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 [email protected]. — 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 [email protected]. — 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. In the early 1960s, the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) frequently staged protest demonstrations at and around the General Dynamics: Electric Boat facility in Groton, Connecticut — the place where some of the world’s first nuclear-armed submarines were being built at the time. Many of those CNVA EB demonstrations involved attempts by young activists to physically block, board, or otherwise disrupt the launch of those submarines. They used canoes, other small boats, or just their bodies swimming in the Thames River to disrupt public ceremonies, drawing attention to the fact that 1) there were people in their community who had deep and well-considered misgivings about the area’s involvement in producing such weapons, and that 2) even just a few strong swimmers or paddlers armed with nothing but their convictions could outmaneuver dozens of other military watercraft and reach the nuclear leviathan to pose the question: were these weapons really worth the taxpayer money and the danger of annihilation? Neither the CNVA nor modern anti-sub activists have expected their demonstrations to immediately end the construction of nuclear submarines in southeastern Connecticut. Instead, these groups have demonstrated and continue to demonstrate to bear witness to the tragedy of our area’s nuclear-armed submarine manufacturing: weapons ostensibly designed for the express purpose of killing as many people as we can after we have already lost a nuclear war. Transforming society most often requires community organizing, collective action, and large systemic changes — but those things don’t happen overnight. They start with small groups and actions that eventually grow, inspire more acts, and build more momentum, until they become an unstoppable force. (Click one of 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 [email protected]. — 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 “Crisis and the Individual.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 6 May 1961 (Bulletin #22), insert. In March 1961, two antiwar activists disrupted a commissioning ceremony for the world’s fifth ever nuclear missile submarine in order to raise awareness of the danger and absurdity of the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. The two activists nonviolently attempted to board the submarine by paddling through frigid waters and dodging the patrol boats in nothing but a canoe. As alluded to in last week’s story, this action occurred during the Easter-time 3-Week Walk for Peace through the Northeast US, organized by the New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (NE CNVA) as a companion walk for the much bigger San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace. (See our previous posts: “Organizing the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace (1960-1961)” “‘Call to a 3-Week Walk for Peace’ (1961)” “‘Report on the Walk’ (1961)”) Longtime readers will be familiar with this kind of action that the CNVA popularized in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As the United States unveiled the world’s first line of nuclear missile submarines with patriotic pomp and military ceremony, at least two teams of activists would often show up. The larger group would amass visibly, often near the entries to the ceremonies, and hold signs and/or pass out leaflets about the dangers of nuclear weapons to those in attendance. Meanwhile, the smaller group would sneak onto the banks of the water near the ceremonies, launch their canoe or other small vessel (or simply dive in), and cause a great commotion playing cat-and-mouse with the patrols — stealing the limelight from the military. Indeed, this seems to be exactly how it played out in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1961. What is so striking about the action is its drama. We live in a very different world now compared to 1961, and it is questionable whether such actions would be effective (or even safe) to attempt today, but they seemed to have worked multiple times in those early years specifically in large part because they were using a new tactic to respond directly to the unveiling of a new and world-changing technology. If there is a lesson to be drawn, perhaps it is that, as activists and organizers, we must constantly adopt new tactics to disorient the military-industrial complex and the State — and that when violence as a response is removed from the table, new possibilities and innovative tactics often suddenly spring forth. (Click the image 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 [email protected]. — 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 “Civil Disobedience at Portsmouth, N.H.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 10 April 1961 (Bulletin #21), page 4. In solidarity with the 1960-1961 San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace, one of the longest and most ambitious peace walks in modern history, many companion walks were organized throughout the United States and Europe. The New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (NECNVA), based at VPT in Voluntown, Connecticut, organized the New England companion walk which started in Kittery, Maine and passed through cities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut before ending at the UN Building in New York City. Along the way, hundreds of people participated either as walkers or providers of hospitality, and thousands more heard the NECNVA message: that the US military plans during the Cold War were both ethically and strategically compromised. By many measures, the “3-Week Walk for Peace” through the Northeastern US in 1961 was a massive success. (See our previous posts: “Organizing the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace (1960-1961)” “‘Call to a 3-Week Walk for Peace’ (1961)”) Shortly following the action, one of the NE CNVA founders, Bob Swann, wrote a brief report about the walk. He divided his report into three main sections: “Outreach,” “Publicity,” and “Participation.” Through his words, we can glimpse some of the smart organizing that may have contributed to the walk’s success. For example, Bob Swann recounts that the walkers held on average one public meeting every evening, in which an average of 20-60 people would attend. These meetings offered multiple ways for people to engage with the CNVA message: by watching a film, participating in discussion, or just actively listening. The walk also enjoyed much positive publicity in the newspapers, radio, and television news. One factor may have been the explicitly nonviolent behavior of these activists, and another, the quality of responses given in the many interviews conducted along the walk. But one crucial factor — and one that many modern activist groups sometimes overlook — seems to have been the fact that the NE CNVA purposely connected with some locally respected figures who agreed with the NE CNVA program to help lend legitimacy to the cause. Reaching the local community by having the area’s religious, academic, or otherwise culturally important leaders articulate the CNVA message proved to be a very effective strategy. But the walkers were not limited in spreading their message to just these public meetings. Along the walk, there were countless opportunities for spontaneous discussion: with bystanders as the participants walked; during breaks and at evenings with those providing hospitality; at universities, places of worship, community centers, and more. Indeed, the infinite opportunities to spread the message up close was one of the great strategic strengths of the 3-Week Walk for Peace and for other such peace walks in general. See below to read the report and determine for yourself why the walk was so successful. (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 [email protected]. — 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. “Report on the Walk.” Polaris Action Bulletin. 10 April 1961 (Bulletin #21), page 5. |
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