n or group
desiring to create better understanding or to eliminate conflict between
elements of the community calls together, without any publicity,
representatives of various interests for a discussion of points of view,
with the understanding that there will be no attempt to reach
conclusions or arrive at any official decisions. James Myers' experience
has indicated that the conferences create an appreciation of the reasons
for former divergence of opinion, and a realization of the possibilities
of new bases of relationship which have often resulted in easing
tensions within the community and in the solution of racial, economic
and social conflicts.[137]

Even on the international level, individuals may make some contribution
toward the elimination of conflicts, although, in the face of the
present emphasis upon nationalism, and the lack of common international
values to which appeal may be made, their labors are not apt to be
crowned with success. As in all the cases which we have been
considering, however, concerned individuals and groups may act in this
field because they feel a compulsion to do so, regardless of whether or
not their actions are likely to be successful in producing the desired
result of reconciliation, and the discovery of the third
alternative.[138]

FOOTNOTES:

[130] Eric Heyman, _The Pacifist Dilemma_ (Banbury, England: Friends'
Peace Committee, 1941), 11-12.

[131] Carl Heath, "The Third Alternative" in Heard, _et al._, _The New
Pacifism_, 102.

[132] D. Elton Trueblood, "The Quaker Method of Reaching Decisions" in
Laughlin, _Beyond Dilemmas_, 119.

[133] Douglas V. Steere, "Introduction" to Laughlin, _Beyond Dilemmas_,
18.

[134] M. P. Follett, _Creative Experience_ (New York: Longmans, Green,
1924), 209.

[135] Quoted in Allen, _Fight for Peace_, 428.

[136] Quoted in _Ibid._, 437.

[137] James Myers, _"Informal Conferences" a New Technique In Social
Education_, Leaflet (New York: Federal Council of Churches of Christ in
America, 1943).

[138] See George Lansbury, _My Pilgrimage for Peace_ (New York: Holt,
1938); Bertram Pickard, _Pacifist Diplomacy in Conflict Situations:
Illustrated by the Quaker International Centers_ (Philadelphia: Pacifist
Research Bureau, 1943).

VIII. CONCLUSIONS

Those who do not share the pacifist philosophy are prone to insist that
the pacifists place far too much emphasis upon the refusal to employ
physical force. These critics maintain