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“In My Extremity I Turned to Gandhi”: American Pacifists, Christianity, and Gandhian Nonviolence, 1915–19411

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Leilah C. Danielson
Leilah C. Danielson
Affiliation:
Leilah C. Danielson is an assistant professor of history at Northern Arizona University.
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Extract

American pacifists first heard of Mohandas Gandhi and his struggles in South Africa and India after World War I. Although they admired his opposition to violence, they were ambivalent about non-violent resistance as a method of social change. As heirs to the Social Gospel, they feared that boycotts and civil disobedience lacked the spirit of love and goodwill that made social redemption possible. Moreover, American pacifists viewed Gandhi through their own cultural lens, a view that was often distorted by Orientalist ideas about Asia and Asians. It was only in the 1930s, when Reinhold Niebuhr and other Christian realists charged that pacifism was impotent in the face of social injustice, that they began to reassess Gandhian nonviolence. By the 1940s, they were using nonviolent direct action to protest racial discrimination and segregation, violations of civil liberties, and the nuclear arms race.

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Articles
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Church History , Volume 72 , Issue 2 , June 2003 , pp. 361 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 2003

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References

2. Edward, Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979).Google Scholar

3. Historians who have discussed pacifist use of Gandhian nonviolence include James, Tracy, Direct Action: Radical Pacifism front the Union Eight to the Chicago Seven (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)Google Scholar; Charles, Chatfield, For Peace and Justice: Pacifism in America, 1914–1941 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1971)Google Scholar; and Lawrence, Wittner, Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement, 1941–1960 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969)Google Scholar. Chatfield has come closest to interrogating the assumption that Gandhian nonviolence was simply imported to the United States. However, he exaggerates the ease with which nonviolent direct action became an important component of American pacifism. He also does not acknowledge the cultural and religious biases that initially precluded a more sympathetic reception of Gandhi's ideas.

4. See, for example, Taylor, Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988)Google Scholar; and Garrow, David J., Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York: William Morrow, 1986)Google Scholar. For a discussion of the relationship between African Americans and Gandhi before the modern Civil Rights Movement, see Sudarshan, Kapur, Raising Up a Prophet: The African-American Encounter with Gandhi (Delhi, India: Oxford University Press, 1993).Google Scholar

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29. Aversion to coercion has deep roots in the history of American pacifism. Nineteenth-century abolitionists, for example, opposed the use of force or violence as methods in the emancipation of slaves. The question of the ethics of nonresistance became divisive as the sectional controversy heated up, with many abolitionists ultimately supporting the Union in the Civil War. Brewer Stewart, James provides an excellent discussion of this controversy in Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery (New York: Hill and Wang, 1976)Google Scholar. See also Kraditor, Aileen S., Means and Ends in American Abolitionism: Garrison and His Critics on Strategy and Tactics, 1834–1850 (New York: Pantheon, 1967; reprint 1969).Google Scholar

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33. See, for example, Holmes, , “What Gandhi is Teaching the World,” The Community Pulpit, The Community Church of New York, Series 1942–1943, no. 2, 4–5. Perhaps one reason Holmes never engaged in nonviolent resistance was that he viewed Gandhi (and thus Gandhian nonviolence) in thoroughly sentimental terms.Google Scholar

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37. Niebuhr, Reinhold, Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932; reprint 1948), xxGoogle Scholar. For a useful discussion of Niebuhr's ideas, see Fox, Richard, Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985; reprint 1996);Google ScholarBingham, June, Courage to Change: An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Reinhold Niebuhr (New York: Scribner, 1961; reprint, 1972); and Meyer, The Protestant Search for Political Realism.Google Scholar

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39. Ibid., 172.

