“French Turn Back Moscow-Bound Group” & “Peace Walker Swims Ashore at Le Havre, France” (1961)6/24/2022
 In June 1961, five antiwar activists leapt from a ship into a French harbor, attempting to defy the French government which had denied them entry. This was the first major obstacle for the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace in the European leg of their journey. The group had just finished its trek down Great Britain with little issue, but there are the harbor in Le Havre, before 400 French supporters of the Walk, the French government refused the Walkers entry. Notably, Soviet Union officials had already agreed to permit the Walkers entry through Germany, including through Berlin — a fact that French authorities would have known due to the CNVA policy of openly sharing their plans. But the French government stood firm in their decision. However, so, too, did the Walkers. Could they find an alternate route into the European mainland? Certainly. But the point of the Walk was not just to walk, but to spread their message of universal disarmament as widely as possible. If the French government wanted to silence these activists, the activists would engineer a situation that would automatically generate even more attention. Using the same strategy that many of the participants had honed in the United States, the activists would engage the authorities in a sort of carnival of nonviolent rebellion — activities impossible to ignore. Four of the five daring activists were arrested and sent back to the UK, but one managed to escape and even record his story, which we share below. The four who were arrested were members of the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA). While they dealt with the French entry problem, their sister team still in the United States had continued the walk across Long Island, rode the ferry up to cross the Sound, and made it to New London, Connecticut, where the New England CNVA had its offices. The fourteen stateside Walkers would join the New England CNVA for workshops, protest actions, and more as part of the CNVA’s Polaris Action summer program. (Click the image below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)  --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “French Turn Back Moscow-Bound Group.” The Peacemaker. (Vol. 14, #9) “Peace Walker Swims Ashore at Le Havre, France.” The Peacemaker. (Vol. 14, #9)  On June 15, 1961, a team of six people attempted to stop the launch of one of the first nuclear weapon submarines in the world — with just a canoe, their own bodies, and sheer determination. This was not the impulsive act of some hooligans, but rather a carefully planned protest action with trained and extremely disciplined activists. Ed Guerard, one of the main participants of the action, wrote a breathless account of the events from his perspective which we present today. To summarize, the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) had organized this protest action to halt the launch of the Thomas Edison polaris-class submarine. While about 60 other people participated in the protest by distributing leaflets and standing in vigil, a smaller team set out to physically confront the submarine on the water by canoe. The team was stopped by law enforcers on the way to the launch site, but the police reaction to the nonviolent activists was notably restrained, even as one officer panickedly called for backup when two of the activists simply started to walk off with their canoe. No one was detained, no weapons were drawn, and no physical violence committed besides some rough grabbing. One or two at a time, each member of the canoe team got past the multiple law enforcers using disarming civility and by “talking about the Constitution” — classic nonviolence tactics. Due to the delay with the police, the team entered the water just one or two at a time, making them easier to apprehend by Navy personnel. They were fished out by the Navy quickly. At least one activist, the author of the account, was tied and repeatedly kicked by the sailors — right up until he simply spoke to the lead kicker, reminding him of their common humanity. The kicking stopped — another successful nonviolence move. One witness to the protest compared the chase and apprehension of the direct activists to the ancient Roman circus, where popular legends claim early Christian martyrs were slaughtered for sport due to their own nonviolence. Indeed, the protest action at Electric Boat was a performance to show the public that there is another way — a way to live and think differently from the popular Cold War zero-sum militaristic ideology. But it was also a real attempt at halting the sub launch “over our dead bodies” — the sincerity of which can be seen in how Guerard repeatedly attempted to get loose of the Navy sailors’ ties (hilariously dispelling the reputation of mariners and strong knots), even as he was repeatedly kicked and retied, all to complete his mission to halt one of the “genocide machines.” The activists were eventually taken to the Coast Guard Commanding Officer. There, they explained nonviolent philosophy and the reasons for their disruptive actions, continuing to use exactly the tactics that they had been using all day: acknowledgement of common humanity, transparent sincerity, and disarming civility. Shortly thereafter, they were released. (Click the image below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)  --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “Family Day at the Roman Circus.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 29 June 1961 (Bulletin #24), page 4. “Thomas Edison Protest.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 29 June 1961 (Bulletin #24), page 4.  