World Peace Day, a creation of the UN General assembly in 1981, is observed annually on 21 September. In the archives and collections at the IISH, the peace movement occupies a large place.
This massive presence of archives from the peace movement is obviously a result of traditional interconnections between lthe labour movement and the peace movement.From way back, antimilitarism was the predicament of religious groups like the Baptists and Quakers. The Marxist workers movement from the 19th and early 20th century incorporated antimilitarism in its struggle against imperialism and capitalism. Since then, new peace organizations arose, according to conflicting insights about violence and the monopoly of force.
Next to archives, there is a rich collection of posters from the peace movement. Many of these show either doves or hawks.