40. Ibid., 234–35.

41. Ibid., 180.

42. Minutes of FOR National Council and Executive Council Meetings, January 6, 1933, reel 102.02, FOR Records, SCPC.

43. Minutes of FOR National Council and Executive Council Meetings, March 3, 1933, reel 102.02, FOR Records, SCPC.

44. Minutes of FOR National Council and Executive Council Meetings, December 16, 1933, reel 102.02, FOR Records, SCPC. See also Kester to Sayre, January 16, 1934, series A, box 9, folder 6, Sayre Records, SCPC.

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48. Harold Fey, “Some Notes on the History and Activities of the Fellowship of Reconciliation Between the Years 1935 and 1940. Recollections by Harold E. Fey, Executive Secretary During that Five-year Period.” August 1989, section II, series C, box 1, folder 1, FOR Records, SCPC.

49. Muste, A. J., “Sketches for an Autobiography,” reprinted in Nat, Hentoff, ed., The Essays of A. J. Muste (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), 137.Google Scholar

50. Ibid., 134–37.

51. See, for example, Meyer, The Protestant Search for Political Realism.

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53. See Page, Kirby, Social Evangelist: The Autobiography of a Twentieth-Century Prophet for Peace (Nyack, N.Y.: Fellowship, 1975), 47.Google Scholar

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55. Thurman, Howard, With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979), 114.Google Scholar

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57. Gregg, Richard, Gandhism Versus Socialism (New York: John Day, 1932)Google Scholar; Gregg, , The Power of Nonviolence (Philadelphia, Perm.: J. B. Lippincott, 1934)Google Scholar. The Power of Nonviolence was an expanded version of Gregg's, The Psychology and Strategy of Gandhi's Non-Violent Resistance (Triplicane, Madras, India: S. Ganesan, 1929).Google Scholar

58. Gregg, , The Power of Non-Violence, 46–49.Google Scholar

59. Sometimes this was quite explicit, as when Gregg cited Niebuhr's argument that love without sacrifice is futile in order to convince his readers that pacifism was ineffective unless pacifists were willing to endure suffering. See Gregg, , The Power of Non-Violence, 281.Google Scholar

60. Ibid., 136–37.

61. Gregg, , Gandhism Versus Socialism, 8.Google Scholar

62. Gregg, , The Power of Non-Violence, 147–50.Google Scholar

63. Ibid., 87, 51.

64. Gregg, to John Nevin, Sayre, February 23, 1933, quoted in Chatfield, For Peace and Justice, 203.Google Scholar

65. Parekh, , Gandhi, 74–75.Google Scholar

66. Gregg, , The Power of Non-Violence, 75–76.Google Scholar

67. Ibid., 158.

68. Ibid., 40.

69. Ibid., 222–23.

70. Foster, , The Women and the Warriors, 343Google Scholar. There were three women's pacifist organizations during the years between the two world wars, WILPF, the Women's Peace Society, and the Women's Peace Union. The latter two organizations, which were tiny to begin with, had dissolved by the time the United States entered World War II. WILPF managed to survive the war, but its numbers were greatly reduced. I find Foster persuasive when she suggests that a main reason for this decline was their failure to explore Gandhian nonviolence, and that this failure was rooted in their strong attachment to progressive ideology. By contrast, FOR and the War Resisters' League experienced a surge in membership during the war years, partly because young pacifists were drawn to their commitment to Gandhian nonviolence. For a discussion of women's peace organizations between the two world wars, see Harriet Hyman, Alonso, Peace as a Women's Issue: A History of the U.S. Movement for World Peace and Women's Rights (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1993).Google Scholar

71. A good example of how Niebuhr's critique prompted a flurry of introspection among pacifists is a position paper of a draft of an article titled “Do Pacifists Uphold Violence?” written by Harold Fey in 1936. See section II, series C, box 2, folder 4, FOR Records, SCPC.

