1 March 2016
3 hours

Devi Prasad Papers
Continuation Archive Box 64. 
Folder III. The cover states: WRI book / documentation / III / copies of documents / 1980-1983.

Devi Prasad Archive Box 46.
Folder I. The cover states: General papers 1960-1961.
A collection of papers regarding the foundation of the World Peace Brigade. The articles and proposals below were written specifically for the founding Conference in Beirut, which took place from 28 December, 1961 to 1 January 1962.
- “The Meaning of Non-Violence: Excerpts from a Preliminary Study on Non-Violence and the Establishment of a Peace Brigade”
Typescript, copy. Author: Fred Blum. Date: 1961. Format: B4. 4 pages.
Blum’s article is a four page long attack on the instrumental approach to nonviolence, in particular Johan Galtung’s concept for a peace corps (see next article). His basic premise is that nonviolence is not a means or technique but a way of life, an existential way of being, and as such includes a synthesis of ends and means. In short, nonviolence is, as he points out right in the beginning, not something you ‘use’, it is something you ‘are’.
“What Gandhi has done is to bring us non-violence, not as an idea, not as a philosophy, but as an existential reality, as a way of life and as a way of dealing with social problems. In this lies the essential meaning of non-violence. In order not to be misunderstood, let me explain that Gandhiji had, of course, an idea, a philosophy of non-violence. But this in itself was not new to the West. What was new to the West was Gandhiji’s realization of non-violence as a force to transform man and society. Gandhi has shown that non-violence can be a real way of life now and not a remote ideal which could possibly be practiced by a few saintly people but is not ‘practical’ (as we would say in an instrumental Western culture) as an important force in the human community. The meaning of non-violence lies, therefore, in the actual realization of a new way of life and a new way of organizing the human community – here and now.”
He specifically takes issue with Galtung’s concept of a peace brigade that ‘fights’ conflict by participating as a second or third party, because he is strongly convinced that a nonviolent intervention can never be neutral.  

- “Analysis of the Peace Corps Concept”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Johan Galtung. Date: 1961. Format: B4. 6 pages.
In Galtung’s plea for a peace corps he distinguishes between technical assistance and the peace corps as a second or third party intervention power. He departs from the three phases of conflict – genesis, dynamics and resolution – and on the basis of that he concludes that a peace corps should try to put in an “effort to prevent an incipient conflict by participating non-violently by attacking its causes [i.e. technical assistance], end an effort to end conflicts by participating non-violently as a second party [i.e. to participate in one side of a conflict], and an effort to end conflicts by acting as a third party [i.e. to participate as a neutral party].”

- “Proposal for an International Non-Violent Force”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Robert Swann. Date: 1961. Format: A4. 3 pages.
Swann takes the idea for a “nonviolent army” to the next level by proposing a nonviolent air force, which, as an added bonus, will give “non-violence a distinctly modern image”.
This nonviolent air force is to be staffed, trained and maintained by a new international body, the International Center for Peace and Non-Violence, which is to include a corps of nonviolent paratroopers. “A non-violent air force would be prepared to leave at a moment’s alert at any time it is known or expected that any country is beginning atmospheric testing, preparing invasion etc. At such time planes with non-violent paratroopers on board would leave the Center [Thunderbirds are go!] intending to drop paratroopers at any point on the globe and set up a non-violent vigil, or take other appropriate non-violent action at danger points.” Other useful benefits from a nonviolent air force would be “dropping leaflets about non-violence in the Congo or other parts of Africa”, to drop grain where people are starving and to use the parachutists to fight forest fires.
A note scribbled on the side of the opening page indicates that many on the WPB Preparatory Committee were much taken by Swann’s the sky is the limit approach. 

- “Notes on Talks with Vinoba on World Peace and World Peace Brigade”
Typescript, carbon copy. Author: Devi Aryanaykam. Date: 1961. Format: A4. 9 pages.
Vinoba Bhave speaks out on the prospects of world peace, the WRI conference in Gandhigram and the plans for the formation of the World Peace Brigade. 
Regarding the topic of world peace Bhave states that India is an exception in the world as “most Indians are willing to listen to talk on world peace and disarmament”. On the whole “most people in the villages will listen with pleasure to talks on the ‘oneness of the world’ or the ‘brotherhood of man’. It is the peculiarity of India that it is difficult to teach nationalism to our masses but not the concept of world peace. 
Regarding the foundation of World Peace Brigade, his ambitions offer a stark contrast from Swann’s Thunderbirds-like aspirations. “The main function in my mind of the World Peace Brigade should be the establishment of a spiritual relationship among the different peace groups and their work.” Other aims of the WPB include that “this body expresses its opinion, whenever and wherever particular problems threatening world peace may arise; “the World Peace Brigade may select a particular area and endeavor to buildup a society free from state control”; “the peace movements in other countries should try to buildup a constructive program, as was done in India under Gandhi’s guidance”; this program should play an “essential role in the social economy of the country”; and the peace workers should be scientifically trained experts in this program and first gain experience through small-scale actions.

Devi Prasad Archive Box 47.
Folder I. The cover states: General documents / 1962.
This folder contains several original signed letters and memo’s by Bayard Rustin (a six page signed memo from March 1962, where he complains that he and Bill Sutherland are stuck in Zaire, waiting for Kenneth Kaunda and Julius Nyerere, trying to gain support for the World Peace Brigade), Martin Luther King (a one page signed letter dating from February 7^th, 1962, in which he accepts the position offered to him as advisor to the World Peace Brigade) and Kenneth Kaunda (a one page signed letter, no date, sent from Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia, in which he thanks the WPB for their cooperation).

Devi Prasad Archive Box 48.
The cover states: General documents / 1962-1963, 1965.
This box contains mostly minutes and correspondence. The only surprising find is a reprint of the famous Milgram study from The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, ‘Behavioral Study of Obedience’ (1963, Vol. 67, No.4, p. 371-378).

Devi Prasad Archive Box 49.
The cover states: Asian section / 1961-1962.
Mostly minutes and correspondence.

Devi Prasad Archive Box 50.
The cover states: Everyman III project / 1962.
One of the first projects of the WPB was the Everyman III or Leningrad Project. The idea was to fit out a boat to be called Everyman III to sail to Leningrad and protest against the resumption of Soviet nuclear tests. Everyman III was to sail from London to Leningrad by way of Ostend, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Stockholm in protest against Russian tests and preparation for war by East and West. The ship was never to arrive in Leningrad as it was not allowed to reach the Russian coast. 
Among other material the box contains the complete logbooks of the trip.