The organization's dissident views made it a target of federal, state, and local authorities, who disrupted its meetings and arrested a number of its leading participants under provisions of the Espionage Act.
In October 1914, the Minneapolis chapter of this organization passed a "Tentative Program for a Constructive Peace," which called for the convocation of an international conference of Neutral countries to bring an end to the European conflict.
[2] The Emergency Peace Federation elected socialist Louis P. Lochner its executive secretary, with Jane Addams continuing to play a leading role in the organization as well.
One of the groups organized in an effort to staunch America's slide to war was the American Union Against Militarism, founded in January 1916 from an "Anti-Preparedness Committee" established the previous year.
This New York group, originally called the Emergency Peace Committee, dedicated itself to agitating for a continuation of the policy of American neutrality towards the World War combatants.
As pro-war fervor swept the country, a new phase was entered by activists in the American peace movement — attempting to terminate Wilson's so-called "War to Make the World Safe for Democracy."
[6] When this latter group, headed by Lillian Wald of the American Union Against Militarism, realized that it was in the minority, it walked out of the meeting in order to retain its independence from the forthcoming organization.
[7] Socialist leader Morris Hillqut was named the ceremonial Chairman of the organizing committee of the new group and Louis P. Lochner was tapped as Secretary, in charge of day-to-day activities.
[11] AFL President Samuel Gompers replied angrily in the negative, answering Lochner's cable with a terse declaration that "I prefer not to ally myself with the conscious or unconscious agents of the Kaiser in America.
"[12] Despite Gompers' refusal, work on the new organization proceeded apace, with a program committee consisting of Hillquit, Lochner, Norman Thomas, Henry W. L. Dana of Columbia University, and peace activists Rebecca Shelly and Elisabeth Freeman named.
[13] Leading academics were targeted by Lochner and brought into the new organization's fold during the initial preparatory period, including such worthies as economists Emily Green Balch and Scott Nearing.
[16] The meeting was held amidst a strong presence by New York City police, who feared violence either by revolutionary participants or nationalist mobs intent on dispersing attendees.
[16] Also addressing the gathering was Algernon Lee of the Socialist Party-affiliated Rand School of Social Science, who detailed ongoing efforts of the Zimmerwald movement to hold an international peace conference at Stockholm.
[18] Lee read a statement written by Morris Hillquit detailing a concrete plan for the participation of the leading belligerents in such a gathering and the establishment of an international body to resolve future economic disagreements amongst the warring parties — proposals which met with strong approval from the assembled delegates.
"[23] On August 30, 1917, a mob of 1,000 gathered in Hudson, WI and held a night rally in front of the armory protesting the attempt by the People's Council to hold a conference in the city's prizefighting arena.
This new incarnation of the People's Council dedicated itself to the fight to free political prisoners, to stop the spread of militarism, and to halt military intervention in Mexico and Soviet Russia.
[28] Papers related to the People's Council of America as well as the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy may be found in the Frank Leslie Grubbs collection, housed at the Hoover Institution archives at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.