72. Minutes of FOR. National Council and Executive Council Meetings, December 16, 1933, reel 102.02, FOR Records, SCPC. See also “Message and Program,” Fellowship 1, no. 8 (December 1935): 3–4.Google Scholar

73. “Message and Program,” Fellowship 1, no. 8 (December 1935): 3–4Google Scholar. Quote is from the FOR's executive secretary, Harold, Fey, “Realistic Reconciliation,” Fellowship 1, no. 8 (12 1935): 4–7.Google Scholar

74. See, for example, Claude, Williams, “Prison Memoir,” Fellowship 1, no. 1 (01 1936): 3–4Google Scholar; and Delores, Ruppersberg, “Labor Tries Non-violence,” Fellowship 2, no. 3 (03 1936): 9–10.Google Scholar

75. See, for example, Jerome, Davis, “Non-violent Techniques for Industrial Justice,” Fellowship 2, no. 9 (11 1936): 9–11Google Scholar; and Gerald, Heard, “The New Pacifism,” Fellowship 3, no. 6 (06 1937): 3–4.Google Scholar

76. See “The Pacifist and Self-Discipline,” FOR Conference, September 6–8, 1940, series A–l, box 5, folder 2, FOR Records, SCPC; and “Open Paths for the International FOR,” October 6, 1941, section I, box 1, folder 8, FOR Records, SCPC. Note that these cells were also formed to provide fellowship and community to isolated pacifists during the war. See, for example, a pamphlet published by FOR titled “Christian Pacifist Conferences,” series A-1, box 5, folder 14, FOR Records, SCPC. Note that the War Resisters League also began discussing nonviolent resistance at the end of the 1930s, which is not surprising since the organization had many of the same members as FOR (though it was a much smaller organization than FOR). In 1939, WRL issued a pamphlet by Jessie Wallace Hughan in which she suggested that nonviolent resistance would stop an invasion of the United States. See Hughan, , If We Should Be Invaded (New York: War Resisters League, 1939).Google Scholar

77. Bohn, Herbert G., “We Tried Non-Violence,” Fellowship 3, no. 1 (01 1937): 7–8Google Scholar; and Muste, A. J., “Sit Downs and Lie Downs,” Fellowship 3, no. 3 (03 1937): 5–6.Google Scholar

78. “The power of reconciliation and the power of nonviolence would seem to be so different as not to lend themselves to the service of a common purpose. Indeed in most conflict situations they would seem to be mutually exclusive.” “Message and Program.”

79. The best biography of Muste is Jo Ann Ooiman, Robinson, Abraham Went Out: A Biography of A. J. Muste (Philadelphia, Penn: Temple University Press, 1981)Google Scholar. See also Nat, Hentoff, Peace Agitator: The Story of A. J. Muste (New York: MacMillan, 1963).Google Scholar

80. Muste, , “Return to Pacifism,” reprinted in Hentoff, , ed. The Essays of A. J. Muste, 199–201.Google Scholar

81. Muste, , Non-Violence in an Aggressive World (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1940), 175.Google Scholar

82. See Muste's notes on William Lovell's paper, FOR Study Conference on Revolutionary Pacifism, February 1, 1945, series A-l, box 5, folder 11, FOR Records, SCPC.

83. Muste, , Non-Violence in an Aggressive World, 125–26.Google Scholar

84. In this way, Muste went beyond Gregg. While Gregg personally viewed nonviolence as a philosophy of life, his book focused on demonstrating that nonviolent resistance was “realistic.” Muste, on the other hand, argued that nonviolence was a philosophy that had profound implications for one's personal life as well as one's political life.

85. Muste made his argument for “prophetic Christianity” in numerous forums. In fact, he identified himself as a “Jewish-Christian.” See, for example, the lectures he delivered at New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1944, reel 3, A. J. Muste Papers, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, Swarthmore, Perm. See also Muste, , Non-Violence in an Aggressive World, 21–25.Google Scholar

86. Meyer, , The Protestant Search for Political Realism, 369.Google Scholar

87. Muste, , “Pacifism and Perfectionism,” reprinted in Hentoff, ed., The Essays of A. J. Muste, 312, 319.Google Scholar

88. Muste, , “Theology of Despair,” reprinted in Hentoff, ed., The Essays of A. J. Muste, 307.Google Scholar

89. Muste, , Not By Might, Christianity: The Way to Human Decency (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1947), 59.Google Scholar

