History & Background

In 1967, the Baltimore Four poured blood on a few hundred A-1 draft files and waited peacefully to be arrested. They hoped not only to spare a few lives by denying the Selective Service system recruits, but also to start a discussion about the morality of war and conscription and to inspire others to take similar action.

The following year, the Catonsville Nine, Milwaukee 14, and D.C. Nine followed up with similar actions carried out by groups of priests, nuns, and their friends. Their tactics and goals moved beyond symbolic action; in doing so they subjected themselves to serious prison sentences. They sought to put the war on trial as they were being tried for their acts of resistance.

Hundreds more soon joined in as a flood of similar actions followed throughout the early 1970s. Their tactics changed: Symbolic action gave way to concerted efforts to disrupt the Selective Service system, state by state. Activists stopped waiting around to be arrested and started trying to destroy as many induction files as possible and evade capture. Many of them took part in multiple actions. Many ended up serving lengthy prison terms.

Actions like the Catonsville Nine received massive media attention, others went uncovered by the press and unreported or even downplayed by government officials. But the government took notice and Hoover's FBI set out to infiltrate the movement and nullify it as it did the Black Panthers, Weather Underground, and other organizations. By the mid-1970s it seemed the government had succeeded.

But these actions and activists inspired untold numbers of people around the world. And many of the so-called Catholic Left or Ultra Resistance activists have continued the struggle and are working toward a variety of causes today.