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WAR RESISTERS' INTERNATIONAL
STUDY CONFERENCE
TRAINING IN NONVIOLENCE 13th-20th August 1965, at Perugia,  Italy
NONVIOLENT TRAINING IN THE UNITED STATES
Paper submitted by:
Theodore Olson
CONTENTS
1.	Definition
2.	Development
3.	Current activities
a.   Governmental
B.	Quasi-governmental and   public
C.	Race   and  Urban Problems
D.	Peace
4.	Special problems
5.	Prospects
1.	By nonviolent  training we mean conscious attempts,   in the
context  of teaching and  learning,   to  impart  historical experience,
general  concepts,   technical  skills and   personal  experience   in how
to  act   effectively and  nonviolently  in conflict  situations.     By
"nonviolently" we mean to  stress  programmatic  or  active  nonviolence,
as  exemplified  by  -  but not  restricted   to  -   social  action struggles:
e.g.,  Gandhi's action in India and that of the  peace  and race
actionists in the United  States.
But as we  shall  see,   this definition,   if applied  retrospectively, would  deny the name of training  to much that in former years  passed under  that name.     And   if applied   too  narrowly it would  eliminate   from consideration much  governmental  or   quasi-governmental  work related to nonviolent training.     Therefore  the  paper will  proceed   in great part descriptively,   not  attempting  to  pass   final   judgment on all that   is called   nonviolent   training  in the United  States,   but trying instead  to relate  these  efforts to the   definition and   perhaps  to test  the definition.
2.	The   concrete  notion of non-violent action on  social  problems  -
iz        to   say nothing of training -   came  to  birth  quite  late  in the United
1.      States.   1-  After  the Second  World  V\/ar American pacifists began an
abortive   social action campaign  against racial discrimination, conscription and  the rearmament  incident to  the rise of the Cold   War. This  effort  proved   abortive  for many reasons,   some   quite  beyond anyone's control.     But  in part  it  failed  to draw others into a continuing struggle  because many of its  leaders,   particularly as they worked   through the  then-central  organization of Peacemakers,   saw nonviolence  as   integrally connected   to anarchism,   ruralism,   vegetarianism,   sexual  experimentation and other  concerns of little interest   to the main stream of American life.
ft 1.   see  page   6.

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1

In the Dulles  era,   with the onset of major bomb-testing  programs and with the example  of Negro nonviolence in Montgomery under King,   radical nonviolence underwent a renaissance.     Its  forays  against bomb-test  sites,  missile bases,   submarine yards and the civil defense  program raised   it to continuous public  view and played  a role  in bringing about the public pressure that ended  atmospheric bomb-testing and  the  strategy of massive retaliation.
Here  a curious contrast developed,   however.     In the Negro freedom  struggle,   non-violent training and discipline became  the key to   success.     People  could  be  trained and were willing to be trained  because  there were  concrete  ends  in view,   physically realizable goals  to be achieved.     Often it was experienced  peace actionists who  aided  in this training.     But in their  own peace movement there was little  that could   be  called  nonviolent  training. Projects were  sporadic   and  unrelated;   they took place  at sites to which people  came for a "confrontation"  and   after which they left. Some efforts were by nature  elite  operations requiring youth or nautical  skills.
Perhaps most  significant was the distinctive moral basis  of peace  action  in the   hey-day of the Committee  for Nonviolent Action, An ideology of purity and   suffering came to dominate  projects. It stated  that  appeal was  to  the  "heart11,   that  "unmerited   suffering" would  "generate  spiritual  power."    This  power would   in some  way "reach"  opponents and  general  populace  and bring about  conversions to  the point where governments would be  forced  to   alter policieies. At  least as  it developed   in American direct action,   this notion hindered  the growth of training.     For what,   exactly did one  need  to be trained?    Beyond bravery,   persistence  and the expertise necessary to  swim a cold  river or walk  a thousand miles,  what need was there for what we  now find desirable  for second   and  third-line leadership: a year of sociologically oriented  study and  experience?    One was either morally nonviolent or he was not.     Becoming qualified took care of itself.
3.	But as this movement developed   its  characteristic excesses,   it
moved   steadily away  from  contact with   its  ostensible  target:   the American  people.     Problems  became more  complex than bomb-testing. Are  there moral distinctions to  be  made between massive retaliation and counter-force doctrine?     How is one  to demonstrate  effectively with bomb-test tactics  against newly-sophisticated  techniques and strategies?     Ironically,   the   protest movement associated  with CNVA was collapsing  into  an ideologically-committed  hard   core   just  at the   time   that government and   intellectuals were  coming to  accept key parts  of the  radical  pacifist  critique of Cold  War dogma. Perhaps the most   important element  accepted  was the  idea of proportionate response  to  attack,  response that did  not foreclose in advance  the necessity  of   further   and  constructive  contact with the opponent after  the   first blows had  been struck.     At this  point,   in the early   'Sixties,   a  complex realignment took place  in the peace and   race efforts  -    an operation that can be appreciated  only in the  context of analogous  events within other  contexts.
A.       Public  agencies,   from the  Federal government to local law enforcement   (which  is  quite   autonomous  and  often ideosyncratic   in the   United  States),   increasingly  took into  account not only the  notion of proportionate response,  but  also the  idea of initiatives.     They began to appreciate  the  political and  social utility of unfreezing conflict situations through overtures that did  not  seek advantages but actually put the initiators under  some risk and  possible disadvantage:   they discovered the virtue of vulnerability.

