Peacemakers
Encyclopedia
Peacemakers, was an American
pacifist organization. The name of the group is taken from a section of the Beatitudes
: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
The group was founded following a conference on “More Disciplined and Revolutionary Pacifist Activity” in Chicago
in July, 1948 to advocate nonviolent resistance
in the service of peace, particularly draft
resistance and tax resistance
. The group’s members vowed:
The group was organized largely by Ernest
and Marion Bromley
and Juanita
and Wally Nelson
. Among the organization’s other founders were A.J. Muste, Dwight Macdonald
, Ralph T. Templin, Roy Kepler, Cecil Hinshaw, Milton Mayer
, Bayard Rustin
and Horace Champney. Many members came from the Committee for Nonviolent Revolution
, which had been formed two years before.
The “Tax Refusal Committee” of Peacemakers is credited for founding the modern American war tax resistance movement. Peacemakers published the first guide to war tax resistance in 1963.
Peacemakers differed from other pacifist and nonviolent resistance organizations in its emphasis on small-scale, local, "cell"-based organization and intentional communities. It had no national office, paid staff, or membership list. Some member groups organized funds to aid war resisters and people in the civil rights movement who had suffered reprisals.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pacifist organization. The name of the group is taken from a section of the Beatitudes
Beatitudes
In Christianity, the Beatitudes are a set of teachings by Jesus that appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The term Beatitude comes from the Latin adjective beatus which means happy, fortunate, or blissful....
: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
The group was founded following a conference on “More Disciplined and Revolutionary Pacifist Activity” in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in July, 1948 to advocate nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance...
in the service of peace, particularly draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
resistance and tax resistance
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.Tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience and direct action...
. The group’s members vowed:
(1) to refuse to serve in the armed forces in either peace or war; (2) to refuse to make or transport weapons of war; (3) to refuse to be conscripted or to register; (4) to consider to refuse to pay taxes for war purposes — a position already adopted by some; (5) to 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.http://www.manasjournal.org/pdf_library/VolumeI_1948/I-32.pdf
The group was organized largely by Ernest
Ernest Bromley
Ernest Bromley was an American minister and civil rights and peace activist. A founding member of the Freedom Riders, he played an active role in protests of racial segregation in the Southern United States...
and Marion Bromley
Marion Bromley
Marion Bromley nee Coddington was a pioneer of the modern American tax resistance movement and a civil rights activist. She married Ernest Bromley in 1948....
and Juanita
Juanita Nelson
Juanita Morrow Nelson is an American activist and war tax resister.She co-founded the group Peacemakers in 1948. She is the author of A Matter of Freedom and Other Writings ....
and Wally Nelson
Wally Nelson
Wallace Floyd Nelson was an American civil rights activist and war tax resister.Wally Nelson died at the age of 93 after more than a half-century of war tax resistance and activism...
. Among the organization’s other founders were A.J. Muste, Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, philosopher, and political radical.-Early life and career:...
, Ralph T. Templin, Roy Kepler, Cecil Hinshaw, Milton Mayer
Milton Mayer
Milton Sanford Mayer , a journalist and educator, was best known for his long-running column in The Progressive magazine, founded by Robert Marion LaFollette, Sr in Madison, Wisconsin.- Biography :...
, Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin
Bayard 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...
and Horace Champney. Many members came from the Committee for Nonviolent Revolution
Committee for Nonviolent Revolution
The Committee for Nonviolent Revolution, or CNRV, was a pacifist organization founded in Chicago at a conference held from February 6 through 9, 1946. Many of the founding members were conscientious objectors who had served time in prison or in Civilian Public Service camps due to their refusal to...
, which had been formed two years before.
The “Tax Refusal Committee” of Peacemakers is credited for founding the modern American war tax resistance movement. Peacemakers published the first guide to war tax resistance in 1963.
Peacemakers differed from other pacifist and nonviolent resistance organizations in its emphasis on small-scale, local, "cell"-based organization and intentional communities. It had no national office, paid staff, or membership list. Some member groups organized funds to aid war resisters and people in the civil rights movement who had suffered reprisals.