As closely allied organizations, the CNVA and the Peacemakers often collaborated on projects and cross-promoted to each others’ respective audiences. As highlighted a few weeks ago, the New England CNVA newsletter Polaris Action Bulletin in 1961 was strongly promoting the Peacemaker Summer Training Program. Similarly, in June 1961, The Peacemaker newsletter celebrated the conclusion of the first part of a massive CNVA project: the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace. At the end of May 1961, the Walkers had completed their trek across the width of the continental United States. As the brief but informative article mentions, thirteen of the Walkers flew across the Atlantic to continue their journey to Moscow. In the UK, where the Team was to begin their European journey, a British movement against nuclear weapons had been gaining momentum for years. In another article in the same newsletter, The Peacemaker reports that the US Navy had recently requested the British government for extra security “against harassment by pacifist demonstrators” — a particularly ironic statement when considering the vast differences in resources and applications of force between the military and antiwar activists. Meanwhile, three of the Walk participants headed to Europe were only able to join the team at the last minute due to a sudden influx of funding — a reminder of how so many antiwar campaigns and actions were conducted on shoestring budgets even as they opposed the beginnings of the modern military-industrial complex. Much of the rest of the participants who remained stateside continued the Walk eastward across Long Island to reach the ferry that would take them up to New London, Connecticut. The destination was a significant landmark for the Walk: not only was it the site of the New England CNVA, a major direct action antiwar organization, but it was also the place where the idea for the Walk formed in the first place. And it looked like the team would make it to New London for another major protest: this time against the launching of the Thomas Edison nuclear-weapon submarine. (Click the images below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)  --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “‘Protect Us from Pacifists,’ Navy Asks.” The Peacemaker. 3 June 1961. (Vol. 14, #8). “Thirteen Walkers Leave for Europe; Others Join Polaris Action Project.” The Peacemaker. 3 June 1961. (Vol. 14, #8).  By June 1961, the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) had accomplished quite a lot in its first year of operation: several submarine launch disruptions and other protest actions, the establishment of public offices and a staff, countless hours of leafleting and discussing issues, and more. But in that time, the US national media had been steadily intensifying rhetoric in the other direction: in favor of renewing nuclear weapons testing. Many in the peace movement rightly predicted that renewing weapons testing would lead to greater tensions (and thus, greater chances of nuclear war) between the United States and the Soviet Union — a prediction borne out the next year during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Over the course of this period, the New England CNVA also realized that, after the many actions and activities they had conducted over their first year of operation, it was now time to reflect on their work, assess the results, and then strategize about their next steps moving forward. The shape of the New England CNVA 1961 Summer Program was becoming clearer. While the Summer Program would continue to carry on many of the activities of the past months, perhaps the most interesting part of the Program is the planned discussion topics. The topics can roughly be divided into “practical” and “theoretical” discussions, but many have aspects of both. The ones more on the practical side include titles like “Legal Aspects of Civil Disobedience” and “Relations with Mass Media” — relevant information for organizers and protest participants alike to evaluate personal risks and to be more effective. The more theoretical topics include the huge political philosophy question: “Can World Government Police Power Be Nonviolent?” — illustrating the scope at which the New England CNVA imagined that the peace movement could develop. Whether or not a nonviolent world police force would be possible (or right) is somewhat beside the point — through their work leafleting, protesting, and discussing, the members of the New England CNVA were building a reality in which such questions could be asked at all. (Click the images below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)  --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source Swann, Bob. “Summer Program.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 29 June 1961 (Bulletin #24), page 2. “The Fateful Dilemma" by Gordon Christiansen, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College (1961)5/26/2022
 Through the last few months of 1960 and into the early summer of 1961, US antiwar activists noticed something strange about some of the national news articles regarding the nuclear arms race. Since 1958, both the United States and the Soviet Union had held a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing — the most significant victory for the peace movement up to that point. It was far from perfect, but the compromise had kept tensions between the two countries relatively low until April 1961, when the United States attempted to invade communist Cuba in the infamous Bay of Pigs fiasco. Even before the failed invasion of Cuba, however, national media in the United States had been regularly publishing stories and opinions that made the resumption of weapons testing seem necessary and almost inevitable. Public opinion, it appeared, was being actively shaped into what Noam Chomsky later called “manufactured consent.” Noticing this disturbing trend, one member of the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), vividly described this manipulation of public opinion and what must be done about it in the June, 1961 edition of the New England CNVA newsletter. The author, Gordon Christiansen, was a respected chemistry professor and chair of his department at Connecticut College who had become increasingly involved in the peace movement. While many of the CNVA members had come to the area just a year earlier, Christiansen was already a local resident — giving some extra clout to the CNVA message in eastern Connecticut. Christiansen’s analysis of what he called “public opinion molding” shows a clear and steady escalation of public