Peacemakers was an American pacifist organization founded following a conference on "More Disciplined and Revolutionary Pacifist Activity" in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

in July 1948. Ernest and Marion Bromley and Juanita and

Wally Nelson Wallace Floyd Nelson (27 March 1909 – 23 May 2002) was an American civil rights activist and war tax resister. He spent three and a half years in prison as a conscientious objector during World War II, was on the first of the "Freedom Rides" ...

largely organized the group. The name “Peacemakers” was taken from a section of the Bible, the Beatitudes or Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." The group’s organizational structure adopted a multidivisional organizational structure with a loose hierarchy, prioritizing local committees including but not limited to the Tax Refusal and Military Draft Refusal Committee. The Peacemakers were social anarchists whose organizational beliefs are largely attributed to Marxist philosophy. Peacemakers aimed to advocate nonviolent resistance in the service of peace.

Organizational structure

The Peacemakers differed from other pacifist and nonviolent resistance organizations in their emphasis on small-scale, local, "cell"-based organizations and intentional communities. It had no national office, paid staff, or membership list. Some member groups of the Peacemakers organized funds to aid war resisters and people in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

who had suffered reprisals.

History

The development and ideological foundation of the Peacemakers can be accredited to the Cold War American religious renewal and a rising discontent for American war efforts. In 1944 and 1945, Activist A.J. Muste held conferences on “the philosophy and methodology of revolutionary passivism” alongside a successive conference in 1947 in coalition with the Consultative Peace Council at Pendle Hill. These meetings were the catalyst for the creation of the Peacemakers and garnered momentum for religious pacifism within the anti-war efforts of the 1940s. The Committee for Nonviolent Reform was absorbed by the Peacemakers in 1948 following the Chicago conference for “more disciplined and revolutionary pacifism,” which convened over 250 individuals. Membership was restricted to those who were willing to take personal responsibility in separating themselves from the “war-making state”.

Socio-political values

Peacemakers were a socialist-anarchist group whose values centered on economic and social community upliftment. According to A.J. Muste, the group marked the beginning of “an International community of Non-Violence and Good-Will.” The organization believed in resource sharing and cooperation to displace a capitalistic lifestyle. They experimented with communal living, shared property, and budgeted income. Many members came from the Committee for Nonviolent Revolution, which had been formed two years before. The group's members vowed to: (1) refuse to serve in the armed forces in either peace or war; (2) refuse to make or transport weapons of war; (3) refuse to be conscripted or to register; (4) consider refusing to pay taxes for war purposes — a position already adopted by some; (5) spread the idea of peacemaking and to develop non-violent methods of opposing war through various forms of non-cooperation and to advocate unilateral disarmament and economic democracy. Peacemakers were dedicated to “engaging in holy disobedience against the war-making and conscripting state.” Their primary beliefs were founded upon a modern understanding of

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

realism. The organization‘s political values originated from the belief that society was materialistic and autocratic. According to scholar Leilah Danielson, the organization acted on the notion that “by taking suffering upon themselves in individual and collective active disobedience, they would cut through the conformist culture of the 1950s and awaken their fellow Americans to their responsibility for the atomic and international crisis”. In the 1950s, the Peacemakers’ socio-political involvement focused on advocacy for international nuclear disarmament and the civil rights movement. The group also held close ties to the Catholic Worker Movement, The

Student Christian Movement Student Christian Movement may refer to one of the following national organizations: * Australian Student Christian Movement * Student Christian Movement of Canada * Student Christian Movement of Great Britain * Indonesian Student Christian Movem ...

, The

Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...

(CORE), and the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence.

Achievements and Activism

Tax Refusal During the late 1940s, the Peacemakers distributed several anti-taxation pamphlets and contributed to demonstrations towards this cause. Notably, a 1949 leaflet marked taxation as a “cancer with its roots in your purse and in your mind.” It further stated, “you pay the bills of war, you accept war jobs, you bombed Nagasaki. If you keep on doing these routine, but really immoral things, you will soon bomb hundreds of other cities.” Additionally, The "Tax Refusal Committee" of the Peacemakers is credited for founding the modern American

war tax resistance Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the tax ...

movement. Peacemakers published the first guide to war tax resistance in 1963. There had been examples of organized war tax resistance in America for centuries, largely in congregations of the

historic peace churches Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: * Church of the Brethr ...

