Occasionally these groups joined hands on "hot" issues. Generally they
were far apart. Often they were in active opposition.
Dedicated peace advocates were an important factor in this post-war
period. They had been vocal and influential in July, 1914 immediately
before the outbreak of the first general war. They had continued to play
an active role between the first and second general wars. In the autumn
of 1972 the World Peace Council called together a peace assembly in
Moscow representing significant elements from 143 countries. The largest
single element in the World Peace Council was the Socialist bloc, headed
by the Soviet Union.
Peace advocates mobilized wide public support for the "no more war"
movement that developed during the closing months of the 1914-18 war;
for the Briand-Kellogg Treaty of 1928 which renounced war as an
instrument of policy; for the effort to secure general disarmament that
resulted in the General Disarmament Conference of 1933 and for the
United Nations Charter of 1945.
Official declarations in favor of disarmament and peace had been
paralleled by the organization of unofficial peace committees and
societies in western Europe, in the Americas and in the socialist
countries.
Peace efforts had been strengthened by the outbreak of local
wars--between India and Pakistan, between Israel and the Arab League; by
wars of independence and liberation in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, North
Africa.
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