“Could Southeastern Connecticut survive a nuclear attack? What would be the effects of an atomic weapon dropped within this area? What conditions would we face if this area was not hit directly but other areas of New England and New York were hit by nuclear weapons? What defenses are available to us? What would conditions of post-attack living be like? Is there anything we could do now to prevent their happening?” These are the opening lines to Dr. Gordon S. Christiansen’s 1960 pamphlet “Survival in Nuclear War: A Vanishing Probability.” As the chair of the chemistry department at Connecticut College and active participant in the Committee for Nonviolent Action, Dr. Christiansen volunteered much of his time and energy to educate the public about the power of nuclear weapons, the horrific effects of nuclear fallout, and the ultimately suicidal nature of the arms race and MAD (mutually assured destruction). In the pamphlet, Dr. Christiansen addresses all of these questions, the answers for which mostly have not changed in the ensuing decades. Some answers remain the same because there have been only a few major advances in nuclear weapons technology since the 1960s. On the other hand, other answers remain unchanged because of the lack of advances in handling the unavoidable radioactive fallout. In fact, in some cases, a nuclear detonation in a heavily populated area today could be worse than such a detonation in 1960 simply because of how much more reliant we now are on technology and a globalized economy. Here, we present Dr. Christiansen’s 15-page pamphlet in its entirety. For any Connecticut residents who have ever felt anxious about living so close to the US Navy sub base, or for the morbidly curious who have ever wondered what a nuclear detonation might look like in New England: this is a must-read. (Click the image below to download the PDF version of the original pamphlet) — 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 S. Survival in Nuclear War: A Vanishing Probability. Connecticut College, 1961. -- Further Resources Berrigan, Frida. “On Friday, ‘Say no to nuclear weapons.’” The Day. 1 August 2021 [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.theday.com/article/20210801/OP03/210809975 “Electric Boat History.” General Dynamics: Electric Boat. [Accessed 4 August 2021]. http://www.gdeb.com/about/history/ “Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance.” Arms Control Association. August 2020 [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat “Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.” United Nations: Office of Disarmament Affairs. [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/ Wellerstein, Alex. “Nukemap.” Nuclear Secrecy. [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ “What if We Nuke a City?” Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell. 13 October 2019 [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iPH-br_eJQ The following is a slightly modified repost from last year about Hiroshima Day, the UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and the submarines our community in Southeastern Connecticut builds as part of the US nuclear arsenal. At the time of original posting, few of us could have predicted the imminent Russian invasion into Ukraine. Many, however, have been sounding the warning calls about the combined US-Russia global nuclear threat for years — in fact, opposition to nuclear weapons was a founding principle for VPT. Now, on the one hand, we seem to be hurtling closer to nuclear war every day — but on the other, much of the rest of the world has already agreed to ban nuclear weapons outright. These are the two paths before us, and the choice is clear. All that is needed is the courage to take the right path.
-- Tomorrow is Hiroshima Day: the 77th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the Japanese city Hiroshima. It is a somber annual reminder that too few Americans let pass without a second thought: a reminder of one of the most vicious, destructive, and world-changing actions the United States has ever committed. The moral legitimacy and strategic necessity of using the atomic bomb in war has been debated since even before the weapon was completed in 1945, but much of the recent scholarship concludes that the primary motivation for using the bomb on primarily civilian targets in Japan came from political expediency and racist ideas of the Japanese. As of January 22, 2021, nuclear weapons are illegal under international law: that includes prohibitions on developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, deploying, and using or threatening to use nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia combined possess over 12,000 nuclear weapons, more than 90% of those in the world. All of the countries presently possessing nuclear weapons are now in violation of international law, but the United States has a unique responsibility among the nuclear-armed nations to dismantle its nuclear weapons and commit to a future free of nuclear weapons: the United States is the first and only country to ever use nuclear weapons in war. Since at least the beginning of the Cold War, the economy in southeastern Connecticut has been heavily influenced by the military-industrial complex. General Dynamics: Electric Boat (EB) in New London and Groton is the 6th largest military contractor in the country, and has been designing and building nuclear-armed submarines for decades. Despite the outsized importance of EB in New London County’s economy, the company does not appreciably benefit the vast majority of residents — the City of New London’s median income is less than $36,000 per year, while CEO of EB Phebe Novakovic earned nearly $19 million in 2020. In fact, it was EB’s production of the Polaris subs, the first to carry nuclear weapons in the world, that brought the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) to the region in 1960. Two years later, as they continued their opposition to the growing nuclear weapons industry, the CNVA established the Voluntown Peace Trust. One common argument employees