Muste, the group marked the beginning of “an International community of Non-Violence and Good-Will.”[5] The organization believed in resource sharing and cooperation to displace a capitalistic lifestyle.
[8] Peacemakers were dedicated to “engaging in holy disobedience against the war-making and conscripting state.”[4] Their primary beliefs were founded upon a modern understanding of enlightenment realism.
[1] According to scholar Leilah Danielson, the organization acted on the notion that “by taking suffering upon themselves in individual and collective active disobedience, they would cut through the conformist culture of the 1950s and awaken their fellow Americans to their responsibility for the atomic and international crisis”.
[5] Community Mutual Aid In June 1949, Wally Nelson and Carson Foltz held a meeting to discuss “how may a Peacemaker earn his living, spend his money, and provide economic security for his family in a profit-centered society.”[5] Starting with the Cincinnati, Ohio metro area, the forum focused on providing local communities with shared resources to avoid “predatory enterprises” (banks, insurance, investments, etc.).
[5] A consensus was met to create a voluntary mutual aid funding pool to which Peacemakers and participating individuals could contribute and benefit from simultaneously.
[5] The local branch alongside the Bromleys purchased a group farmhouse north of Cincinnati to share the responsibility of food, finances, childcare, and maintaining communal belongings.
[5] At the farmhouse, the Bromleys established Gano Peacemakers, Inc., a non-profit organization that was later seized by the IRS for their refusal to pay taxes, a method used to protest against military and war activities.