A. J. Muste
Abraham Johannes Muste (
January 8,
1885 â€"
February 11,
1967) was a
socialist active in the
pacifist movement,
labor movement and the
US civil rights movement. He was born in
Zierikzee, the
Netherlands, and became a
naturalized
United States citizen in
1896.
He attended
Hope College, where he was class valedictorian and captain of the basketball team, continuing a tradition of leadership and excellence in his beloved Fraternal Society (OKE). He earned a
Bachelor's degree (A. B.) in 1905 and a
Master's degree (M. A.) in 1909. He earned a
doctorate (B. D.) from
Union Theological Seminary in 1913. He also attended the Theological Seminary of the
Dutch Reformed Church (now the
New Brunswick Theological Seminary),
New York University, and
Columbia University. Muste was the author of
Non-violence in an Aggressive World (1940).
Muste taught
Latin and
Greek at Northwestern Classical Academy (now
Northwestern College) from 1905 to 1906. He was ordained a
minister of the
Dutch Reformed Church in 1909. In 1917, he resigned his ministry when his pacifism led to conflicts with his parishioners.
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..
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. He was a supporter 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 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.
At the end of his life, Muste was active 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.
* "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 â€" peace is the way."
*
Abraham Went Out, by JoAnn Robinson
*
Peace Agitator: The Story of A. J Muste, by
Nat Hentoff*
The Essays of A.J. Muste, (1967), Nat Hentoff ed.
* "Revolutionary Pacifism of A.J. Muste", by
Noam Chomsky, in
American Power and the New Mandarins (1969)
*
Brief biography*
Publications of Abraham John Muste, 1885-1967*
Personalism*
Diane Drufenbrock*
David McReynolds
