British Latter Day Saintism. For instance, a collection of historical essays celebrating 150 years of Latter Day Saintism in the British Isles in 1987 was titled Truth Will Prevail.
Latter Day Saints in the Kirtland, Ohio era were of a radical spirit. Their commitment to communal Zion, living the law of consecration, with a priesthood open to working class people spoke to the equal worth of all persons. These first missionaries could speak to the poor and get a ready hearing with their gospel of hope that included social, economic as well as personal salvation. “Babylon” had to be resisted by both protest and demonstration of a better way.
It also seems that the “Truth will Prevail” banner was a Chartist banner. Chartism was a democratic and constitutional reform movement of the poor to give them a bigger say in Parliament. In the Preston 1837 elections Chartist leader Feargus O’Connor was a candidate for Parliament. In the 1842 delivery of a massive Chartist petition to Parliament, one of the banners was “Let Truth and Justice Prevail.”
Papers and presentations are invited covering historical as well as contemporary expressions of resistance to and protest against injustice and oppression, as well as demonstrations of and for Zion. These can include Latter Day Saints, wider British Nonconformity, other religious movements, and tackle recent issues like Gaza, immigration, climate change, current repression of protest and left and right wing political expressions as well.
