9 - Sino-American Wartime Material Exchange and the Economic Foundations of the Cold War Order

Summary

In the 1930s-40s, American peace activists increasingly turned to the war in China to make a wide range of arguments around intervention, sanctions, embargos, the efficacy of international institutions, and appropriate political and ethical responses. At the same time, Chinese activists also sought to establish connections with these different transnational organizations for their own political goals and ideals. While some of these efforts undoubtedly helped raise support for China’s war of resistance, they also enmeshed Chinese actors and organizations within a larger international network of cooperation and exchange over the course of the war. Two prominent American peace movements, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the American League for Peace and Democracy (ALPD), cultivated a series of engagements between American and Chinese activists that saw a shift in emphasis from non-violence and anti-war positions to an acceptance of forceful resistance against fascist aggression.