Committee for Non-Violent Action

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Not to be confused with the Committee for Nonviolent Revolution.

The Committee for Non-Violent Action (CNVA) was an American anti-war group, formed in 1957 to resist the

nonviolent direct action to protest against the nuclear arms race
.

The CNVA's immediate antecedent, a committee known as Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, was formed by radical

A.J. Muste, Albert Bigelow, Bayard Rustin and George Willoughby
.

History

In August 1957, members of the CNVA were arrested when they attempted to enter the Camp Mercury nuclear testing grounds near

Eniwetok Proving Grounds, the US test site in the Marshall Islands
. Two further attempts to defy a hastily enacted regulation banning US citizens from sailing to the test site led to the arrest and 60-day imprisonment of the crew.

The voyage of the Golden Rule inspired anthropologist

Kwajalein atoll, where Reynolds was charged with violating the Atomic Energy Commission
's new regulation.

In 1958, a CNVA group from Philadelphia travelled to

Atlas missile sites at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.[1]

In 1959, CNVA sponsored protests at the construction site of an intercontinental ballistic missile near Omaha, Nebraska. Around 15 protestors, including A.J. Muste and Karl H. Meyer, the son of Vermont Senator William Meyer,[2] were arrested and handcuffed as they climbed the fence to invade the site. They were each sentenced to six months in jail. In 1960, the group co-ordinated nonviolent protests against construction of the nuclear weapons equipped Polaris submarine in New London, Connecticut.

During the early 1960s, the CNVA organised two

San Francisco to Moscow, during which the walkers called on the governments of the world to disarm. During a Walk for Peace from Quebec to Cuba, via Washington, D.C., walkers were attacked and jailed as black and white activists walked together through Macon, Georgia. Both walks were led by peace activist Bradford Lyttle.[4]

In 1962, the

desegregation of public schools and public accommodations.[5]

In the mid-1960s, CNVA began to focus on the

tax refusal
as a method of resistance.

In 1968, after the 1967 death of leader A.J. Muste, the CNVA merged with the

pacifist War Resisters League
.

Legacy

While never a mass-membership organization, the CNVA's pioneering use of

Pacific.[citation needed
]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Anti-nuclear Activists and Protest Actions (U.S. National Park Service)". National Park Service. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  2. ^ "Congressman's son, a pacifist, is jailed", The New York Times. July 11, 1959. Retrieved 4/21/08.
  3. ^ Morgan, Thomas B. (November 1962). "Doom and Passion Along Rt. 45". www.trussel.com. Esquire. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  4. ^ "San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace | Archives & Manuscripts". TriCollege Libraries Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  5. ^ "The Cambridge Movement - The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom". Exhibitions - Library of Congress. NBC. September 2, 1963. Retrieved 2023-07-31.

External links

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