rhetoric, preemptively justifying the invasion of Cuba and, after suffering the military humiliation at the Bay of Pigs, continuing to justify even more aggressive behavior to save face. While no one could have known it at the time, this progressively escalating chain of events would lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis the next year — the moment when the United States and Soviet Union came closest to fighting an open nuclear war. Today, we are again seeing national media “soften” the public to the idea that the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons may be inevitable, implicitly justifying the use of our own nuclear arsenal. This must not continue, lest we face our own version of the Cuban Missile Crisis — and this time, with less competent, less ideal-driven leaders on either side of the conflict. In 1961, Christiansen called for a massive, national action to protest the expiration of the testing moratorium and to call for greater restrictions to the arms race. And, for once, the movement could make their case before the government had committed to the wrong course. Today, we, too, find ourselves in a world divided by powerful and ideologically opposed superpowers, all inching almost imperceptibly toward a reality in which nuclear weapons are openly used in war. Once we cross that line, there may be no going back; indeed, after the bombs explode and the dust settles, there may not be anything left to go back to. (Click the image below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)  —
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source Christiansen, Gordon. “The Fateful Dilemma.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 29 June 1961 (Bulletin #24), page 1.  In 1961, the Peacemakers came to southeastern Connecticut to hold their fifth annual summer intensive training. It was an easy choice: the world’s first nuclear-armed submarines were being built in the area’s General Dynamics - Electric Boat facility; the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) had established a New England chapter over the past year there to continue protesting the submarine manufacturing; and they had already held their 1960 training in the area the year before. As a collaboration between two of the most active antiwar groups committed to nonviolent action in the country at the time, the 1961 Peacemakers summer training program was planned to be intensive, comprehensive, hands-on, creative, diverse in identities, globally-minded, and locally focused. The theme of the 1961 program explored the dynamics and tensions between the individualist and collectivist values within the movement — a prescient topic that is still relevant today. Indeed, the Peacemakers were in many ways always ahead of their time. While the peace movement is sometimes accused of being a predominantly white movement, it is worth noting that both of the 1961 Program Coordinators for the Peacemakers were Black with decades of direct activist experience between them: Sis Robinson and Wally Nelson. The program itself also called for a diverse mix of people to join: professors and writers, farmers and industrial workers, activists and organizers, folks from all walks of life. The program staff was composed of a similar mix of people, including local Connecticut College professor Dr. Gordon Christiansen and New England CNVA members Marj and Bob Swann. The first half of the program was to cover the Peacemakers’ antiwar analysis of the Cold War and how they could resist militarism even under such circumstances — topics that one might expect. But the second half of the program was to include topics that went much further: building the new world in the shell of the old, changing behaviors for a better society, even possibilities for revolution. As hinted earlier, the Peacemakers were not simply activists of their own time — they anticipated a mature, worldwide movement of nonviolent resistance to develop in the future. After all, Gandhi had nonviolently led India to liberation less than two decades earlier, Black civil rights leaders had been using similar strategies in the American South for years, and new forms of protest and direct action were being pioneered all over. This strong commitment to a revolutionary peace movement can be glimpsed in the radical topics to be explored, in the diverse membership of the two participating organizations, and in the highly structured daily schedule for the summer program. This wasn’t just learning; this was training. (Click the images below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)   --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “5th Annual Peacemaker Training Program in Nonviolence.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 25 May 1961 (Bulletin #23), page 4.  In the summer of 1960, the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), the most active antiwar group in the country at the time, came to New London, Connecticut to stage demonstrations and host workshops arguing against the nuclear arms race. They called it Polaris Action after the Polaris nuclear weapon submarines being built at the nearby General Dynamics facility, Electric Boat. Eight months after the summer activities had finished, a contingent of CNVA members was nearing the East Coast again, having walked all the way from San Francisco as demonstrators against the arms race and intending to walk across Europe to Moscow as well. In that same time, several other CNVA members had remained in southeastern Connecticut and established the New England chapter of the CNVA. In those months, they had set up an office with regular public hours, made considerable contacts with national media and at least one filmmaker, and had conducted countless speaking engagements and public demonstrations. Many members had been arrested for civil disobedience, some on multiple occasions, and several were still locked up. But they had made allies in the local community and further away, allies who could both help fill the gaps left by lost personnel and lend a degree of legitimacy with the local populace. Dr. Gordon Christiansen, chair of the Chemistry Department at Connecticut