One of the Largest War Resistance Training Programs in US History, Held in SE CT (1961)

In August 1961, southeastern Connecticut was host to perhaps the biggest war resistance training programs in the United States that year: the 5th Annual Peacemaker Nonviolence Training Program. This month-long program was a collaboration between the Peacemakers, a national community of mostly older war resisters, and the more youthful New England Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), which had just been established in the past year. In the following newsletter clipping from The Peacemaker, it is reported that 130 adults and children went through the program over the course of 3 weeks. In that time, the participants considered the theme of the “individual and society” from a number of perspectives — among them, theoretical future plans for a “developmental center” to foster a community of individually-motivated war resisters. It is no coincidence that the New England CNVA would acquire the land that became the Voluntown Peace Trust in the following year. But the training program also addressed more immediately tangible issues and plans for actions, including more direct actions at New London-Groton opposing nuclear-armed submarines as well as support work for imprisoned allies near and far. 

(Click the image below to download the PDF version of the original clippings)

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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].

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Source

“Peacemakers Plan Nat’l Conference.” The Peacemaker. (Vol 14, #12)

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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 ​