Repository: Swarthmore College Peace Collection / Subject: Peace -- Societies, etc / Organization: War Resisters League - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Start Over Repository Swarthmore College Peace Collection Subject Peace -- Societies, etc Organization War Resisters League

Extent:: 35.4 linear ft. (series a = 37 boxes and 15.22 linear feet; series b = 49 boxes and 20.22 linear feet)
Abstract:: The War Resisters League is a pacifist organization whose members are against all war. Witnessing the establishment of the War Resisters' International in Europe in 1921, and sensing a need for a similar organization in the United States, Dr. Jessie Wallace Hughan established the War Resisters League as an independent organization. The War Resisters League membership pledge, which has remained essentially unchanged since its inception, reads: "The War Resisters League affirms that war is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive non-violently for the removal of all causes of war." The League seeks to end war and social injustice through pacifist and nonviolent tactics.

Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]

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:: 3.25 linear ft. (3.25 linear ft.)
Abstract:: The War Resisters' International was founded at Bilthoven, Netherlands, in 1921 by representative pacifists from that country, Germany, Austria and Great Britain. The War Resisters' International was never more than a coordinating body in its relationship to affiliated groups.

Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]

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