Refers to a particular nonviolent movement in the United States in the 1940s and 50s of conscientious objectors—mostly from the Christian Peace Churches and also influenced by Gandhi—who refused to fight in any war and who took active steps to undermine the war system. Radical pacifism began in opposition to World War II, when A.J. Muste, David Dellinger, John Yoder, and others refused to fight in “the good war.” Some objectors believed it was acceptable to serve in an ambulance corp., others refused to take part in the war system in any way and instead requested an alternative service regiment, which consisted of being held indefinitely, without pay, in special “camps” for CO’s that often provided a fairly miserable existence and meaningless hard labor. Some refused to comply even with the requirement to register for the draft, and/or chose prison rather than the so-called “alternative service.” While in jail, Dellinger and others were successful in a strike that resulted in desegregation of their prison years before the advent of the Civil Rights Movement. They also worked to reform the dehumanizing psychiatric hospital system. Participants in these early nonviolent experiments went on to apply their considerable experience in the Civil Rights Movement, for example with the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, a forerunner of and template for the later Freedom Rides of the 1960s, by becoming founding members of the influential CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality), and by taking on other leadership roles in the movement. Later, radical pacifists took action against the Vietnam War and skirted the nonviolence line with some forms of property destruction (burning of draft files).

Film: “The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It”