"Dilemma of a Pacifist"(1937)
Context: I know now that there are things for which I am prepared to die. I am willing to die for political freedom; for the right to give my loyalty to ideals above a nation and above a class; for the right to teach my child what I think to be the truth; for the right to explore such knowledge as my brains can penetrate; for the right to love where my mind and heart admire, without reference to some dictator’s code to tell me what the national canons on the matter are; for the right to work with others of like mind; for a society that seems to me becoming to the dignity of the human race.
I shall pick no fight, nor seek to impose by force these standards on others. But let it be clear. If the fight comes unsolicited, I am not willing to die meekly, to surrender without effort. And that being so, am I still a pacifist?
“I die with a clear conscience, I die fighting, not like a coward.”
Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World
Said while being taken to his execution, as quoted in Philip Foner, The Case of Joe Hill (International Publishers Co., 1966), p. 108
“If I am to die, I would rather die fighting on the left.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Remark to Herbert Samuel, explaining his opposition to Liberal politicians joining the National Government (5 October 1931), quoted in John Campbell, Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness, 1922–1931 (1977), p. 301
Leader of the Independent Liberals
George W. Joseph (1872–1930) American politician (1872-1930)
[George W. Joseph: His Life, Lester, Adams, Lois P. Myers, 1931, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 92 pages, 1-4325-9812-0] Page 47 (lists 10/7/03.)
Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58238497
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
1860s, Letter to James C. Conkling (1863)
“I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand.”
William Blake (1757–1827) English Romantic poet and artist
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey
Orders to the 57th Infantry Regiment, at the Battle of Gallipoli (25 April 1915); as quoted in Studies in Battle Command https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/battles.pdf by Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College, p. 89; also quoted in Turkey (2007) by Verity Campbell, p. 188 <br class="br">Variant translation: I am not ordering you to fight, I am ordering you to die.
