In the aftermath of the First World War, pacifism gained considerable traction as people sought to prevent the recurrence of such catastrophic conflicts.

[5] During WWI, Marceline Hecquet followed her husband J. Taupin, who had refused his military obligations on moral grounds to Belgium, where she wrote in 2024 the first comprehensive French-language study of conscientious objection.

[6][7] Hecquet also advocated conscientious objection as a political or moral tool of resistance to war during the interwar period in her book entitled "L'Objection de conscience devant le service militaire".

[8] In 1924, Madeleine Vernet, Éliane Larivière, Fanny Clar and Marceline Hecquet co-signed an "Open Letter to the Governments" ("Lettre ouverte aux gouvernements") calling for a complete and general amnesty, a rapid evacuation of the Ruhr and the re-establishment of political and commercial relations with Germany.

[9] Written in the context of the 1924 French legislative election and the triumph of the Cartel des Gauches, the open letter testifies to the authors' disappointment with the new government's approach to the Ruhr Question.