From the Russian Revolution of 1917 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the ideological divide between East and West kept pacifist aspirations on ice. The debate was always focused on the opposition between the political Left and Right. Therefore it was not easy to fight for peace. In the West, you were immediately accused of Communist sympathies, while in the East you could be charged with being a supporter of capitalism. |
There are still some significant differences of opinion. But a century ago, pacifists were guilty of a great deal of naivety. |