2003.78.15

WRL was organized in 1923 by men and women who had opposed WWI, many of whom had been jailed for refusing military service. The founders, including Jessie Wallace Hughan, leading suffragette, socialist, and pacifist, believed that if enough people stood in total opposition to war, governments would hesitate to go to war.In the 1950s WRL members worked in the Civil Rights movement, in opposition to nuclear testing and "Civil Defense," and helped launch Liberation magazine. In the 1960s the League was the first peace group to call for US withdrawal from Vietnam and played a key role throughout the war-organizing the burning of draft cards, rallies, civil disobedience at induction centers, and assisting resisters. WRL sponsored the dynamic magazine WIN through the 1970s and connected work against nuclear weapons with actions against nuclear power.

Used: political protest