The article considers the gradual transformation of certain aspects of the pacifist doctrine of the Mennonites under the influence of new farming conditions in the sparsely populated and inaccessible ...regions of the Russian Empire. Understanding of our duties to the state, which sheltered the persecuted community at the end of the 18th century, guaranteed freedom of conscience (including the preservation of pacifism, among other things), this gave rise to a new attitude towards the Russian army, a desire to contribute to protecting the interests of the Fatherland in an acceptable form. The influence of Orthodox views on just wars, on the essence of serving the Fatherland on the patriotic views of the Mennonites of the Black Sea region seems probable. Remaining lawabiding citizens, during all wars the Mennonites found opportunities to provide comprehensive support to the Russian army without violating their religious beliefs – money donations, maintaining field hospitals, caring for wounded soldiers, providing transportation, food, and fodder. Reluctance to leave Russia in the 1870s after the introduction of universal military service, it stimulated the Mennonites to seek a compromise with the Russian state, and led to the emergence of an alternative service for them in the forest teams. The widespread possession of cold steel and firearms, which was seized from them in 1914–1915, speaks about the transformation of certain aspects of the pacifist beliefs of the Mennonites living in Novorossia. The extreme conditions of the First World War and the Civil War gave an impetus to a more active revision of the pacifist beliefs by the Mennonites, to an individual decision on the form of service in the army or abandonment of it. The possession of weapons, the presence of significant arsenals in the communities will lead to the creation of self-defense units during the Сivil war in Ukraine and the Crimea, to the combat participation of individual Mennonites on the side of the White and Red Armies. The majority of Mennonites will use the right not to serve in the army for religious reasons, enshrined in a decree of the SNK of the RSFSR in 1919.
Shakespeare’s Problem Wars Valentini, Maria
Journal of the Wooden O Symposium,
01/2017, Volume:
16
Journal Article
Shakespeare’s representations of war and peace have been the object of much critical debate, but it was difficult, until recently, to find a study that tackled the problem as a whole. There seemed to ...be two trends that have tried for an overall analysis: one, expressed by Paul Jorgensen, which claims that “it is war rather than peace that is the clear dominant force” and that "the philosophy of war and peace that we now refer to as pacifism is espoused by not a single admirable character in Shakespeare”;2 the other, represented above all by Theodor Meron and Steven Marx, finds in Shakespeare’s works a development leading essentially to pacifist positions.3 Meron identifies a trend towards “the pacifist scepticism about war and its motivations” as early as Henry V,4 while Marx sees a change in Shakespeare’s positions, particularly in the years between 1599 and 1603, reflecting a change in English foreign policy culminating in James I’s accession to the throne, which brought with it a “pacifist” culture. In this view, it was partly the close relation Shakespeare’s company enjoyed with the new king that dictated the choice of a work like Troilus and Cressida—significantly, from 1603—which questions the lofty justifications for war, bringing out all its futility and corruption.
By scrutinising the philosophical and theoretical assumptions of proponents of nonviolent political action, for example the role of the state, the rule of law and the nature of social and political ...power, Ian Atack establishes nonviolence as a credible theme within Western political thought.
Apocalypse and millennium are often discussed in relation to Percy Bysshe Shelley's works, but there remains little sustained, in-depth analysis that singularises and magnifies their significance for ...his thought. This thesis offers a substantial reassessment of Shelley's thought by correlating the understanding of apocalypse and millennium to the study of the poet's apocalypticism, the symbolic universe through which to understand and discuss one's existence and ideas of futurity. This thesis demonstrates the importance of understanding Shelley's apocalyptic-eschatological perspective for a comprehensive, nuanced study of his conceptions of morality, violence, history, and religion. Chapter one analyses the expression of Shelley's apocalyptic-eschatological perspective in 'The Mask of Anarchy' (composed 1819), reconsidering the controversy that underlies the (perceived) dichotomy between the poem's violent tones and its pacifist message, to emphasise that Shelley's vision, rather than being ambiguous, understands pacifism as different from passivity. Chapter two reads 'Ode to the West Wind' (1820) and fragments often neglected in criticism - 'Orpheus' (composed 1821), 'The Coliseum' (composed 1818), and 'Fragments of an Unfinished Drama' (composed 1822) - to focus on Shelley's Temples of Nature, spaces whose millennial promise is problematised by his inexorable, yet optimistic, scepticism. Chapter three studies 'Adonais''s (1821) subversion of the traditional association of death and darkness, considering death as the millennial state of the human soul, and proposing, in this context, the kaleidoscope as a framework, hitherto unconsidered, through which to understand Shelley's famous image of life as 'a dome of many-coloured glass'. Chapter four explores 'Prometheus Unbound' (1820) to appreciate Shelley's questioning and rejection of institutionalised forms of authority that subjugate the human intellect and will, and illustrate his composite vision of apocalypse and millennium. The coda examines 'Hellas' (1822) for the ways in which it extends discussions raised in previous chapters, especially Shelley's understanding of pacifism and violence, and his considerations on the cycles of history.
