Paix, Pelle et Pioche" – A History of SCI Until 1965

by Heinz Gabathuler (Jun 21, 2016)

First discussions on how SCI should celebrate the centenary of the first-ever international voluntary peace service near Verdun in 1920 have just started – and the second edition of the probably one and only monograph on the SCI movement's history is not less than half a century old.

The 167-pages paperback written by Hélène Monastier (parts 1 and 2) and Alice Brügger (part 3) in French language and self-published by SCI. The title Paix, pelle et pioche means in English Peace, shovel, and pick; the essence of the movement from its existence: The ideal of peace combined with two tools used for the construction of paths and other practical work.

A first edition, describing the "history of Service Civil International from 1919 to 1954", had already appeared in 1955. Hélène Monastier (1882-1976) had been the author of this first edition, whereas Alice Brügger (1896-1988) contributed to the second edition by covering the time that had passed since the first edition. Both authors were Swiss unmarried females, and apart from their longtime involvement in SCI also belonged to the religious group of the Quakers, nothing unusual for early SCI activists.

No, I am not going to review this book here, and I freely admit that I have not even read the whole text. I simply would like to highlight the fact that in the "good old days" when SCI had fewer branches and activities taking place than nowadays, but definitely a lot of volunteers as highly committed as we are today, it was still possible for one or two persons to overlook the first decades of SCI history. And SCI International Archives did not even exist at the time the book had been written!.

It is not clear how much time it took the authors to write the text, and as both were well beyond retirement age when they made their respective contribution, they could easily dedicate the time needed for such an effort. It would need further research to find out the exact context of the publication: Who had taken the initiative for this publication? How high were the printing costs, apparently to be borne by SCI? Was it clear from the beginning that the book should be self-published by the organisation, or did they initially look for a commercial publisher?

Henri Roser, president of the French branch, who wrote the foreword to the first edition, does not tell us such details but simply praises Hélène Monastier, still serving as International Vice President at that time, as the best qualified person to undertake the effort of writing SCI’s history, as she had been active at Pierre Ceresole’s side from the early days of the movement. For sure for both of the authors personal memory was a source as important as old brochures and other documents preserved in the SCI offices of those days. The book gives details on almost every SCI service of the period before 1945, and a description of the post-war relief and reconstruction activities. (The Friedland services in 1946, object to my last from the Archives contribution, are not mentioned, though, as they were not SCI services in the strict term of the work, supervised by the British IVSP rather than by the SCI secretariat then located in Switzerland.)

Social change and political conditions are reflected as well: "In the pre-war services, discipline went by itself. […] Postwar youth is not that docile! Particularly in the countries where hard constraints of fascism had been endured, is it any surprise that the young people are rebelling against all imposed authority?" (p. 89, second edition) The last part, written by Brügger, pays particular attention to activities in "developing countries": In South and South-East Asia, in North Africa and the Middle East, but also in Greece. Conditions in the first East West projects are reflected in a rather critical way: "The Polish leader hardly ever worked on the place, nevertheless, it was him alone commanding. Never our volunteers had seen such luxury in a workcamp: Radio in the sleeping rooms, TV in the community room, food prepared and rooms cleaned by paid staff." (p. 126, second edition)

Whereas not many issues of the first edition found their way to the SCI archives, the second edition has been abundantly present, and in order to give room to other, more exclusive documents, I have thrown quite a lot of issues on the pile of paper to be recycled. Apparently the amount of copies printed had exceeded the demand for the volume, inside and outside of SCI.

Heinz Gabathuler, International Archives Coordinator

Reference

11103.13 (first edition) and 11106.11 (second edition) in the one and only SCI International Archives.