This desire to bear witness vindicates Donald Pleasence’s view. Having registered as a conscientious objector, he joined the RAF when he saw how fellow-pacifists regarded without apparent emotion or guilt the Nazi bombing of London; and as a member of a bomber’s crew he flew 60 missions over Germany before being shotdown and imprisoned.
Originally Published in International Encyclopedia of Peace xxx
Having been broken by the outbreak of war in 1914 (and 1917 in the USA), peace movements in Europe and North America had grown in strength after 1918 The established peace organizations faced equally serious challenges when World War II threatened both in the countries prosecuting the war and then militarily-occupied territories.
Near Collapse of Peace Activism
By 1940, the peace movement in Europe had almost collapsed. The same happened in the USA after the attack upon Pearl Harbor in December 1941. To oppose the use of excessive military means against the Nazi regime, Japanese forces, and even by the Red Army on the Eastern Front was very unpopular. The peace movements like Fascism had emerged as a reaction to the catastrophic consequences of World War One, but (like many parts of civil society) peace activists needed time to reflect on events, reorganize…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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