War Resisters' International Records

The War Resisters' International was founded at Bilthoven, Netherlands, in 1921 by representative pacifists from that country, Germany, Austria and Great Britain. The name originally chosen for the new movement was "Paco," which is the Esperanto word for peace.

For two years the work was directed from Bilthoven, but in 1923 all papers were transferred to Enfield, England, and H. Runham Brown was appointed as Honorary Secretary. At the same time the new name was adopted.

H. Runham Brown remained as the directing and guiding force of the movement until his death in 1949. His first move was to establish contact with individual pacifists and groups of pacifists in all parts of the world. By 1925, when the first international conference of the War Resisters' International was held (in Hoddeston, England), there were 42 affiliated groups of war resisters in 19 countries and individual resisters were associated with the movement in almost every country.

From the beginning the structure of the War Resisters' International was similar to that of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, which had preceded it by two years. The War Resisters' International was never more than a coordinating body in its relationship to affiliated groups. No group and no individual was ever committed to a majority point of view or decision. Few decisions were in fact ever made by either the International Council or by conferences of the movement. Nothing more was required of anyone than that s/he subscribe to the following declaration: "War is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war and to strive for the removal of all causes of war."

It must also be observed that although some groups were sponsored or inspired from Enfield, the main organizations connected with the movement were born independently. The No More War movement in Great Britain came into being in the same year as the War Resisters' International and sent a delegation to the Bilthoven gathering at which Paco was founded. The War Resisters League in the United States organized shortly afterwards. Both of these bodies were completely autonomous; the latter still exists, while the former merged in 1937 with the Peace Pledge Union, which in turn became the British Section of the War Resisters' International.

From the beginning the governing body of the War Resisters' International has been the International Council, which has varied considerably in size through the years. Members of the Council are elected for a period of three years at the international conferences and are not strictly representatives with delegated powers from member organizations. They are elected purely for their personal qualities.

It will be recognized that the main function of the War Resisters' International -- apart from bringing the various pacifist groups of the world together -- has been and continues to be the encouragement and sometimes the support of the individual war resisters in the remoter pars of the world. Its literature has usually been directed toward that aim.