Tom Phuong Le offers a novel explanation of Japan's reluctance to remilitarize that foregrounds the relationship between demographics and security. Japan's Aging Peace demonstrates how changing ...perceptions of security across generations has culminated in a culture of antimilitarism that constrains efforts to pursue a more martial foreign policy.
In 1923 a few leading Dutch writers took the initiative of founding a dining club, a private society of kindred spirits and their guests who regularly dine together and discuss their shared ...interests. The model for this Letterkundige Kring (Literary Circle) was the PEN Club in London, established two years previously, which was an association of Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Editors and Novelists that endeavoured to set up a branch in every country in the world. To this end, the leaders of the London establishment – the chairman John Galsworthy and the founder Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, helped by her daughter Marjorie Watts – had approached several well-known literary figures in the Netherlands. Anyone who became a member of one PEN centre was automatically welcome in all the others. As one of the national PEN centres – by 1930 there were already 46, with a total of about 3000 members – this new Literary Circle endorsed the internationalist and pacifist thinking of the international PEN club: by offering hospitality to writers from all countries and actively bringing them together, the peoples they represented would by degrees be reconciled and even ultimately bring world peace within reach. This signified that the PEN club had an idealistic and, involuntarily, also a political agenda, even though it considered itself to be emphatically a-political. This article describes how The Literary Circle fared in its early years as the PEN Centre and analyses the role it played in the literary and cultural life of the Netherlands in the 1920s. The archives covering the early years of this Dutch section have largely been lost, but it has turned out to be possible to get a picture of that period on the basis of scattered archive items and reports in the press of the time. Like its mother organisation, the Dutch PEN centre was a fairly informal enterprise that was able to steer an independent course. It was from the very beginning headed by the poet P.C. Boutens. He was also the chairman of the Vereeniging van Letterkundigen (Literary Association) (1905), which concentrated mainly on protecting the material interests of writers. There was nonetheless never any cooperation between the two organisations. They were also very different in nature. Whereas the Vereeniging van Letterkundigen relied on the largest possible membership, De Letterkundige Kring deliberately limited the number of members. All that can be established is that 94 authors, many of them living in Amsterdam or The Hague, were members for varying periods in the early years. It was quite a select company, usually of older male literary figures, which one could only join by invitation. It was however possible for outsiders to more or less follow the comings and goings of both the Dutch section and those abroad in the national daily and weekly
press, with which several members of the Kring were associated. One of the most important activities of the Dutch centre was the members’ dinners, to which they invited guests, the most famous of whom were Thomas Mann (in 1924) and Georges Duhamel (in 1926), both of whom were touring several PEN centres. By the same token, three prominent and active PEN members from the Netherlands – P.C. Boutens, Herman Robbers and Jo van Ammers-Küller – were received as guests of honour at distinguished PEN gatherings abroad. From 1925, Dutch writers were also able to extend their international network at the annual PEN congress, even though at that time they were still not playing any conspicuous part, either in numbers or contributions. A large part of these congresses was in fact devoted to entertainment, though serious issues were also dealt with. A lot of attention was naturally paid to the writer’s pacifist and internationalist task, but also to the intellectual and material circumstances under which he was best able to fulfil this task, such as copyright, freedom of expression and the interests of the translator. In the first few years social intercourse was the main business of the Dutch branch too. Its exclusiveness made it a somewhat inward-looking company, where young talent remained in the minority. Partly as a result of this, the dynamism of the club could have been greater, and this was not good for its reputation. But paradoxically enough, its internationalism meant that it did at the same time look outwards, which is one of the major reasons why it must have been attractive to many Dutch writers. In this way De Letterkundige Kring made an essential contribution to the internationalisation of literary life in the Netherlands.
El artículo aborda el surgimiento del movimiento husita y la aparición de comunidades de tipología igualitaria donde abordaron formas de vida sin impuestos ni propiedad privada. La preocupación de ...las autoridades y la generación de conflictos internos evidenció importantes cambios y conflictos internos. Líderes como Jan Zizka adoptaron posturas más agresivas y violentas, considerando a Praga y otras ciudades como enemigos. En este contexto, Petr Chelcicky, influido por los taboritas, emerge como una figura destacada. Sus escritos críticos hacia el clero y la Iglesia defienden el pacifismo, igualitarismo y comunismo, abogando por la autonomía de la iglesia checa y oponiéndose a la dominación alemana. Chelcicky se distancia de los husitas por su rechazo a la violencia y en su ciudad natal desarrolla una amplia obra que propone una vida alejada del materialismo y los conflictos de poder. Su influencia local es significativa, dejando un legado en las reformas religiosas y sociales de la época y posteriores.
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