War Resisters League
A United States pacifist organization advocating nonviolent resistance to war, militarism, and the social causes of violence.
Last updated August 24, 2026
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Overview
The War Resisters League (WRL) is a United States-based secular pacifist organization founded in 1923 by people whose opposition to World War I included conscientious objection and, in some cases, imprisonment for refusing military service. It emerged from the Fellowship of Reconciliation as a more explicitly secular body that brought together pacifists from Jewish, suffragist, socialist, and anarchist backgrounds. The League became a United States section of the London-based War Resisters' International and developed a distinctive form of radical pacifism grounded in nonviolent resistance rather than reliance on state power or military institutions. During World War II, WRL opposed United States participation but did not conduct public protests. It followed the restrictions imposed by the Espionage Act, stopped public demonstrations, and suspended efforts to recruit members. Many people associated with the League nevertheless served prison terms as conscientious objectors. After the war, WRL returned to public organizing and expanded its opposition from conventional warfare to nuclear weapons, military preparedness, and the wider political and economic structures that it regarded as causes of war. In the 1950s, League members participated in the civil rights movement and organized against nuclear-weapons testing and civil-defense drills. WRL was an early and prominent opponent of the Vietnam War. It called for an end to United States involvement before many other national peace organizations had adopted that position, held a September 1963 vigil outside the United States Mission to the United Nations, and organized a subsequent protest against Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu at New York's Waldorf-Astoria. In December 1964, it helped coordinate nationwide antiwar demonstrations with several other peace and left-wing organizations. The organization's program broadened during the 1970s and 1980s. Its opposition to nuclear weapons expanded to include nuclear power, while its organizing increasingly connected militarism with racism, patriarchy, economic exploitation, and violence in everyday culture. WRL also produced influential periodicals and educational materials, including The Conscientious Objector, WRL News, the Peace Calendar, Liberation, WIN Peace & Freedom Through Nonviolent Action, The Nonviolent Activist, and later WIN through revolutionary nonviolence. In the twenty-first century, WRL organized against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and continued campaigning against what it describes as United States militarism, permanent war, military recruitment, and corporate profit from military activity. It has worked in coalitions addressing the militarization of young people and war-tax resistance, and it has maintained educational work on federal military spending. The League also presents an annual analysis of the federal budget that separates military-related expenses from other government spending, while acknowledging that different accounting methods produce substantially different percentages. WRL marked its centennial in 2023 with a traveling exhibition, a large historical timeline, a full-color commemorative book, public events, and a continuing history blog. Its records and publications are preserved in peace archives, including collections associated with Swarthmore College. The League remains an active radical pacifist organization, although specific current officeholders, staffing levels, and organizational finances are not established by the supplied sources.
History
The War Resisters League was established in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I. A number of its early members had been imprisoned after refusing military service as conscientious objectors. The new organization grew out of the Fellowship of Reconciliation but sought to provide a more secular institutional home for pacifists from several political, religious, and social backgrounds, including Jewish activists, suffragists, socialists, and anarchists. It became affiliated with War Resisters' International, the London-based network of pacifist organizations. The League's early identity combined principled opposition to war with a commitment to active nonviolent resistance. During World War II, it opposed United States participation but did not maintain a public protest campaign. Because of the legal environment created by the Espionage Act, WRL ceased public demonstrations and stopped soliciting new members. Its members still faced the consequences of refusing military service, and many were imprisoned as conscientious objectors. This period illustrates the organization's recurring tension between opposition to state violence and the legal constraints imposed on dissent during wartime. Following World War II, WRL resumed public advocacy. In the 1950s, members participated in civil-rights work and challenged nuclear-weapons testing and civil-defense exercises. The League treated nuclear arms not as an isolated weapons issue but as part of a broader system of militarization. Its public education, demonstrations, and publications helped connect the dangers of nuclear strategy with questions about state power, civil liberties, and social priorities. WRL became an important early opponent of the Vietnam War. It was the first pacifist organization identified in the supplied historical account as calling for an end to the conflict. On September 21, 1963, it organized a vigil at the United States Mission to the United Nations. On October 9, it organized a picket at New York's Waldorf-Astoria during an appearance by Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu. In December 1964, the League joined the Committee for Nonviolent Action, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Socialist Party, and Student Peace Union in organizing coordinated antiwar demonstrations across the country. The organization's agenda widened in the 1970s and 1980s. Opposition to nuclear weapons developed into opposition to nuclear power, and the League became active in feminist and antiracist struggles. It also worked with other groups on reducing violence in modern culture and on identifying relationships between militarism and domestic systems of inequality. WRL's publishing program was central to this work. Its periodicals included The Conscientious Objector, WRL News, Liberation, WIN Peace & Freedom Through Nonviolent Action, The Nonviolent Activist, and later WIN through revolutionary nonviolence. The Peace Calendar, published from 1955 to 2012, provided another long-running channel for public education. From the 1950s onward, WRL awarded the War Resisters League Peace Award almost annually to an individual or organization whose work reflected its radical nonviolent program. The award ceremonies were curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In later decades, the League also developed or supported campaigns concerning conscientious objection, resistance to military taxation, and opposition to military recruitment. It participated in coalitions such as the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth and the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, WRL organized against United States military intervention and supported resistance to recruitment and military participation. Its continuing work focuses on opposing militarism, permanent war, and the influence of military corporations. It also publishes an annual visual analysis of federal spending that emphasizes military costs, including current and past military expenses. The League explains that percentages vary depending on whether analysts include trust funds and how they classify military-related expenditures. The centennial in 2023 prompted a major historical-preservation and public-education effort. WRL produced a traveling exhibition of eight freestanding panels and a wide timeline banner, with the exhibition's content also issued as an 84-page illustrated book. The Judd Foundation hosted anniversary events in New York, and a weekly blog began presenting episodes and publications from the League's history. WRL's archival records and publications are held in peace collections, including materials available through Swarthmore College. The organization continues to operate as a secular, radical pacifist voice in United States antiwar and social-justice movements.
- 2023
Centennial exhibition and book
[1]WRL marked its hundredth anniversary with a traveling exhibition, timeline, commemorative book, public events, and historical writing.
- 2012
Peace Calendar publication ends
[1]The Peace Calendar concluded after a publication run of more than five decades.
- 1970
Agenda expands to nuclear power and social justice
[1]The League's opposition to nuclear weapons broadened to include nuclear power, alongside growing work on feminist and antiracist issues.
- 1964
Coordinated nationwide Vietnam War demonstrations
[1]WRL helped organize nationwide antiwar protests with several allied peace and political organizations in December.
- 1963
Early national anti-Vietnam War protests
[1]WRL held a September vigil at the United States Mission to the United Nations and a subsequent New York protest connected with Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu's appearance.
- 1958
Peace Award program established
[1]The League began awarding its Peace Award, generally on an annual basis, to people or organizations representing its radical nonviolent program.
- 1955
Peace Calendar publication begins
[1]WRL began publishing its Peace Calendar, a long-running educational publication that continued through 2012.
- 1941
Public protest suspended during World War II
[1]Although opposed to United States participation in World War II, the League complied with wartime restrictions, stopped public protests, and ceased recruiting members.
- 1939
The Conscientious Objector begins publication
[1]WRL published The Conscientious Objector during the World War II era to address conscientious objection and related issues.
- 1923
War Resisters League founded
[1]Pacifists who had opposed World War I established the League as a secular United States organization committed to resistance to war and military service.
Products and positioning
A radical secular pacifist organization focused on nonviolent resistance, demilitarization, conscientious objection, antiwar organizing, and opposition to the social and economic causes of violence.
Educational publication · 1955
War Resisters League Peace Calendar
A recurring peace and social-justice calendar published by WRL from 1955 through 2012. It served as a public-education and organizing resource, presenting material related to pacifism, nonviolent action, antiwar campaigns, and historical commemorations.
Magazines and newsletters · 1939
WRL periodicals
The League published a sequence of periodicals addressing conscientious objection, nonviolent resistance, peace activism, and political movements. These included The Conscientious Objector, WRL News, Liberation, WIN Peace & Freedom Through Nonviolent Action, The Nonviolent Activist, and WIN through revolutionary nonviolence.
Research and advocacy material
Federal military-spending analysis
WRL's recurring visual analysis of the United States federal budget presents military-related spending as a share of federal funds and explains how the result changes when trust funds and alternative accounting conventions are included. The material is designed for public education and antiwar advocacy.
