smash-pacifism-zine

Fellowship on Reconciliation
One of the groups that facilitated the spread of the
Gandhi doctrine among the Civil Rights Movement was the
Fellowship on Reconciliation (FOR). The FOR advocated
Gandhi's pacifist religion and had for many years worked to
have it implemented by mainstream reformist groups. The
FOR helped establish the Congress on Racial Equality
(CORE) in 1942, in part to engage in Gandhi-like
'nonviolent direct action' (a term CORE pioneered).
During the
Montgomery bus boycott
(1956-57), the FOR sent
workers to promote their
Gandhian doctrine. They
provided King and the
Montgomery Improvement
Association
with training and
information on pacifist
methods. FOR also
initiated a conference to
coordinate civil disobedience
for civil rights
that led to the formation
MLK with Glenn Smiley.
of the SCLC, in 1957.
One of the FOR
members sent to
Montgomery, however, found King's nonviolence less than
ideal. In a report to headquarters, Glenn Smiley stated:
“King can be a Negro Gandhi... He had Gandhi in
mind when this thing started, he says... wants to do it right,
but is too young and some of his close help is violent. King
accepts, as an example,a body
guard, and asked for a permit for
them to carry guns. This was denied
by the police, but nevertheless, the
place is an arsenal... he believes and
yet he doesn't believe. The whole
movement is armed in a sense, and
this is what I must convince him to
see as the greatest evil. If he can
really be won to a faith in nonviolence,
there is no end to what he
can do. Soon he will be able to
direct the movement by the sheer
force of being the symbol of
resistance.”
(To Redeem the Soul of
America, p. 24-25)
Smiley would not only
instruct King on the finer points of
pacifism, but would also be an invited speaker at the church
meetings. King himself began to more frequently refer to
the need for “love” and “nonviolence.”
61
Bayard Rustin was a long-time organizer in Black
reformist groups. Raised by Quakers, Rustin was a member
of the FOR based in New York. During World War 2 Rustin
was jailed as a 'conscientious objector.'
From 1957-68, Rustin played an influential role in
the SCLC and was a primary adviser to King. In 1966, as
King began to voice criticism of the Vietnam War, Rustin
the pacifist pulled a Gandhi and advocated that Blacks join
the US military and ignore the anti-war movement:
“Rustin advised blacks to shun the peace
movement because their immediate problems were 'so vast
and crushing that they have little time or energy to focus
upon international crises.' In another article he urged blacks
to seize the opportunity provided by the armed forces 'to
learn a trade, earn a salary, and be in a position to enter the
job market on their return.'”
(To Redeem the Soul of America, p. 338)
Class
Along with their religious morality, another factor
contributing to the SCLC's inability to mobilize working
class blacks was its own class composition. Most of the
civil rights movement's organizers were middle-class
professionals and business owners:
“[M]any, if not most, [of the prominent civil rights
leaders] were self-employed businessmen and
professionals, whose clientele was wholly or mainly blacks
—doctors, dentists, lawyers, undertakers, store owners.
Like ministers, they enjoyed economic security which gave
them latitude to defy white opinion....”
(To Redeem the Soul of America, p. 14)
The constitution
and bylaws adopted by
the SCLC in 1958
provided for a
governing board of 33
people.
“What kind of
people sat on the
SCLC's board They
were all black, and at
least two-thirds were
ministers. The lay
minority included a
dentist, a pharmacist, a
professor of history,
several businessmen,
and an official of the
International Longshoreman's
Association.
Only one woman sat on the board. All but a handful
of the ministers were Baptists. Graduates and professors of
Morehouse College (Atlanta) and Alabama State College
Selma, Alabama, 1965: the SCLC sought to promote an
image of respectable, middle-class Americanism.