War Resisters League
Encyclopedia
The War Resisters League (WRL) was formed in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I
. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International
.
Many of the founders had been jailed during World War I
for refusing military service
. From the Fellowship of Reconciliation
many Jews, suffragists, socialists, and anarchists separated to form this more secular organization.
During World War II
, many members were imprisoned. In the 1950s, WRL members worked in the US civil rights movement and organized protests against nuclear weapon
s testing and civil defense
drills. In the 1960s, WRL was the first pacifist organization to call for an end to the Vietnam War
. The organization's opposition to nuclear weapons was extended to include nuclear power
in the 1970s and 1980s. The WRL has also been active in feminist
and anti-racist
causes and works with other organizations to reduce the level of violence in modern culture.
and the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
. Since 1958, WRL has awarded almost annually the War Resisters League Peace Award
to a person or organization whose work represents the League's radical nonviolent program of action.
The War Resisters League annually publishes a pie chart showing how much of the U.S. federal budget actually covers current and past military expenses
, listing the total as 54%:
These figures are at odds with official government figures:
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International is an international anti-war organization with members and affiliates in over thirty countries. Its headquarters are in London, UK.-History:...
.
Many of the founders had been jailed during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
for refusing military service
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
. From the Fellowship of Reconciliation
Fellowship of Reconciliation
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries...
many Jews, suffragists, socialists, and anarchists separated to form this more secular organization.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, many members were imprisoned. In the 1950s, WRL members worked in the US civil rights movement and organized protests against nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s testing and civil defense
United States civil defense
United States civil defense refers to the use of civil defense in the history of the United States, which is the organized non-military effort to prepare Americans for military attack...
drills. In the 1960s, WRL was the first pacifist organization to call for an end to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The organization's opposition to nuclear weapons was extended to include nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
in the 1970s and 1980s. The WRL has also been active in feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and anti-racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
causes and works with other organizations to reduce the level of violence in modern culture.
Current activities
Today, the War Resisters League is actively organizing against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the impact of war at home. Much of its organizing is focused on challenging military recruiters and ending corporate profit from war. It publishes an annual peace calendar, the quarterly magazine WIN: Through Revolutionary Nonviolence, and other materials and is involved in a number of national peace and justice coalitions, including United for Peace and JusticeUnited for Peace and Justice
United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1,300 international and U.S.-based organizations opposed to "our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building."...
and the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee is an American activist coalition that promotes tax resistance as a way to protest against and/or disassociate from war and militarism....
. Since 1958, WRL has awarded almost annually the War Resisters League Peace Award
War Resisters League Peace Award
Since 1958, the "War Resisters League", the pacifist group founded in 1923, has awarded almost annually its War Resisters League Peace Award to a person or organization whose work represents the League's radical nonviolent program of Gandhian action....
to a person or organization whose work represents the League's radical nonviolent program of action.
The War Resisters League annually publishes a pie chart showing how much of the U.S. federal budget actually covers current and past military expenses
Military budget of the United States
The military budget is that portion of the United States discretionary federal budget that is allocated to the Department of Defense, or more broadly, the portion of the budget that goes to any defense-related expenditures...
, listing the total as 54%:
- "The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes....The government practice of combining trust and federal fundsUnified budgetIn the United States a unified budget is a federal government budget in which receipts and outlays from federal funds and the Social Security Trust Fund are consolidated. The change to a unified budget resulted in a single measure of the fiscal status of the government, based on the sum of all...
began during the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller. "
These figures are at odds with official government figures:
- "[Dov S. Zakheim, the Pentagon comptroller pointed] out that the 2004 military budget would represent 16.6 percent of all federal spending, compared with 27.3 percent in the late 1980's."
- "...War Resisters....count moneys appropriated for veterans' benefits and payment of the national debt as "taxes to support past wars." The group does this because the only way it can arrive at the figure of 47 percent of the federal budget going to the military is to count what they see as past military spending."
Notable members
- Dave Dellinger
- Ralph DiGiaRalph DiGiaRalph DiGia was a World War II conscientious objector, lifelong pacifist and social justice activist, and staffer for 52 years at the War Resisters League....
- G. Simon HarakG. Simon HarakG. Simon Harak, S. J. is an American peace activist and professor of theology and Director of the Center for Peacemaking at Marquette University....
- Jessie Wallace HughanJessie Wallace HughanJessie Wallace Hughan was an American educator, a socialist activist, and a radical pacifist. During her college days she was one of four co-founders of Alpha Omicron Pi, a national sorority for university women. She also was a founder and the first Secretary of the War Resisters League,...
- David McReynoldsDavid McReynoldsDavid McReynolds is an American democratic socialist and pacifist activist who described himself as "a peace movement bureaucrat" during his 40-year career with Liberation magazine and the War Resisters League...
- Grace PaleyGrace PaleyGrace Paley was an American-Jewish short story writer, poet, and political activist.-Biography:Grace Paley was born in the Bronx to Isaac and Manya Ridnyik Goodside, who anglicized the family name from Gutseit on immigrating from Ukraine. Her father was a doctor. The family spoke Russian and...
- Igal RoodenkoIgal Roodenko- Biography :Roodenko graduated from Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan, New York. He attended Cornell University from 1934 to 1938, where he received a degree in horticulture. Roodenko was a gay man, and a printer by trade....
- Bayard RustinBayard RustinBayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights.In the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation , Rustin practiced nonviolence...
- Carmen TrottaCarmen TrottaCarmen Trotta is a pacifist. Consistent with his service in the Catholic Worker Movement, he has been an opponent of the war in Iraq, even when it had the support of 90% of US citizens...
- James PeckJames Peck (pacifist)James Peck was an American activist who practiced nonviolent resistance during World War II and in the Civil Rights movement...
See also
- Military budget and total US federal spending
- List of anti-war organizations
- pacifismPacifismPacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
- People's Freedom UnionPeople's Freedom UnionThe People's Freedom Union was a left wing American political group which existed from 1919 to 1920. Established as a federation of liberal and radical organizations in New York City, the People's Freedom Union conducted marches in support of political prisoners detained under the Espionage Act...
- War resisterWar resisterA war resister is a person who resists war. The term can mean several things: resisting participation in all war, or a specific war, either before or after enlisting in, being inducted into, or being conscripted into a military force....
Further reading
Bennett, Scott H. Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963 NY: Syracuse Univ. Press, 2003.External links
- War Resisters League website
- War Resisters Support Campaign – an effort to let US soldiers stay in Canada so they don't have to fight in Iraq or go to prison
- War Resisters League Online Bookstore
- War Tax Resistance