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ABSOLUTIST
CONSCIENTIOUS
OBJECTOR WRITINGS W. J. Sidis [Various mimeographed handouts, total 20p, presumedly unpublished, some archived in Eichel Papers, Swathmore College Peace Collection, most found in Helena Sidis's files, 1977.] |
CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN WAR OBJECTORS LEAGUE
ARTICLE I. Name and Purpose
1. This association shall be entitled the American War Objectors League, organizing conscientious objection to the performance of all work specifically intended in aid of any war or war preparations; for the protection of civil rights of individuals against governmental or other enroachment; for the promotion of peace; and for maintaining opposition and resistance to all forms of forced labor, whether for public or private purposes.
ARTICLE II. Membership
1. The American War Objectors League shall have two classes of membership, namely, group membership and membership at large; besides which, it shall maintain a list of pledges who have bound themselves by the League's pledge but do not otherwise rate as members.
2. All members of the League must be conscientious objectors to any form of war work, and can only retain membership as long as they retain their conscientious objection to war work in general.
3. There shall be no discrimination against admitting anyone to membership on account of nationality, race, sex or other accident of birth; nor on account of religious convictions not inconsistent with the stand of the League for individual rights and against war activity.
ARTICLE III. The Pledge
1. All persons seeking membership in the American War Objectors League shall take a pledge, which is to be as follows:
"I will never engage in any military or auxiliary service in any war or hostilities under, or on behalf of, any established government, or in any preparation for any such war or hostilities, nor in any hostilities conducted by any military bodies whatever, and will not aid or encourage anyone in engaging in any such service.
"I will never encourage, aid, or support any form of censorship, forced labor, or any other form of suppression of individual civil rights; and I will never support any government that attempts to defend itself by any such infringement of individual rights.
"I will resist all attempts at persuasion or coercion directed at forcing my violation of this pledge."
2. If a member or pledgee has conscientious objections to acts or services not specifically covered by the membership pledge, the American War Objectors League shall treat such objection as part of the pledge, as to that individual.
3. Any member of the American War Objectors League is authorized to administer the membership pledge to a pledgee or to a candidate for membership.
4. The pledge may be taken either by delivering a signed copy to a member or by oral assent when the pledge is read by a member to a pledgee or candidate for membership.
ARTICLE IV. Units
1. Group member shall be organized, and meet, in groups of not over twenty (20) member each.
2. Each group shall have control of the admission of new members to the group.
3. The groups shall be organized in higher units, each unit to have an executive committee consisting of one delegate from each of the units immediately below it; the said units, above groups, being in the following order: Branches, Locals, Regions, Districts, and the National organization. Where any unit contains only one of the units immediately below it, their executive committees shall be identical, except as otherwise herein provided.
4. Group delegates to the next higher executive committee shall be chose by the group meeting, and shall hold such office till another delegate is chosen by a subsequent meeting of the group; the delegate being the group secretary, unless another delegate is chosen.
5. Higher units shall send to the next higher unit a delegate chosen by their executive committee for a similar term and under similar conditions to that specified for group delegates.
6. Each unit above the groups shall consist of not over fifteen (15) of the next
lower units. For this purpose, and for the purpose of Provision 1 of this Article, each unit may transfer members from group to group, split, merge, or rearrange any subordinate units as may be required.
7. The National Executive Committee shall choose the national officers, who shall become members of the National Executive Committee.
8. Regions and Districts shall be arranged geographically, and District Executive Committees shall pass on the admission of members at large, assigning each to an appropriate Region. The members at large in a Region shall be entitled to elect, and to recall, one delegate to the Region Executive Committee.
ARTICLE V. Membership at Large
1. Members at large shall only be admitted in areas where no group is available where the member can conveniently attend meetings.
2. It shall be the duty of members at large to join or to form a group as soon as reasonably possible.
3. A group member moving to a place out of convenient proximity to any group shall have the option of retaining affiliation with his or her former group, or of becoming a member at large. Any member moving to a place where a group is organized, shall be transferred to that group by the lowest unit leaving jurisdiction over both places.
4. In a District where there are only members at large, those members at large shall elect, with power of recall, a District Secretary, who shall be that District's delegate to the National Executive Committee.
ARTICLE VI. Dues
1. Membership dues shall be thirty cents (30¢) per month. The National Executive Committee may provide for allotment of this amount between the various units.
2. Unemployment, or other causes producing financial inability to pay dues, shall be cause for exemption of members from paying dues. This exemption shall be granted by the group, or, in the case of members at large, the Region Executive Committee, upon application by the member. Where there are no groups in the District, the District Secretary shall have the power of granting exemption from dues.
3. Where a member is under duress, the requirement of dues, and of any other required membership activity, shall be suspended till the duress is over. Imprisonment, or confinement in any institution or camp, shall be considered duress for the purpose of this Provision. However, the obligation of the membership pledge is not suspended by duress.
4. Six months' arrearage of dues without proper exemption shall result in dropping the member from the League, and in reducing him or her to the rank of pledge; but this shall not prevent reinstatement upon proof of conditions amounting to duress, or upon the payment of arrearages.
ARTICLE VII. Grievances
1. No member shall be suspended or expelled except after fair trial before his or her group, or (in the case of members at large) before the Region District, or National Executive Committee. Such trial shall only take place upon written complaint by another member of the League.
2. An expulsion shall require a two-thirds vote of the body before which the trial is held.
3. Appeals of the decision for or against any complaint above provided for may be had to the Executive Committee of the next higher unit, and so on till the National Executive Committee is reached.
4. The following shall be considered cause for suspension or expulsion of a member: (a) Deliberate interference with the work of the League; (b) Violation of the membership pledge.
5. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to action taken under Provision 4 of the preceding article.
ARTICLE VIII. Amendments
1. Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed by any group or by the Executive Committee of any higher unit, or by a member at large with the endorsement of two other members of the League.
2. A proposed amendment shall immediately be put to a vote of the entire membership by the National Executive Committee. A two-thirds vote shall be required to carry an amendment.
3. The membership pledge being incorporated into this Constitution, any alteration in its text can only be made by a constitutional amendment.
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