College, was one local resident who quickly joined the CNVA — within a short time, he was made Chairman of the Personnel Committee of the New England chapter. And so, as their fellow CNVA members walked ever closer, the New England chapter began to plan another round of summer programs against the arms race. The first part of the program is in many ways a continuation of the New England CNVA’s work from the previous several months. The last few days of May were dedicated to the rendezvous and send-off of the San Francisco to Moscow Walk Team in New York — a campaign that had been first dreamed up at the Hygienic Restaurant in New London just eight months earlier, and which was to be continued stateside by the New England team for a week and a half solidarity walk east across Long Island (ending with the ferry back to New London). A one-day workshop was scheduled for the week after they returned. Between the solidarity walk and the workshop, several court hearings and demonstrations were scattered throughout, giving the impression of a busy schedule for a very dedicated team. Published in late May 1961, it appears in the newsletter that the last part of June, all of July, and the first part of August had not yet been scheduled. For the end of the summer, the New England CNVA again partnered with the Peacemakers for an intensive 3-week training on nonviolent action and philosophy with a scope and breadth that may be surprising to some. We will explore the 1961 Peacemakers Training Program in the future. But the lack of more detailed plans for the middle of the summer was likely due to a desire to stay flexible to continuously developing situations, such as issues with the law as well as any opportunities for action that may arise. And besides, even between the protests, field trips, and workshops, for those who wanted to dedicate their summer to activism, or even for those who were just curious, there was always plenty to be done or learned or practiced. (Click the images below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)   --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “Peace Education.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 25 May 1961 (Bulletin #23), page 5. “Summer Program.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 25 May 1961 (Bulletin #23), page 5-6.  Last week, we shared some general descriptions of a wave of mass civil disobedience that swept through the US and UK in the Easter season of 1961. The demonstrators objected to the “civil defense drills” promoted by the US and UK governments, pointing out what a meager defense that duck-and-cover could provide in the face of a doomsday scenario that their own governments had started. Common people were forced into the role of pawns in a global chess match between the nuclear-armed powers, and some of those common people had had enough. (See our post from last week here: “Thousands in Civil Disobedience; Hundreds Arrested in US and England” (1961)) This week, we have a brief description of the largest civil defense protest in the US that season: the roughly 1500-strong civil disobedience action in New York City. The author of the article, Mary Meigs, had at the time only recently become involved with the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), having been introduced to the group by her partner Barbara Deming. Despite the relatively short time that Meigs was involved with the CNVA, she is especially notable for being the person to purchase Campbell Farm in Voluntown, Connecticut in 1962, which she gifted to the CNVA to ultimately become the Voluntown Peace Trust. Meigs’ description of the NYC civil defense protest is particularly evocative of the mood of such mass civil disobedience actions. A few details may seem familiar to those who have participated in similar demonstrations: the outsized number of police, the sudden and arbitrary mass arrests, the undercounting of participants by the press, and the many unanswered questions — but also the feeling of determination, solidarity, and even joy shared between the diverse participants. At the bottom of this clipping, there is a brief notice about the summer program organized by the New England CNVA. While CNVA member Brad Lyttle was the primary organizer of the summer program, others contributed to the project. One was the then-Chair of the Chemistry Department at Connecticut College, Dr. Gordon Christiansen, who also wrote a pamphlet on nuclear detonation scenarios in and around southeastern Connecticut (see this link to read his pamphlet: Survival in Nuclear War: A Vanishing Probability). We will return to Brad Lyttle and the 1961 New England CNVA summer program later. For now, let us reflect on all of the grassroots political activity that was swelling at the time. In the South, the civil rights movement was already picking up momentum. In the North, the movement against nuclear weapons and war in general was also gaining strength. Many elements of these movements would eventually merge, culminating with Dr. King’s powerful and controversial speech on the Vietnam War in April 1967. Already in 1961, these confluences were developing: campaigns like the Quebec to Gauntanamo Walk and the Southern Peace Walk addressed militarism and racism as interconnected issues. Still, in the midst of organizing civil disobedience actions, summer trainings, and the communications to coordinate all of this activity, people like Mary Meigs, Barbara Deming, Brad Lyttle, Gordon Christiansen, even Dr. King didn't know how their work would turn out. But despite their own uncertainties, something compelled them to keep pushing the movement forward. Let us follow in their footsteps and continue to push past where they left off. (Click the image below to download the PDF version of the original clipping)  --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source Meigs, Mary. “The Civil Defense Protest at City Hall Park.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 6 May 1961 (Bulletin #22), page 6.  