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Though little  has  come of  it  concretely,   particularly since the  passing of Kennedy and  Khrushchev,   the  idea of unilateral  initiatives -    and the political and social disciplines  necessary to carry them through  -has become  an option at many levels of U.S.   national policy.    Domestically the  Federal government has learned  to work complementarily with massive civil rights  actions.     Its   field   agents have sometimes shown great understanding of the dynamic  of nonviolence.     At  another  level,   New York  State  has, by  law,   legitimated   the rent  strike,   in which  tenants withhold rent   in  substandard buildings or put the money  into  escrow or  trust   accounts  pending remedial action by the   building owners.
At  still another   level,   police   forces have begun to  be trained   in minimally-violent methods and   in techniques other  than the  use  of violence.     In America,   where even  the   police directing  traffic  are  heavily-armed, this move  away  from  total reliance upon the  ironmongery of massive  violence  is  particularly  significant.     In several  cities,   leaders of peace and race nonviolence have been called  on to  aid  police  officials  in this training.     In  the   South,   some  police  bodies have  sought to  avoid   the unfavorable  publicity attendant on brutal  suppression of civil  rights  activities by  conducting their  operations in large part through at least overtly nonviolent behaviour.   In some  cases this  has
achieved  notable  short-run  success.     For   a time   in New York City,   after  a disastrous   incident  marked  by poor control of participants on the part of both peace actionists and   police,   actionists were  left largely alone  to  police their   own   activities.     Action plans were  agreed  upon by  extensive  consultation between police  officials and   actionists.     Though the  contact has been  informal,   each   side  has done a  good  deal  to aid   the other  in    nonviolent training.
B.	In  quasi-governmental and  other  ''public"  programs,
more dramatic ventures have  been undertaken.     Local
government personnel assigned  to work with teen-age
gangs have developed  operational nonviolence  to a
level  achieved  only by the  most  sophisticated  peace
and  race  actionists.     Other governmentally-supported
experimental programs  have  taken  as  their  purview the
entire   structure  and   functioning of depressed  areas.
In the   largest of these  programs,   it became established policy  to   support radical  nonviolent attacks on community problems.     A   controversial but  often-effectiv^ Chicago-based     social mobilization organization  for minorities depends  on hard-hitting  and   at  least overtly nonviolent  tactics.
C.	Civil rights nonviolence needs no summary here, its
effectiveness being known everywhere. But there is
increasing use of nonviolent tactics in other urban
problems on the part of local groups, focussing on
housing, transportation, schools, criminal elements,
recreational facilities and even the intangibles of
"dignity"   and   "participation".
D.	While all these  activities were growing peace effort
nonviolence was not,   nor was training.     As was
suggested  earlier,   peace  activity,   as then  conceived

