Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967

Abstract

Author, editor, journalist and lecturer; advocate of internationalist pacifism; influential member of the Socialist Party in the 1930s; genealogist; recorder of Rhode Island history and lore; named Harold Devere Allen.

Overview The roots of the NCCO began shortly after conscription in WWII was instituted. Little is known about the New York Office of the NCCO. It was headquartered at 31 Union Square West in New York City (NY) where the ACLU had its offices, and was likely set up in 1940, under the chairmanship of Norman Angell, and stayed in existence through 1945. In Washington (DC), the Temporary Committee for Legal Aid to Conscientious Objectors was formed in 1940. R. Boland Brooks had gone to NSBRO (National...

Overview

Organization still in existence that was formed to aid conscientious objectors in World War II.

Abstract

Includes correspondence, reports, financial records, administrative files, minutes of meetings, publicity materials, brochures, newspaper clippings. Correspondents include: Devere Allen, Dorothy Detzer, Alfred Hassler, Jessie Wallace Hughan, Abe Kaufman, Frederick J. Libby, A.J. Muste, Ray Newton, Mildred Scott Olmsted, John Swomley, E. Raymond Wilson, and M.R. Zigler.

Abstract

Julien Cornell (1910-1994) practiced law in New York City, with a special interest in civil liberties. During World War II, he handled many cases for conscientious objectors, as well as advising many other COs about their various problems with the legal system. He was considered an expert on legal issues regarding conscientious objection and Civilian Public Service, and was consulted by many lawyers throughout the country for his opinions.

Abstract

The Federal Council of Churches organized its Committee on the Conscientious Objector under its Department of International Justice and Goodwill in 1941. The Committee was interested in all aspects of conscientious objection, especially religious life in Civilian Public Service camps. Among the Committee's projects was the organizing of a program of visitation to CPS camps.

Abstract

The Fellowship of Reconciliation in the U.S. was founded in 1915 by Christian pacifists. The organization, whose members are now drawn from many religious groups, seeks to apply principles of peace and social justice and non-violent social change to issues such as disarmament, conscription, race relations, economic justice, and civil liberties.

Abstract

The Metropolitan Board for Conscientious Objectors was a non-sectarian, free advisory service for conscientious objectors to war and military service. The MBCO was set up to provide counseling and legal aid in metropolitan New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and established by the United Pacifist Committee in 1940. The group disbanded in 1980.

Overview

This organization was stablished around 1956 by Robert Stowell and others as an American affiliate of Service Civil International with the goals of voluntary service, self-discipline, and international friendship. The group operated approximately 87 workcamps between 1954 and 1974. SCI provided placements and alternative service for conscientious objectors. SCI suspended operation in the mid-1970s, but was revived in the mid-1980s by a group of former SCI volunteers.

Overview The War Resisters League is a pacifist organization whose members are against all war. Witnessing the establishment of the War Resisters' International in Europe in 1921, and sensing a need for a similar organization in the United States, Dr. Jessie Wallace Hughan established the War Resisters League as an independent organization. The War Resisters League membership pledge, which has remained essentially unchanged since its inception, reads: "The War Resisters League affirms that war is a...