In the early 1960s, a movement against the production and use of nuclear weapons was growing across the world. In the English-speaking world, this movement spread rapidly in the two principal countries most responsible for the invention of the first nuclear weapons: the United States and the United Kingdom. The movement involved various protest actions for consciousness-raising and educating the public, and in the US and UK, Easter time became a major period for protest demonstrations against nuclear weapons. In April 1961 in New York City, over two thousand people obstructed, refused to participate in, or otherwise protested the “civil defense drills” (i.e. “duck-and-cover” drills”). That same month, across New York State and New Jersey, many more staged demonstrations against the drills, especially students and educators at various colleges and high schools. In New Hampshire, one university professor helped to organize dozens of students and other activists in a protest march during a civil defense drill, and ultimately resigned from his position in order to join the San Francisco to Moscow Transcontinental Walk for Peace. Over in London, UK, where the Transcontinental Walk would pass within a few months, over 2000 people marched in protest over their own government’s active involvement in and production of nuclear weapons. The hundreds of protesters went limp when arrested, just as they had trained, refusing to cooperate with their own arrests and causing massive and expensive disruptions in the heart of the country. Many other less well-documented demonstrations popped up across both the United States and the United Kingdom in Spring 1961 and after, including ones put on by the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) across Connecticut — "the toughest state in which to refuse to take shelter." Some were small, with just a few dozen participants, while others swelled to hundreds or thousands of protesters at a time. And yet, all taken together, even the small demonstrations contributed to the wider movement. Demonstrations that started small often snowballed over the years into bigger affairs involving more organizations. These demonstrations were especially effective because of their timing. American and British activists still living in predominantly Christian countries specifically chose the Easter season to conduct protest activities in part in order to contrast the modern rhetoric of nuclear war with the message of the ancient “Prince of Peace,” Jesus of Nazareth. By evoking the language, imagery, and stories familiar to the general populace and applying them to contemporary issues — by meeting the people where they were — the movement continued to grow. While the dream of full disarmament, the ultimate goal of many of these activist groups, remains unfulfilled, within just a few years of the first of the antinuclear weapons protests, the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union (plus the few other nuclear powers of the time) would work together to strictly regulate the proliferation of nuclear arms in their own countries and around the world. (Click the images below to download the PDF version of the original clippings)   --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “Thousands in Civil Disobedience; Hundreds Arrested in US and England.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 6 May 1961 (Bulletin #22), pages 3-4.  Even in progressive and radical circles, there still remains a great deal of misinformation and confusion about the strategy and philosophy of nonviolent resistance: particularly, its reasoning, goals, and tactics. Therefore, it is often helpful to consult the leaflets and other primary sources of the time to learn exactly what they thought they were doing. This little leaflet from 1961 produced by the New England CNVA gives us a particularly clear articulation of their analysis of the Cold War nuclear situation and the practicality of nonviolent action in the age of weapons of mass destruction. As we today again find ourselves in conflict with the greatest nuclear power in the world, it may be useful to examine the analysis and strategy of past generations’ nonviolent actionists. As the leaflet alludes, part of the purpose of practicing nonviolent resistance is to demonstrate how truly disruptive it could be. Some examples of nonviolent tactics were learned from the peace movement’s overlap with the labor movement: actions like slowdowns and strikes, but also organizing principles like collective action and economic sharing. When applied to the peace movement, most actions were of course more effective with many participants, but even just a few people could deface enough property, delay enough tests, and otherwise cost the government enough time and money to force it reconsider its plans from time to time. And if totalitarianism ever came to the country, the nonviolent resisters would have already been organized, practiced, and ready to act. On the back, the leaflet gives a few examples of what nonviolent resistance to war and the war industry might look like. While some actions are obvious (“Speaking out”), some may be unfamiliar to most people (“Refusing to pay war taxes”) while others may not seem directly related to war at all (“Sharing worldly goods”). While often made out to be naive, passive, and ineffective, actual practitioners of nonviolent resistance in the 1960s were often the ones who articulated strong analyses, put their own bodies on the line, and not only made some David-vs-Goliath victories, but also inspired an entire new generation of social justice movements. (Click the images below to download the PDF version of the original clippings)   --
Take Action The CT Committee for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons organizes pro-disarmament demonstrations throughout the year. To participate in these demonstrations against nuclear arms and in support of the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please get in touch with us on Facebook at facebook.com/voluntownpeacetrust or email us at nuclearbanct@gmail.com. — Support Us If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source “let’s walk for PEACE.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 10 April 1961 (Bulletin #21), insert 1-2. |
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