Gems Press Resurrects Radical Pacifism Classic, “New Wars for Old”
Author John Haynes Holmes was a NYC minister who co-founded the ACLU and the NAACP.
A hundred years ago and more, not only did people know how to think, they often were better at it than we are now. So many books that are now out of print cut to the essence of life, of nature, of science, of health, of community, of a hundred subjects, in a way that we in our noisier and more confusing age never think to examine. We’ve built our beliefs on some shaky foundations, but real voices called out truth in days past, exploring reality before corporate kleptocracy and the military industrial complex bulldozed most of it.
Of course, with the profit motive as the controlling force, most of these books became irrelevant pretty quickly. After the initial press run, if not written by a Dickens or a Twain or a Marx, nobody would take time and trouble and expense to reproduce these thoughts of yesteryear. And, after a while, even libraries discard them, making room for new thoughts.
Gems Press
Some of these books were published before 1929, so are now public domain, at least in the U.S. My publishing company, Gems Press, fairly randomly resurrects and republishes out-of-print public domain books, depending on what I find, what I think deserves to live, what I personally want to read, and what I love enough to put the work in for.
Most of the more easily salable public domain books have already been republished — sometimes just by putting page scans of the original between new covers and charging a premium for a “classic.” But it’s rare to find affordable versions of non-famous old books, because it’s a fair amount of work to produce them, and the odds of making a profit are slim. Amazon doesn’t let you promote public domain books, for instance, by enrolling them in their read-by-the-page program or offering them for free or selling copies in stores. And you earn half the royalty of a copyrighted book. I get about $2 a copy, for a $5 Kindle book or a $10-12 paperback.
So if I’m not in it for the money, I guess it must be love. Love of books, sure, but mostly love of truth, of clear, helpful information, and of these authors who poured their hearts and souls into trying to make things better, and who are now tossed into bins in a warehouse, moldering. The authors died, but if they were smart and true and relevant, there’s no reason their words should be lost.
Unless they were deadly dull, of course.
I do have hope that truth is eternal, and that it’s our job to flog it about a bit so people have the opportunity to become aware of it. Thomas Paine said, “But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing.” I’m trying to give these books that.
So I look for the really good ones. Sometimes that includes books that are not about making the world a better place. I use the standard: “Does it deserve to live? Do I want to read it? Am I willing to put in the work?” And so, Society Sensations: True Tales of Love, Scandal and Divorce in Victorian and Edwardian England trots into the Gems Press stable.
Also, sometimes an entire book is not really worth it, but pieces of it are excellent. I tend to collect these bits up and publish them in anthologies, such as Gem’s Fascinating Leisure Reader, Volume One and Two, which are fairly light and fluffy compared to our usual fare.
New Wars for Old: Being a Statement of Radical Pacifism
The more usual type of Gems Press book is the one I published yesterday (August 29, 2025): New Wars for Old: Being a Statement of Radical Pacifism, by John Haynes Holmes.
John Haynes Holmes (1879–1964) was a New York minister, pacifist, and reformer. He co-founded the ACLU and the NAACP, and this book, New Wars for Old, challenged the idea that war could ever bring peace. It was published in 1916 as the U.S. debated joining World War I, and of course he was widely ostracized and denounced as unpatriotic for pleading, “Please, please, do not take this path.”
This book has a lot of overlap with Christianity, which is only natural as Jesus in his original teachings is the ultimate radical pacifist. Holmes also considers Buddha, Lao-tse, and dozens of other “exemplars of non-resistance,” both ancient and contemporary. He’s delighted to give credit everywhere it’s due. He’s careful to look at both sides of every argument.
He points out repeatedly that the term “non-resistance” is misleading, and that it does not imply inaction; it only precludes the use of force, the abandoning of the golden rule of loving your neighbor as yourself. He argues that the ideals of non-violent living have never been properly tried in practice, and since violence has failed so spectacularly and consistently, forever, that it’s time to try non-violent living.
His chapters state the problem, examine the arguments in favor of force, then show these to be fallacies. He explains what non-resistance is and examines how practicable it is in the real world. He explores the question of whether war is ever justifiable, and looks at the surprising viewpoints of people who actually like war and think that permanent universal peace is not desirable. New Wars for Old ends with a chapter that will break your heart, “The Duty and Opportunity of America To-Day” (1916).
Sigh. Well, we need to reinvent the way things are done on Earth, so Gems Press has pulled John Haynes Holmes out of the molder bin and extended his voice into the mix we’ll draw from. Thank you, dear author.