, but the Peacemakers were the first non-sectarian organized war tax, resistance group. Military Draft Resistance Peacemakers conducted an anti-conscription campaign in alliance with the War Resisters League and African American leader

A. Philip Randolph Asa Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) was an American labor unionist and civil rights activist. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful African-American led labor union. In ...

. Segregation became a catalyst for Randolph’s creation of the Committee against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training in 1947. Well-known civil rights organizer and activist Bayard Rustin was appointed Executive Secretary for the Committee against Jim Crow. The Peacemakers continued its advocacy campaigns by working in collaboration with the NAACP and local civil rights organizations to advocate for equality. Community Mutual Aid In June 1949,

and Carson Foltz held a meeting to discuss “how may a Peacemaker earn his living, spend his money, and provide economic security for his family in a profit-centered society.” Starting with the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, Ohio metro area, the forum focused on providing local communities with shared resources to avoid “predatory enterprises” (banks, insurance, investments, etc.). A consensus was met to create a voluntary mutual aid funding pool to which Peacemakers and participating individuals could contribute and benefit from simultaneously. Wally and Juanita were assigned the role of creating a program in addition to the funding pool that described Peacemaker economics and disciplines. The local branch alongside the Bromleys purchased a group farmhouse north of Cincinnati to share the responsibility of food, finances, childcare, and maintaining communal belongings. This was done to model nonviolent and collectivistliving based on Marxist philosophy. At the farmhouse, the Bromleys established Gano Peacemakers, Inc., a non-profit organization that was later seized by the IRS for their refusal to pay taxes, a method used to protest against military and war activities.

Notable Members

Founders * A.J. Muste * Ernest Bromley * Marion Bromley *

Juanita Nelson Juanita Morrow Nelson (August 17, 1923 – March 9, 2015) was an American activist and war tax resister. She co-founded the group Peacemakers in 1948. She was the author of ''A Matter of Freedom and Other Writings'' (1988). Biography Early li ...

Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist mag ...

Ralph T. Templin Ralph T. Templin (1896–1984) was an American missionary in India, and an educator, publisher, and social activist. In 1954, he became the first white minister to join the then all-black Methodist Lexington Conference. Missionary work in India ...

Roy Kepler Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

* Cecil Hinshaw * Milton Mayer * Bayard Rustin * George Houser *

Horace Champney Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

Important Figures * Benny Bargen * Dorothy Day * Ralph DiGia * Fyke Farmer *

Walter Gormly Walter Gormly (February 15, 1915 – February 26, 2000) was an American conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on t ...

Ammon Hennacy Ammon Ashford Hennacy (1893–1970) was an American Christian pacifist, anarchist, social activist, member of the Catholic Worker Movement, and Wobbly. He established the Joe Hill House of Hospitality in Salt Lake City, Utah, and practiced ...

* Bradford Lyttle *

Maurice McCrackin Maurice McCrackin (1905–1997) was an American civil rights and peace activist, tax resister and Presbyterian minister. Reverend Maurice F. McCrackin was removed from his church St. Barnabas in Cincinnati's West End, for standing up for his be ...

* Mary Stone McDowell *

Karl Meyer Karl Meyer may refer to: *Karl Meyer (activist) (born 1937), American pacifist, activist, Catholic worker and tax resister *Karl Meyer (aviator) (1894–1917), World War I flying ace *Karl Meyer (biochemist) (1899–1990), German biochemist *Karl M ...

James Otsuka Katsuki James Otsuka (January 22, 1921 – May 25, 1984) was a Nisei Japanese American Quaker who was jailed as a conscientious objector during World War II, and later became a war tax resister. During World War II, after the signing of Exe ...

* Jim Peck *

Eroseanna Robinson Eroseanna “Sis” Robinson (1924–1976) was an African-American social worker, track star, activist and member of the Peacemakers who organized for desegregation and against the U.S. military in the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, she was an advo ...

* Igal Roodenko * Max Sandin * George Willoughby * Lillian Willoughby *

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publ ...

References