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was difficult to   train for.    But in 1962,   after  a period of experimentation on the  west Coast,   a new structure was  put  forward   for  peace  activity.     Without judging among competing organizations  and  peace strategies -    except to  exclude  those based on the triumph of one  side  or the other  in the  Cold  War  -it set up a structure  in which all American organizations at all concerned  with a "turn toward  peace" could  cooperate  at national,   regional  and   especially the local  levels.     There was  no   attempt to  set  up a  common denominator programme but  instead   a conscious effort to  put before the public  the  full range of policies and  programs  through which  any concerned  citizen could work  actively   for  peace on a regular  continuing basis. Participating groups ranged  from war veterans to labour unions to social  service agencies to direct action groups.
Focussed  particularly  at the  community level on the "community peace  center",   the Turn  Toward  Peace program required for  successful operation sophisticated and well-trained  people.     For the  first  time   in peace training,   there were a multitude of specific and  continuing tasks  for which people  could  be trained  -  tasks that did not  require  a  prior   commitment  to  an esoteric lore  or  to  a pacifist   ideology.
With this  need   there developed  the notion of a school
for  training pre-professionals  or  "internes"  to work
on peace,   race and  urban problems.     This   program
operated  experimentally  in New York  City^under my
direction,   then  spread   to other  cities.	In September,
1965,  Upland  Institute,   a  full-time professional school of social action training,   opens  its doors  in Chester,   Pa.
The direct  influence of the non-violent  action groups
themselves in the pilot  training  programs,  and  in
local TTP  structures,  was often small.     TTP was viewed
with reserve by many of these  agencies.     And   for the
most  part they  had   no  local  affiliates,   nor were  they
geared  to  on-going  community work.     Further,   attention
was  laid  from  the  beginning in TTP  on penetration of
Middle  class   institutions and  organizations,   a program
from which the direct  action  agencies were  largely
self-exiled.     Nonetheless,   the basis was  laid  for
community-centered,   functional nonviolence.     It was
continually emphasized   in my own work that nonviolent
direct action was  an integral  part of the  arsenal  of
community peace  action.     And  if,   as   seemed  crucial,   a
relation were to be built with race and urban problems
agencies,   it became even more necessary to include
direct action in a wide  variety of program?	The
Upland  program will   insure   this  connection,  with its unified  training of all  sorts of agency trainees.
A  separate  program  has grown up using the  idea of civilian defense  as  its model:  unarmed  national resistance   to  aggression.     Canadian and  American Quakers have  led   in a steady expansion of training  ordinary citizens in the  comprehensive means of defending an invaded   society without arms.     The  chief utility of
ft  2.   See  page  6,

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this program is that  the civilian or social defense idea brings  together  all  the techniques of nonviolence and  integrates them into  one operational program focussing on defense  of the  empirical   society.     This year's program  included  a sustained  attack-and-defense exercise  on Grindstone  Island  in Canada.
l+.	Other  programs have of course continued.    Notably the American
Friends Service Committee,  the New York Yearly Meeting of Friends and  the Committee for Nonviolent Action's New England branch have all  conducted regular  programs under the rubric  of "non-violent training".     Each makes  its own contribution,  but  I  feel that each has major drawbacks   as presently constituted.   3.     The Quaker summer  institutes draw their constituency from committed  pctcifists and   from others newly-alienated   from the main stream of American life.     The Quaker emphasis on the individual and upon subjective response  often hinders  any understanding  that training must center on concrete  organizational   jobs,   actual physical  tasks  integrated into a continuing and  pragmatic  program of broad  social change. Too  often Quaker training stops with internalized  attitudes and merely personal activities powered  by short-run emotions.     Individuals  from this milieu,   however,   have often played key roles  in, for example,   the early CNVA  campaigns and  in Turn Toward  Peace.
New York Yearly Meeting has  experimented with role-playing and other  psychological means of insight into nonviolence.     Its program shows promise of growth but is presently confined to  the  haute bourgeois constituency of New York area Quakers.
The CNVA program,   centered  on its  farm in Connecticut,   is  an outgrowth of the campaign of several  years ago  in which small groups of robust persons  attempted to  hinder the  construction and launching of Polaris  submarines.     Here,   in a rural setting,   a fairly broad   range of ideas and   techniques  is put   forward  that have  to do with nonviolence.    Demonstrations,   often imaginatively conceived,  are  conducted with some regularity.     Problems here are constituted by the narrow understanding now current in CNVA about the relation of direct  action and  its practitioners to the rest of society.     Demonstrations   tend to be  just  that:  demonstrations  of the  convictions  shared by this  close-knit  in-group.     The long-term means of  convincement and  social mobilization are  neglected  and the   impression is conveyed  of an almost  total  rejection of contemporary American society.     Yet  it  is by no means  true  that this and  other programs  are  of  no value.     What  is taught is of value; and what  is  learned  is often greater than what   is taught.
5.	The prospects  are not bright for non-violent training in the
United States.     The TTP national program has been cut back,  due  to a number of problems   -   some of  its  own making.     The Upland   Institute will have to  play a major role   in producing trained  people now that TIP  is unable   to  continue   systematic  seminars.
In the   freedom movement,   nonviolence  in crisis  areas  is on the wane.    Violence and  the  threat of violence  seem to produce what nonviolence  often does  not:   an  immediate  lessening of police  or mob brutality.     Also  the growth of Federal   and   state  programs implementing civil rights legislation has moved  the   focus  of work. Instead  of mass  agitation  for new laws or  for the  abrogation of unjust customs,   attention has shifted  to  the  machinery necessary to carry out  compliance with now-extant  legislation.     Still other areas  are  less  amenable  to   rectification by law:     e.g.   the   fact
v:3.   Soo   pa^e  6

