Call Number:

CDG-B.Netherlands.Central Organization for a Durable Peace

Repository:

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Extent:

2 linear ft. (2 linear ft.)

Language:

English, French, German, and Dutch; Flemish

Preferred Citation:

Cite as: [Identification of item], in the Central Organisation for a Durable Peace Collected Records (CDG-B Netherlands), Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Date:

1914-1919 (inclusive)

Creator:

Central Organization for a Durable Peace (Hague, Netherlands), Andrews, Fannie Fern, 1867-1950, Holt, Hamilton, 1872-1951, Hull, William I. (William Isaac), 1868-1939, and Lynch, Frederick, 1867-1934

Abstract:

The Central Organisation for a Durable Peace was formed at The Hague (the Netherlands) in April 1915 by representatives from nine European nations and the United States. The deliberations of this meeting were summarized in a manifesto, and a nine point minimum-program calling for coercive sanctions, which were studied by nine international research committees and several national committees. Departing from strict pacifism, the organization expressed a willingness to accept military sanctions against countries that started hostilities without first making a good faith effort to resolve a dispute by submitting to international arbitration or making some other appeal to the existing peace machinery.

The Central Organisation for a Durable Peace was formed at The Hague (the Netherlands) in April 1915 by representatives from nine European nations and the United States. The deliberations of this meeting were summarized in a manifesto, and a nine point minimum-program calling for coercive sanctions, which were studied by nine international research committees and several national committees. The Organisation's statement of purpose emphasized pacifistic and liberal principles as requisite for a "new diplomacy" that they hoped would emerge as a consequence of World War I. Departing from strict pacifism, the organization expressed a willingness to accept military sanctions against countries that started hostilities without first making a good faith effort to resolve a dispute by submitting to international arbitration or making some other appeal to the existing peace machinery.

The Organisation met throughout the war to discuss the basis of a durable peace, not disbanding until after the Treaty of Versailles, but the American Branch's main activities occurred before the U.S. entry into the war in 1917. American peace leaders involved with the Organisation included Fannie Fern Andrews, Emily Greene Balch and William I. Hull.

Most of the material in this collection came from the papers of William I. Hull, which were given to Swarthmore College between 1935 and 1939. Though the files of the Nederlandsche Anti-Oorlog Raad had been placed in this collection at some point, as this group was part of the Organisation's International Council (or affiliated as a National Group?), the material was removed in 2004 as it both pre-dates and goes beyond the scope of this collection.

This collection was formerly DG 007 before being moved to the CDG-B area.