Women Strike for Peace Records

At its first national conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1962, Women Strike for Peace adopted the following declaration: "We are women of all races, creeds and political persuasions. We are dedicated to the purpose of general and complete disarmament. We demand that nuclear tests be banned forever, that the arms race end and the world abolish all weapons of destruction under United Nations safeguards. We cherish the Historical Introduction right and accept the responsibility to act to influence the course of government for peace. We join with women throughout the world to challenge the right of any nation or group of nations to hold the power of life and death over the world."

In a 1984 statement, WSP describes its own history thus: "We came into existence on November 1, 1961, as a protest against atmospheric nuclear tests by the U.S. and the Soviet Union which were poisoning the air and our children's food. That year 100,000 women from 60 cities came out of kitchens and jobs to demand: END THE ARMS RACE - NOT THE HUMAN RACE, and WSP was born. "...In the following years WSP educated and organized for peace anddisarmament; distributed facts on radiation to Congress through Lobby-by-Proxy campaigns, and to the public wherever people congregated. WSP women lobbied Congress as well as U.N. Disarmament Conferences in Geneva. WSP demonstrated at the nuclear bomb testing site in Las Vegas, warning of the consequences of above ground tests of nuclear weapons. In the early 1960s the House UnAmerican Activities Committee subpoenaed 20 WSP women, and they made a laughing stock of HUAC, helping to start it on the road to its eventual demise. WSP played a major role in the passage of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. WSP was among the first groups to demonstrate against the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. When NATO countries met at The Hague to create the Multilateral Nuclear Fleet, WSP initiated an international conference and 1200 women from 14 NATO countries demonstrated against the MFL.

During the Vietnam War years, WSP established a Draft Counseling Service, organized a historical meeting at Djakarta of WSP and Vietnamese women, and sent a delegation to Hanoi which resulted in opening communications between POWs and their families. In the 1970s and 1980s it was a natural progression for WSP to become involved in opposing U.S. intervention in Central America, and campaigning against the militarization of space. "We undertook a drive against the new weapons which sprouted up much faster than arms control agreements. We fought against the proposed ABM system and together with other peace organizations brought it to a standstill. During the International Year of the Child in 1979,WSP initiated the campaign: Proposition #1 - A Peoples Referendum for Survival, and delivered over a hundred thousand signatures to the White House after a huge rally. WSP women all over the country were in the forefront of the Nuclear Freeze campaigns which swept the U.S. in the 1980s. "In the spring of '84, WSP sent a delegation to the Prime Ministers of the Netherlands and Belgium, urging those countries to refuse to place U.S. missiles on their soil. We initiated a nationwide educational campaign to expose the Reagan Administration's Defense Guidance Plan which envisions fighting, surviving and even winning a nuclear war.

WSPers have not only worked for ERA but have participated in the electoral politics on all government levels...." Sometimes called WISP (Women's International Strike for Peace) or Women for Peace, Women Strike for Peace functions primarily at the local level. A National Board, was located in Philadelphia by the 1980s. WSP interacted, throughout its history, with many other peace organizations. These include the Disarmament Working Group of the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy, the Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice, the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (NCaliforniaRL), the National Council for Universal and Unconditional Amnesty (NCUUA), Women Act for Disarmament which it co-sponsored with Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Campaign to Stop Government Spying, and the Indochina Peace Campaign, as well as larger organizations like SANE and the War Resisters League.

By the late 1980s the national WSP office in Philadelphia closed. The WSP legislative office and various WSP branches around the U.S. remained active through the 1990s.