The First World War radicalized pacifists, and the interwar era saw a resurgent peace movement shaped by a socially radical pacifism. During the Depression a pacifist-socialist alliance appeared to be in the vanguard of Canadian social action. But by the mid-thirties, pacifists found their pursuit of social justice in direct conflict with their commitment to non-violence. As social radicals began to abandon pacifism for the fight against fascism, the Canadian peace movement was severely weakened. Nevertheless, during the Second World War sectarian and non-sectarian pacifists joined in the defence of civil liberties and the individual conscience.
Socknat concludes that Canadian pacifists were a small but forceful minority who exercised a dual function in Canada: prophecy of an ideal of peace and reconciliation of social tensions. Above all, in its uncompromising emphasis on questions of conscience, the pacifist witness against war helped preserve those moral principles underlying Canadian culture and laid a solid foundation for the politicized peace movement of the nuclear era.
The First World War radicalized pacifists, and the interwar era saw a resurgent peace movement shaped by a socially radical pacifism. During the Depression a pacifist-socialist alliance appeared to be in the vanguard of Canadian social action. But by the mid-thirties, pacifists found their pursuit of social justice in direct conflict with their commitment to non-violence. As social radicals began to abandon pacifism for the fight against fascism, the Canadian peace movement was severely weakened. Nevertheless, during the Second World War sectarian and non-sectarian pacifists joined in the defence of civil liberties and the individual conscience.
Socknat concludes that Canadian pacifists were a small but forceful minority who exercised a dual function in Canada: prophecy of an ideal of peace and reconciliation of social tensions. Above all, in its uncompromising emphasis on questions of conscience, the pacifist witness against war helped preserve those moral principles underlying Canadian culture and laid a solid foundation for the politicized peace movement of the nuclear era.
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Witness Against War: Pacifism in Canada, 1900-1945
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Witness Against War: Pacifism in Canada, 1900-1945
394Paperback
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780802066329 |
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Publisher: | University of Toronto Press |
Publication date: | 06/01/1987 |
Series: | Social History of Canada |
Pages: | 394 |
Product dimensions: | 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.81(d) |