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Our Debts To Ruth Pacifist organizations have a secret life and a secret history. When socialists have fights, there are internal bulletins, organized debates and public factions, and everyone rushes to tell everyone all about whatever problems exist and many that no one knew existed and many that, in fact, never existed at all. Perhaps it is a strength of pacifism that our conflicts are settled without public discussion. In any case, that is our style.
This has no bearing (that I know of) on Ruth Benn’s decision to leave the staff. It does, however, have a bearing on her decision to rejoin the staff in 1994. That year, the League had one of those painful moments of internal crisis. Four members of staff resigned at the same time. The organization was in panic, the outlook gloomy. (These problems come because a living organization confronts new situations, conflicts are normal, and in human life crisis is a condition of life itself.) Ruth, who had already served as editor of NVA from 1987 to 1993, stepped in and offered to serve as coordinator. For that step alone the League owes her a great deal. She took charge, organized the staff, brought the crisis to an end, soothed ruffled feathers where that was possible and ignored them where it wasn’t. She had taken on a job for which there is little glory and no extra pay. And she did a wonderful job, leaving the organization in better shape than she found it. Beyond that, even though I am a retired member of staff, I will miss her in the office. I think of Ruth as a friend, so I will continue to see her. But one of us must note that the person on staff who really, deeply, loved Ruth was our office cat, A.J., who was forlorn from the moment she left until he died January 2 (see AJsWeb.htm). From my point of view, when a person is missed by a cat, they are missed by a lot more people as well. To Ruth Benn, for a job very well done. —David McReynolds David was on the WRL staff from 1960 until he retired in 1999.
I’m not going to repeat everything others have written about Ruth except to say I’m in complete agreement with them—and then some. I just want to note that Ruth carries on with her work even when relaxing and enjoying herself. Ruth is a baseball fan. (Let’s go, Mets!) Watching a ball game, you sit and you stand. You sit while watching the game. You stand and cheer when your team scores a run. You also stand when the crowd sings, “Take me out to the ball game.” Ruth does all that enthusiastically. But there’s one more time when (almost) everyone stands: during the singing of the national anthem. Ruth, however, remains true to the civil disobedience tradition: She (and the rest of the WRL contingent) remains seated. Working in the office or having fun outside, Ruth is always on the job. —Ralph DiGia Long-time National Office staffer Ralph DiGia has worked in the National Office as a near-full time volunteer ever since his spurious “retirement” some years back. Carving out the job of Director of the National Office six years ago was no easy task, but Ruth took on the challenge laid out for her and put so much in order through her hard work, dedication and intelligence. She’s continued to come in to the office to acquaint me with the many tasks and procedures large and small, confusing and straightforward, that make up this fascinating job. Her generosity of spirit goes a long way toward creating a smooth transition, and I am grateful. From one war tax resister to another, many thanks and best wishes on your new venture! —Melissa Jameson Former WRL Executive Committee member and Treasurer Melissa is the new Director of the National Office.
Ruth has been a colleague and friend since my earliest involvement with WRL. She joined the staff as editor of the NVA shortly before I joined the Executive Committee. As editor, she ran my first published piece—an article on police brutality based on my experiences of urban ministry in Roxbury, MA. When she left staff (the first time) to work for a knitting publication, I remember her saying that it was relief to work a “straight job” and not take home a lot of worries at the end of the day. But I’m glad that WRL was able to lure her away from the comforts of that kind of work for the worries of a radical nonprofit. When she returned to WRL staff in 1994 as Director of the National Office, we worked very closely because I was a co-convener of the Executive Committee. Some of my fondest memories of working with Ruth come from that time, as all of us in WRL’s leadership considered how we would rebuild the organization. I know that Ruth worried a lot about the League, but it paid off. From a time when the organization’s future was in serious doubt, Ruth helped stabilize and rebuild it—getting the fund appeals out, paying the bills, balancing the budget, making sure the office functioned. More than that, during her tenure we celebrated our 75th anniversary, demonstrated at the Pentagon, empowered young activists, developed good program materials and strategized and planned to make WRL’s future even stronger. We’ll miss Ruth’s presence in the office, and we look forward to her new roles in the organization. After all, it’s only fair to pass the worries of running an organization to other people, so that many of us can bear the burdens of building a nonviolent world. —Chris Ney Now WRL’s Disarmament/Fundraising Coordinator, Chris served on the League’s Executive Committee from 1990 to 1997. Ruth and I have worked on many projects together (and sat in more meetings than humanly possible) since she first came to WRL, but my favorite memories of her are not of the office or of meetings, but as a wonderful friend. I greatly admire Ruth for her dedication to peace and to war tax resistance and for her years of very hard work for WRL. But best of all is how much fun she is. A couple of examples: Years ago, when I was living in upstate New York, she traveled up for a weekend visit. It was a beautiful, crystal-clear, cold, moonlit night with a fresh, deep blanket of snow, and we all decided to take a hike in the nearby woods. I vividly remember that night for the intense beauty we shared and for Ruth’s joy of being there in the woods and her easy laugh. Never-taking-herself-too-seriously-Ruth. At a Summer National Committee meeting in Colorado Springs, we have a break until we needed to meet again, so Ruth, Ralph DiGia and I headed downtown in search of cold beer. We found it. Had a great time. Lost track of time. Had a hard time finding the meeting place. Arrived, sheepishly, very late, but in great spirits, glad to have spent a little time together outside the weekend-long meeting. —Rick Bickhart Rick Bickhart is a war tax resister and a member of the WRL National Committee. Ruth will be sorely missed. She worked long and hard with great intelligence, integrity and an all-too-rare sense of grace. —Bernice Lanning Bernice is a longtime WRL volunteer. We used to kid Ruth about being from Indiana. When she first started at the League, remember, Vice President Dan Quayle was the most prominent Hoosier in the country. Ruth never failed to remind us that Eugene Debs was also from Indiana (not to mention former Yankees star Don Mattingly and songwriter Hoagy Carmichael). But it is true that Ruth rarely raises her voice and is usually understated in most respects. That doesn’t mean she never gets angry or frustrated or laughing-out-amused; she just does it quietly. While Ruth does not make much noise, her perseverance and commitment to nonviolence (and her devotion to the Mets) and her organizing skills were and continue to be a vital contribution to WRL’s work for peace. We’ll all miss her around the office, but I look forward to continuing to work with her on special projects. —Murray Rosenblith Murray is the Executive Director of the AJ Muste Memorial Institute. On the occasion of her leaving the WRL office, to Ruth, who recognizes
—Wendy Schwartz Wendy has served on WRL’s staff and Executive Committee and as Executive Director of the AJ Muste Memorial Institute. She lives in New York with her beloved canine companion Gigi. I remember my first interaction with Ruth. It was for an article for the NVA. Ruth was a taskmaster, deadline-oriented, and I was a recovering soul new to WRL. I made the deadline and in the process came to understand how important it is to have some structure in your life. I will always remember Ruth knitting at meetings, taking simple yarn and turning it into something useful. Sometimes she would drop a stitch, but she would continue to create. Thank you, Ruth, for holding us together with that creative stitch. —Greg Payton A former member of WRL’s National Committee and League representative to War Resisters’ International, Greg organizes veterans against war across the globe. |
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