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that over the past generation the Negro  share  of national employment and  national  income has  slipped downward.     Here   the usual techniques of nonviolence have  yet to  show their direct applicability, But  here  too  training and   a high degree  of sophistication will be required  of local leaders   for  them to re-apply old  techniques,  and discover and   implement  new ones.
The present   foreign  policy crises,   so deceptively amenable  to military  solutions and  so   steadily slipping out of control,   are having a marked  effect on the  peace  effort.     The effect of Santo Domingo and  Viet Nam on the  sensitized  public is twofold.     First it constricts  sensible discussion in the name of national unity   in a time  of crisis.     Secondly,   the nakedly aggressive  aspects of both crises have given rise  to  a mindless reaction on the   part of many sensitive people,  causing them to be  purely negative toward their own society,   sometimes even falling prey to  pro-Moscow and   pro-Peking elements with a vested  interest in fostering  such alienation.     In such a  situation,   action does  not develop sophistication or communi-cability.     A continual crisis atmosphere  inhibits long-range  training;   and   short-run training  is often outflanked  by the  onrush of events.
Still,  developments in UN  peacekeeping,   in governmental  and other public programs point toward  a " convergence  of interest among law enforcement,   order-creating and  change-fostering agencies.   This can only be  exploited  and  implemented  through thorough,   long-range training integrally related  to  non-violence.

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Page
1. Isolated early examples, such as those of the first New England Quakers, exercised little or no influence on succeeding generations. Pre-Civil War social radicalism organized freedom routes for escaped slaves, but its nascent social action program - including pacifism - was destroyed by the passions of the Civil War and the subsequent rise of a boastful and bellicose bourgeois capitalism.  This in turn provoked the rise of a new pacifism, drawing into uneasy but close alliance socialist and Christian critiques of war and nationalism.  This movement foundered on the First wJorld War and emerged from that struggle a tiny group dominated for the first time by convinced pacifists. Still the emphases were largely determined by the legalistic idealism of that era, stressing treaties, resolutions ^nd governmental superstructures. Only through the labour struggles of the Great Depression was nonviolence or pacifism hitched to concrete struggles with living bodies. Secular and Christian pacifists helped powerfully to shape the nonviolent and quasi-violent struggles to organize industrial unions. So deeply enmeshed were pacifists that their major organization, the FOR, split over the issue of violence in labour organization. Subsequently the schismatics helped to bring America actively into the anti-Hitler war.

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nd
2.	See the training manual for this program: Theodore Olson, Peace an
the American Community (New York: Turn Toward Peace, 1963), vii*650;
$2.00 from 218 E. 18th, New York.
Page 5
3.	For a critique of the TTP program, see my "Peace Training: A
Beginning" Our Generation, Vol.Ill, No.2
WAR RESISTERS'   INTERNATIONAL 88 Park Avenue,  Enfield, Middx.  England 2.8.65