Abraham Johannes Muste (January 8, 1885 – February 11, 1967) was a socialist active in the pacifist movement, labor movement and the US civil rights movement. January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes. ... The labor movement (or labour movement) is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and political governments. ... The civil rights movement in the United States has been a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all citizens of United States. ...

Biography

Muste was born in Zierikzee, the Netherlands, and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1896. He attended Hope College, where he was class valedictorian, captain of the basketball team, and a member of the college's Fraternal Society (Omicron Kappa Epsilon). He earned a Bachelor's degree (A. B.) in 1905 and a Master's degree (M. A.) in 1909 from the Theological Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church (now the New Brunswick Theological Seminary). He earned a doctorate (B. D.) from Union Theological Seminary in 1913. He also attended New York University, and Columbia University. Schouwen-Duiveland is a municipality and an island in the southwestern Netherlands. ... Naturalization is the process whereby a person becomes a national of a nation, or a citizen of a country, other than the one of his birth. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... Hope College is a medium-sized (3,200 undergraduates), private, residential liberal arts college located in downtown Holland, Michigan, a few miles from Lake Michigan. ... A bachelors degree (Artium Baccalaureus, A.B. or B.A.) is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three, four, or in some cases and countries, five or six years. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate (or graduate) course of one to three years in duration. ... The Dutch Reformed village church of St. ... New Brunswick Theological Seminary is a professional and graduate school founded in 1784, in New York City, to educate ministers for the congregations of the Reformed Church in America. ... The tower at Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in the citys burrough of Manhattan. ... New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ... Columbia University is a private research university in the United States. ...

Muste taught Latin and Greek at Northwestern Classical Academy (now Northwestern College (of Iowa)) from 1905 to 1906. He was ordained a minister of the Reformed Church in America in 1909. In 1917, he resigned his ministry when his pacifism led to conflicts with his parishioners. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Northwestern College is a private, Christian, liberal arts college located in Orange City, Iowa. ... In most Protestant churches, a minister is a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation or participates in a role in a parachurch ministry; such a person may also be called a Pastor, Preacher, Bishop, Chaplain or Elder. ... The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination that was formerly known as the Dutch Reformed Church. ...

Muste volunteered for the American Civil Liberties Union and was enrolled as a minister of the Religious Society of Friends in 1918. Active in labor affairs from 1919, he was general secretary of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America from 1920 to 1921. He also taught at Brookwood Labor College from 1921 to 1933. From 1940 to 1953, he was the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, during which time he became an advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. He was the author of Non-violence in an Aggressive World (1940). The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major American non-profit organization with headquarters in New York City, whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.[1] It... Pendle Hill, a landmark in the history of the Society of Friends. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... Brookwood Labor College was the first labor college in the United States. ... The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ...

After leaving Brookwood Labor College, he founded a socialist movement which, through a fusion with the Trotskyist organisation, became the Workers' Party of the United States. Later he renounced Marxism and again became a Christian pacifist; throughout his life he remained an active participant in the activities of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He supported the presidential candidacies of Eugene V. Debs and Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and also had close friendships with John Dewey and Norman Thomas. In 1957, Muste headed a delegation of pacifist and democratic observers to the 16th National Convention of the Communist Party. He was also on the national committee of the War Resisters League (WRL) and received their Peace Award in 1958. Always a creative activist, he led public opposition with Dorothy Day to civil defense activities in New York city during the 1950s and 1960s. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... The Workers Party of the United States was was a Marxist party founded in December 1934 by the merger of the American Workers Party, which had been founded as the Conference for Progressive Political Action by A.J. Muste, and the Trotskyist Communist League of America, led by James Cannon... Marxismtakes its name from the praxis — the synthesis of philosophy and political action — of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American labor and political leader, one of the founders of the International Labor Union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five-time Socialist Party of America candidate for President of the United States. ... Robert Marion La Follette, Sr. ... John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. ... Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. ... The War Resisters League (WRL) was formed in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters’ International. ... Dorothy Day was declared Servant of God when a cause for sainthood was opened for her by Pope John Paul II. Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897– November 29, 1980) was an American journalist turned social activist and devout member of the Catholic Church. ...

At the end of his life, Muste took a leadership role in the movement against the Vietnam War. In 1966, he traveled, with members of the Committee for Non-Violent Action, to Saigon and Hanoi. He was arrested and deported from South Vietnam, but received a warm welcome in North Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh. Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... The Committee for Non-Violent Action, formed in 1957 to resist the US Governments program of nuclear weapons testing, was one of the first organisations to employ nonviolent direct action to protest against the nuclear arms race. ... Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: Thành Chí Minh) is the largest city in Vietnam, located near the delta of the Mekong River. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Ná»™i, Hán Tá»±: 河内)  , estimated population 3,145,300(2005), is the capital of Vietnam. ... Official language Vietnamese Capital Saigon Last President Duong Van Minh Last Prime Minister Vu Van Mau Area  - Total  - % water 173,809 km² N/A Population  - Total  - Density 19,370,000 (1973 est. ... The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN), or less commonly, Vietnamese Democratic Republic (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cá»™ng Hòa), also known as North Vietnam, was proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, September 2nd1945 and was recognized by the Peoples Republic of China and the... For the city named after him, see Ho Chi Minh City. ...

Quotes

• "The problem after a war is the victor. He thinks he has just proved that war and violence will pay. Who will now teach him a lesson?" (1941)
• "There is no way to peace — peace is the way."

For the movie, see 1941 (film). ...

Further reading

• Chernus, Ira. American Nonviolence: The History of an Idea. Danvers, Mass.: Orbis Books, 2004. ISBN 1570755477
• Chomsky, Noam. "The Revolutionary Pacifism of A.J. Muste." In American Power and the New Mandarins. Rev. paperback ed. New York: The New Press, 2002. ISBN 156584775X (Originally published in 1969.)
• Hentoff, Nat. Peace Agitator: The Story of A.J. Muste. Paperback rev. ed. New York: A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, 1982. ISBN 0960809600
• Muste, A.J. The Essays of A.J. Muste. Paperback ed. Nat Hentoff, ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970. ISBN 0671205293
• Robinson, JoAnn. Abraham Went Out: A Biography of A.J. Muste. Philadeophia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 1982. ISBN 0877222312

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

A. J. Muste

• Personalism
• Diane Drufenbrock
• David McReynolds
• War Resisters League

Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... Personalism is the school of thought that consists of three main principles: Only persons are real (in the ontological sense), Only persons have value, and Only persons have free will. ... Sister Diane Drufenbrock is a Franciscan nun and Christian socialist. ... David McReynolds David McReynolds (born October 25, 1929) is an American socialist politician. ... The War Resisters League (WRL) was formed in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters’ International. ...

External links

• Biography at Muste Foundation
• Brief biography
• Publications of Abraham John Muste, 1885-1967
• Noam Chomsky, "On the backgrounds of the Pacific War", Liberation, September-October 1967. Chomsky wrote this article "for a memorial number of Liberation which, as the editor expressed it, 'gathered together a series of articles that deal with some of the problems with which A. J. struggled.'"