An Open Letter to Russian War Resisters from an American War Resister

 By John Bach

As a formerly imprisoned war resister in the United States, I write with profound respect for the acts of resistance and non-cooperation by Russian citizens over the war in Ukraine. Never have expressions of international solidarity been more urgent, as the war grinds on and domestic oppression intensifies.

All movements for social justice and enduring peace begin with the sharing of stories and lives and the nourishment of concerns. And so I include in this letter to those on the front lines of this resistance, fragments of my own story, to honor your sacrifices.

As a young man growing up during the escalating American war in Vietnam, I dropped out of college to renounce my student deferment as racist and elitist. It was impossible for me to study the humanities and stay detached amid such a dirty little war. That began the process which eventually led to a conviction for “refusing to submit to induction” and three years in the federal prison system from 1969 to 1972. I was incarcerated in prison camps and maximum security penitentiaries, including stints in solitary confinement and multiple cross-country transfers.

I was bolstered by messages of support and solidarity, especially from those who faced legal punishment for conscientious action. I fear the consequences you face will be much more brutal than what I experienced. In spite of governmental attempts to cover up your anti-war movement, we have seen footage of demonstrations and statements of draft resisters. I have been moved by the courage you exhibit in spite of the corruption of truth and language, police brutality, violent suppression, prosecution, and persecution.

We live in turbulent times, facing the existential threats of nuclear weapons and climate destruction, and here I confess my country’s role in both. The U.S. has led the nuclear arms race, and our Pentagon is the largest user of fossil fuels and the greatest despoiler of the environment. We remain an empire and a great source of violence. Never has resistance been so necessary, both here and in your country.

There is a rich tradition of resistance in both our countries, and the people whom we most respect historically have all faced severe consequences for conscientious action. We add to that tradition and will inspire future generations of true patriots, preferably with community oriented, militant non-violence.

Being imprisoned will give you a ringside seat to observe the dissolution of society and the victimization of the most vulnerable. Dostoevsky wrote that “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” Continuing your witness, standing with those victims, will open doors to true freedom, a sense of liberation in captivity. Even of joy. Everything you need not only to survive but flourish you already have inside of you.

Ironically, we choose to live as free people by going to prison. Whatever the war- makers do to you is nothing compared to what you do to yourself by not following your convictions. And more: taking a principled stand and remaining unbroken enables you to accept and handle gracefully, even heroically, future consequences.

We are called to be faithful to our sources of motivation whether they be sacred texts, or secular humanism, or in my case, the looks of horror and incomprehension on the faces of Vietnamese children under bombardment — the same looks we now see on the faces of Ukrainian kids.

The images break my heart. Huge sacrifices will be demanded of you for simply stating the obvious, that in today’s world more war will not produce less war, or that human flesh is not to be incinerated. Ultimately there is no victory for the death merchants as long as the voice of conscience is not silenced. The spirit of freedom will not be imprisoned when we speak and act as free men and women.

A former U.S. military general and president, Dwight Eisenhower, said: “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it.” We trust that the struggle for a better world will never cease, and we’ll continue to protest in the kinship of solidarity and love.

John Bach is a longtime peace activist and engaged Quaker (Friends Meeting at Cambridge).  He spent three years in federal prison during the American War in Vietnam.  He lives in Arlington, Ma. with his wife, makes his living as a house painter, and is the Quaker chaplain at Harvard.