Historical exhibition · 2023
Centennial traveling exhibition
A 2023 traveling exhibition consisting of eight large freestanding panels and a wide timeline banner. It surveys major themes and episodes in WRL's century of pacifist organizing and was accompanied by a full-color commemorative book.
Marketing campaigns
- 2023Centennial public-history program
United States
WRL created a traveling exhibition, timeline banner, commemorative book, public events, and a continuing blog to document its first century of resistance to war and the causes of war.
Outcome. The program expanded public access to the League's institutional history and archival record.
- 2001Opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
United States
WRL organized against United States military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and supported resistance to military participation and recruitment.
Outcome. The campaigns became part of the League's continuing opposition to permanent war and United States militarism.
- 1970Opposition to nuclear power
United States
WRL extended its anti-nuclear position from weapons to nuclear power and linked the issue to environmental, political, and social concerns.
Outcome. Nuclear power became part of the League's broader critique of militarized technology and centralized state power.
- 1964Nationwide Vietnam War demonstrations
United States
The League worked with the Committee for Nonviolent Action, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Socialist Party, and Student Peace Union to coordinate demonstrations against the Vietnam War across the United States.
Outcome. The effort strengthened coordination among national antiwar and pacifist groups.
- 1963Early Vietnam War opposition
United States
WRL called for an end to the Vietnam War and organized a vigil at the United States Mission to the United Nations, followed by a picket connected with a New York appearance by Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu.
Outcome. The actions helped make the League an early visible pacifist opponent of United States involvement in Vietnam.
- 1950Anti-nuclear-weapons and civil-defense organizing
United States
In the postwar period, WRL organized against nuclear-weapons testing and civil-defense drills and connected nuclear preparedness with broader militarization.
Outcome. The campaign established opposition to nuclear weapons as a continuing part of the League's public program.
- 1941Wartime conscientious-objection and non-protest policy
United States
During World War II, WRL opposed United States participation but stopped public demonstrations and membership solicitation in compliance with the Espionage Act. Members continued to face imprisonment and other consequences as conscientious objectors.
Outcome. The League preserved its pacifist position while suspending public protest activity during the wartime legal restrictions.
- Anti-militarization and war-profiteering campaigns
United States
Current organizing challenges military recruiters, the militarization of youth, corporate profit from war, and the domestic effects of militarism. WRL participates in national peace and justice coalitions addressing these issues.
Outcome. The League remains active in coalition-based antiwar and demilitarization advocacy.
Brand decisions
2023
Launch centennial historical programOtherBackground
The organization reached the hundredth anniversary of its founding and sought to make its long history of pacifist organizing accessible to the public.
Action taken
WRL produced an exhibition, timeline, commemorative book, anniversary events, and a weekly historical blog.
Aftermath
The centennial created a consolidated public account of the League's history and supported preservation and interpretation of its archival materials.
1963
Make Vietnam War opposition a central public priorityStrategyBackground
WRL became an early pacifist critic of United States involvement in Vietnam.
Action taken
It called for an end to the war and organized public demonstrations in New York, including a United Nations vigil and a protest at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Aftermath
The League gained a prominent role in the early national anti-Vietnam War movement and later helped coordinate broader protests.
1941
Suspend public protest during World War IIStrategyBackground
Although WRL opposed United States participation in World War II, the Espionage Act and wartime conditions constrained public dissent.
Action taken
The League complied with the law, stopped public protests, and did not solicit new members during the war.
Aftermath
Many members continued conscientious-objection activity and were imprisoned, while the organization later resumed public antiwar work.
Recent events
- 2023
War Resisters League marks its centennial with a traveling historical exhibition[1]
Other · Campaign
The League commemorated one hundred years of organizing with an exhibition made up of large interpretive panels and a historical timeline, accompanied by a full-color book documenting its history.
- 2023
New York events commemorate the War Resisters League centennial[1]
Other
The Judd Foundation hosted a centennial reception and a panel discussion titled The Art of War Resistance as part of the League's anniversary programming.
War Resisters League continues organizing against United States militarism[2]
Campaign
The organization continues to oppose what it characterizes as endless war, military recruitment, and corporate benefit from military activity, while participating in national peace and justice coalitions.
Sources2 sources
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