The pace of the world community's advance along the path of

demilitarisation of both domestic and foreign is far from

satisfactory. Violence remains the chief method used to force

social change and to solve conflicts at all levels. The military

machine having taken root in all government structures,

gives no indication of any intention to abandon the positions it

maintains in society.

A glaring example of this is the preservation of general

military service regardless of the the personal convictions of

young men called up for military service. Such compulsory service

is nothing more than a legalized government method for the

general propagation of militarist consciousness, primarily among

young people, and it in no way recognises the inherent right of

each person to freedom of conscience, ideas or convictions.

Meanwhile, refusal to serve in the Armed Forces in the USSR has

become a mass phenomenon. Each call-up increases manyfold the

numbers of those refusing to serve.

Numerous countries have introduced alternative civil service for

those who cannot and will not serve in the Army because of their

beliefs. In the USSR, while the government makes no move to

change the situation, a public campaign is gaining strength both

to end general military service and for the observation of human

rights for those serving in the Army.

We, 18 people, members of different public organizations and

groups, are issuing an appeal for the consolidation of all

public forces involved in anti-military campaigns.

We have established an Organizing Committee for the preparation

of the Constituent Conference of the Campaign for

Demilitarization called to oppose the cult of violence in our

society which is manifested by the general militarization of

society, the predominance of military priorities over social

ones, and the intensive military-patriotic education of citizens

which begins in their childhood. We are proposing the immediate

introduction of alternative civil service in the USSR as the

task of primary and immediate importance in this direction.

Each person wishing to contribute to the cause of the struggle

for the right to refuse military service will have an

opportunity to take part in the Campaign or organize a local

group. The Campaign will be a non-party movement and will have

no direct relation to any of the existing political

organizations which will enable people of diverse beliefs to

participate in it and thus make it a massive organization.

We appeal for cooperation in the cause of demilitarization of

Soviet society to all political parties, public organisations,

clergymen, foreign peace movements, men and women all over the

world - to all those who are interested in the triumph of the

principles of nonviolence, peace, freedom and justice.

CO-ORDINATORS OF THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Maksim KUZNETSOV,

member of the Founding Committee of the Party of Youth

Solidarity (Echo Committee);

Natalya MIRIMANOVA,

doctor, Executive Director of the Soviet-American Humanitarian

Initiative (Golubka Project), member of World Doctors for the

Prevention of Nuclear War;

Alexander PRONOZIN,

journalist, conscientious objector, member of the Transnational

Radical Party, former active member of the Movement for Trust

Between East and West, member of War Resisters' International;

Nikolai KHRAMOV,

journalist, member of Radical Party, former active member of

Movement for Trust Between East and West (since 1984),

concientious objector.

MEMBERS OF THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Kirill BUKETOV,

student, member of Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists (KAS);

Marino BUSDAKIN,

lawyer member of the Federal Secretariat of the radical Party;

Marina VINOGRADOVA,

art critic, member of Radical Party;

Yuri JIBLADZE,

doctor, Executive Director of the Soviet-American Humanitarian

Initiative (Golubka Project), member of World Doctors for the

Prevention of Nuclear War, and Nevada-Semipalatinsk Anti-Nuclear

Movement, member of Radical Party;

Alexander KALININ,

historian, Deputy of the Moscow Soviet (Liberal Faction),

member of the Federal Council of the Radical Party;

Igor KAN,

chemical process engineer, member of the Co-ordinating Council

of the Moscow Students' Club;

Maria KIRBASOVA,

engineer, president of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers;

Oleg KOKOTOV,

member of Anarcho-Radical Youth Union (ARYU);

Sergei KRICHEVSKY,

programmer, member of Radical Party;

Andrei KRYMOV,

student member of Radical Party and the Moscow Students' Club;

Tatyana MERKULOVA,

clerk;

Kirill POPOV,

chemist, active in defense of civil rights since 1978, former

member of the Fund of Help for Political Prisoners and Their

Families (Solzhenitsyn's Fund), former member of the Editorial

Board of the underground civil rights bulletin "V", a political

prisoner in 1985-86, member of the Radical Party;

Vladimir FYODOROV,

worker, participant in the youth pacifist movement since 1980;

Alexander FROLOV,

member of the Anarcho-Radical Youth Union (ARYU).