Around the world the message send - ‘World justice means world peace’

Around the world the message send - ‘World justice means world peace’

The Society of Friends attempted to remain neutral during the Spanish Civil War, and conducted relief work for both the Republicans and the Nationalists. In Quaker Service in Modern War, Howard Kershner writes, “I maintain that when one undertakes to do relief work on both sides of a civil war he must be prepared to be impartial to his attitude, and even in his thinking, where need is concerned.” This poster created by the Northern Friends Peace Boardembraces the idea of neutrality, and emphasizes the importance of global peace. The words “justice” and “peace” are connected without the promise or even the notion of winning the war in Spain (or any future war) —which is the goal that people on either side of the argument may associate with the word “justice.” In Quaker Relief Work in the Spanish Civil War, Farah Mendlesohn quotes Alfred Jacob as he states, “Our effort is simply to do the works of peace in the midst of war, affirming the right of the human personality which war denies”. By recognizing the “human personality” of either side, one is embracing neutrality and recognizing the similarities of either side. By showing that justice and peace are in fact the same thing, as well as using the image of the entire world, the poster helps depict humankind as a single, unified force. The Quakers recognize human togetherness by not dividing the poster into states or political parties, and depicting instead a unified world, and one common humanity.

GEORGIA MEYER

Northern Friends Peace Board and the Friends Peace Committee

1938