of Electric Boat often repeat is that EB does not build nuclear weapons; they merely build the delivery system. But how reasonable is this argument? Did the EB workers reach this conclusion on their own or is this argument part of the corporate culture? Is this argument taught to workers as the official company line? To take an example from another chapter of Connecticut’s history: while Colt did not produce ammunition, no one can reasonably claim that the company’s manufacture of its famous revolvers and rifles wasn’t a part of the firearms industry. Those guns were made to serve no other practical purpose than to shoot specific ammunition; so, too, are the modern submarines being built at EB. But while bullets can only usually strike one or two targets each, the modern nuclear weapons delivery system on the new Columbia-class submarines is designed to hold up to 16 Trident D-5 missiles, with each missile capable of carrying up to 14 W-76-1 thermonuclear warheads. Each of those warheads possess six times the destructive force as what the United States detonated over Hiroshima in 1945. Therefore, due to the way that multiple warheads are bundled into bigger missiles, the modern submarine-based nuclear weapons delivery system is specifically designed to launch multiple, city-destroying nuclear weapons at once. As Frida Berrigan recently concluded in a recent op-ed in New London’s The Day: “Multiply 12 times 16 times 14 times 6 and the potential carnage is almost unfathomable. The best way to understand the Columbia class submarine, then, is as a $100 billion-plus initiative that aims to deliver 16,128 Hiroshimas.” Many Americans think that they understand nuclear weapons. We’ve seen the iconic photographs of the mushroom cloud and of the ghostly black shadows where people close to the epicenter were vaporized, seen the shockwave on TV and in movies, perhaps even deployed such weapons in video games. But nothing, not even the actual historical examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, can fully convey the sheer devastation and suffering a nuclear detonation would have on a modern city today. First of all, a modern city relies much more on its infrastructure than even 76 years ago. A thermonuclear detonation over a modern city would be very much like several natural disasters at once, except far worse: buildings, bridges, roads, and essential infrastructure collapse like in an earthquake; a blast of wind shatters windows as far as 12 miles away and sends the lethal debris at unsuspecting bystanders; fires suddenly appear across the city at once as people begin burning alive and gas stations start exploding with no warning; if the city is lucky, the mushroom cloud will merely begin to rain down tarry, radioactive sludge; if the city is unlucky, the mushroom cloud will turn into a firestorm. Secondly, scientists and military leadership now know that after most nuclear detonations, anyone who enters the affected area within two weeks of the detonation will likely receive a lethal dose of radiation. This means that after a nuclear detonation, no doctors, nurses, firefighters, emergency response personnel of any kind, not even the military — no one will come to help for at least two weeks. The significance of the radiation’s effect and the two-week nuclear quarantine period cannot be overstated. In every other kind of massive disaster, outside help is feasible and even expected. Such help is impossible in the two weeks after a nuclear detonation, and no government on Earth has a practical, aid-oriented planned response to such an event. Meanwhile during those two weeks, thousands will remain trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings, while thousands more with their clothes melted into their skin will wander the streets looking for food and water. Within the two weeks, still more thousands will have died from radiation sickness, physical injuries, and sheer exhaustion. Such a horrifying event is not simply possible; if we do not dismantle all nuclear weapons on Earth, it is inevitable. In some city someday, this will happen if we continue on the present path. It is naive to think that such a thing wouldn’t happen in New London County either; the very fact that Electric Boat is the US Navy’s primary submarine manufacturer, as well as the presence of Naval Submarine Base New London just upriver makes the region a key military target. Though the Hiroshima victims and the hibakusha (“explosion affected people”) are fading from living memory, we must never stop retelling their stories. But as long as nuclear weapons — and the tailor-made means to deliver them — are held by the United States, we as Americans have a unique responsibility to pressure our government to be rid of them. And as residents of New London County, we have a double-responsibility to honestly examine how the products of our local economy will eventually, inevitably cause the unthinkable level of death, devastation, and suffering inherent in a nuclear attack. — Take Action If you are concerned about nuclear weapons and live near New London, CT, consider joining the CT Committee on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons tomorrow, August 6 at the corners of Howard and Bank Streets in downtown New London. We will be there from 3p-5p to honor the victims of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as well as to educate the public about the new illegality of nuclear weapons. See the Facebook event page for more info and to RSVP: https://fb.me/e/D33GQsIP You can also sign petitions to pressure our government to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, like this one: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-the-nuclear-weapons-ban-treaty — Support Us We commit a significant amount of research and writing to produce A Peace of History each week. If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Your gift will be used to continue producing more A Peace of History posts as well as the greater mission of VPT. You may type in however much you would like to give; 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 — Sources Berrigan, Frida. “On Friday, ‘Say no to nuclear weapons.’” The Day. 1 August 2021 [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.theday.com/article/20210801/OP03/210809975 “Electric Boat History.” General Dynamics: Electric Boat. [Accessed 4 August 2021]. http://www.gdeb.com/about/history/ “Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance.” Arms Control Association. August 2020 [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat “Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.” United Nations: Office of Disarmament Affairs. [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/ Wellerstein, Alex. “Nukemap.” Nuclear Secrecy. [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ “What if We Nuke a City?” Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell. 13 October 2019 [Accessed 4 August 2021]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iPH-br_eJQ In late June 1961, a small contingent of the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace made multiple attempts to swim from a boat into France to continue the Walk there. They had walked all the way across the continental United States and were now crossing Europe with a simple but radical demand to save humanity: universal disarmament. The Walk team had been thwarted early by French authorities, but they quickly regrouped and planned another attempt. With hundreds of witnesses as well as at least one reporting team with a TV camera present, these water stunts themselves became demonstrations for peace. Millie Gilbertson was one participant whose account we highlighted last time. She noted that, with how everything played out, “I can’t help feeling the French [government] would have been better off letting us walk. I just heard a newscast: ‘The Ban the Bomb Marchers swam to shore and have been returned to the ship.’” (See our post from last week here: “We Try to Enter France Again” (1961)) That same day, the team of swimmers made another attempt, but was this time put in jail before negotiating their release. The response they got from the authorities was predictable: “One was telling us that all France wants peace. France would disarm if only Russia would do it first. What can be done? Same story, different language.” While many ordinary French citizens seemed to be moved by the Walkers’ actions, and a contingent of the Walk already on the French side fulfilled the route themselves (with signs simply reading: “censored”), their government remained determined to participate in the arms race. But in Belgium, the reception was remarkably different. One of the principal organizers of the Walk, Brad Lyttle, reported that “[a]t almost every city we are being given an official reception by the burgermeister.” Perhaps due to Belgium’s history of neutrality (and its violation) in the World Wars, many Belgians keenly understood the costs of war. Even while their national leaders would not publicly advocate for universal disarmament, the local leaders and communities seemed almost universally supportive of the Walk’s international humanitarian message. In our own time, it is increasingly disturbing to witness our own federal government and major political figures continue to dismantle longstanding civil protections and rights, leaving such responsibilities to often underfunded local governments and nongovernmental institutions. There is no doubt that our central government’s perversion and abandonment of our most basic principles has spelled disaster for countless people, and will continue to do so. But as the federal government retreats, perhaps this presents an opportunity for radical progressives and leftists to take up the ceded ground and lay a new foundation to support grassroots social justice movements. (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 Lyttle, Bradford. “Walkers in Belgium.” The Peacemaker. (Vol 14, #10) “Peace Walkers Cross Belgium; To Enter West Germany Today.” The Peacemaker. (Vol 14, #10) Gilberson, Millie. “We Try to Enter France Again.” The Peacemaker. (Vol 14, #10) On June 13, 1961, amidst hundreds of supporters and bystanders, five international antiwar activists attempted to swim from a boat onto the French shore in defiance of the government’s banning of their presence and censorship of their message: the nuclear arms race is ethically abhorrent, practically suicidal, and the only way out of “mutually assured destruction” was unilateral disarmament. They would have to educate the public to advance their ultimate goal. But first, they would have to meet the people where they were — and to do that, they walked across the span of the United States, and were now making their way through Europe. But not before another attempt to enter France. This was the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace, one of the most ambitious peace walks ever conducted. A project of the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) and in collaboration with multiple other peace groups across the United States, western Europe, and even the Soviet Union, the participants of the walk were very determined, perhaps even stubborn, but also practical. The first attempt to enter France by swimming involved five swimmers and some supporters on shore and on the boat. With some planning and cooperation with local French activists, the second attempt was planned with 19 swimmers and upwards of 1000 witnesses. With creative thinking, flexible tactics, and a clear focus on the true goal, the CNVA was often able to take advantage of their own “failures” in order to build momentum and improve their next actions. Read on for the exhilarating firsthand account of the second Le Havre swimming action by the CNVA in 1961. Next week, we will share the conclusion of the second Le Havre demonstration, as well as the group’s arrival in Belgium. (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 Gilbertson, Millie. “We Try to Enter France Again.” The Peacemaker. (Vol 14, #10) “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. |
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