Online Content: Not Available / Organization: Committee for Nonviolent Action / People: Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967 - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Start Over Online Content Not Available Organization Committee for Nonviolent Action People Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967

Extent:: 26 linear ft. (64 boxes)
Abstract:: A.J. Muste (1885-1967), was ordained a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, but later (1917), he became a member of the Society of Friends. During World War I, Muste's refusal to abandon his pacifist position led to his forced resignation from the Central Congregational Church in Newtonville, Massachusetts. Muste's involvement as a labor organizer began in 1919 when he led strikes in the textile mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts. He became the director of the Brookwood Labor College in Katonah, New York, remaining there until 1931. He then served as national chairman of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) from 1926 to 1929. Muste was director of the Presbyterian Labor Temple from 1937-1940. In 1940 he became executive director of the FOR, a position he held until his retirement in 1953, when he was made director emeritus. From 1948-1953, he served as secretary of the Ohio Peacemakers, a radical pacifist group. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the War Resisters...(see more)

Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]

Extent:: 18.75 linear ft. (18.75 linear ft.)
Abstract:: CNVA was one of the first American peace groups to focus on nonviolentdirect action including civil disobedience. Its purpose of organizing imaginative and dramatic protest demonstrations on both land and sea attracted radical pacifists and called the attention of the American public to the atrocities of nuclear warfare. CNVA's first protest action was a vigil held outside the atomic weapons test grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1957. In the second half of its existence CNVA efforts began to focus on Vietnam. The organization allied its resources with other American peace groups. As other American peace groups adopted CNVA's methods of dramatic and nonviolent demonstrations, its own numbers and support waned. In the fall of 1967, CNVA voted to merge with the War Resisters League, which became reality in January 1968.

Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]

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