90. Muste, , Non-Violence in an Aggressive World, 33.Google Scholar

91. Muste, , “The World Task of Pacifism,” reprinted in Hentoff, ed., The Essays of A. J. Muste, 223–25.Google Scholar

92. Muste to James Farmer and George Houser, June 4, 1943, series A-3, box 2, folder 1, FOR Records, SCPC. See also “Suggested Draft of ‘Message’ of FOR Conference,” September 1942, series A-l, box 5, folder 3, FOR Records, SCPC; and Muste Comments, Minutes of the National Council Meeting of the FOR, April 11, 1942, section 2, series A-2, box 3, folder 3, FOR Records, SCPC.

93. Krishnalal, Shridharani, War Without Violence: A Study of Gandhi's Method and its Accomplishments (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1939)Google Scholar. For details on the Harlem Ashram, see James, Farmer, Lay Bear the Heart: An Autobiography of the Civil Rights Movement (New York: Arbor House, 1985), 149–51Google Scholar; and Lawrence, Wittner, Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969), 63–64Google Scholar. Charles Chatfield discusses Ahisma, Farm in For Peace and Justice, 216Google Scholar. For details on the Newark Ashram, see David, Dellinger, From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter (Marion, South Dak.: Rose Hill, 1993; reprint 1996), 66. My oral histories with Dellinger and Bill Sutherland also provided information about the Newark Ashram. Dave Dellinger, interview with author, tape recording, Austin, Texas, February 9, 2001; and Bill Sutherland, interview with author, tape recording, Austin, Texas, April 1, 2000.Google Scholar

94. Farmer published a copy of his memo to Muste proposing “Brotherhood Mobilization,” which ultimately became CORE, in Lay Bear the Heart, appendix. The best discussion of CORE during its early years remains August Meier, and Elliot, Rudwick, CORE: A Study in the Civil Rights Movement (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1975).Google Scholar

95. The most recent biography of Rustin is Daniel, Levine, Bayard Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000)Google Scholar. See also Jervis, Anderson, Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen: A Biography (New York: Harper Collins, 1997)Google Scholar; and John, D'Emilio, “Homophobia and the Trajectory of Postwar American Radicalism: The Case of Bayard Rustin,” Radical History Review (1995) 62: 80–103. All three sources attest to Muste's profound influence on Rustin's political, intellectual, and emotional life.Google Scholar

96. A recent article in Peace and Change shows how Smiley used his sense of humor as an element in nonviolent resistance. See Margaret, Cavin, “Glenn Smiley Was a Fool: The Use of the Comic as a Strategy of Nonviolence,” Peace and Change: A Journal of Peace Research 26, no. 2, (04 2001): 223–42.Google Scholar

97. See, for example, Muste to Harrop Freeman, May 8, 1942, series A-3, box 14, folder 16, FOR Records, SCPC, which indicates that the latter argued that there was an important distinction between protest and constructive work. See also Sayre to Muste, June 23, 1943, series A, box 11, folder 5, Sayre Records, SCPC, requesting that the Nonviolent Action Committee not use FOR's name in connection with a protest at the British embassy for Indian freedom.

98. For a discussion of the radical pacifist movement from 1941 through 1968, see Tracy, , Direct ActionGoogle Scholar. Marian Mollin discusses the Peacemakers, in “Actions Louder than Words: Gender and Political Activism in the American Radical Pacifist Movement, 1942–1972” (Ph.D. diss., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 02 2000)Google Scholar; and Scott, Bennett discusses the WRL in “‘Pacifism Not Passivism’: The War Resisters League and Radical Pacifism, Nonviolent Direct Action and the Americanization of Gandhi, 1915–1963” (Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 1998).Google Scholar