The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is the UK's oldest secular pacifist organisation. Ninety years ago, the PPU was founded when Dick Sheppard put out a call for people to sign the Peace Pledge. Signing the Pledge remains the basis of PPU membership to this day:

“War is a crime against humanity. I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war. I am also determined to work for the removal of all causes of war.”

Our role, as a leading pacifist voice in the UK, is to put pacifism into practice, resisting war and the causes of war today.

At a time when bloody conflicts around the world are fuelling global instability, when governments - including in the UK - are adopting ever more militaristic policies and when nonviolent approaches to conflict are marginalised, pacifism remains an urgent message that addresses the need for deep-rooted, systemic change.

We must ensure a pacifist perspective reaches as wide an audience as possible and contributes to interconnected movements and struggles. The promotion of pacifism and nonviolence through active resistance to war underpins all our campaigns and peace education work.

Pacifism involves more than resisting wars when they happen. As part of our everyday militarism campaign, we also resist the many ways that militarism affects our everyday lives, across culture, work, education and political discourse. The PPU also promotes and distributes the white poppy, which challenges the militarisation of Remembrance Day and offers a tangible alternative to the nationalism of mainstream remembrance.

The strategy draws its ideas and strength from our membership, who have helped to shape its key ideas, and from our staff and elected Council who will seek to synthesise those ideas into a work plan to achieve our objectives.

We are in no doubt that together we can build on the PPU’s ninety years of history by continuing to adapt to a changing world whilst remaining a relevant and defiant voice for pacifist values.

Below is a summary of the strategy's five key areas, which underpin rolling annual work plans. You can download the full strategy here.

Promoting pacifism and nonviolence

As a leading voice for pacifism in the UK, the PPU aims to raise the profile of pacifism in public discourse, articulating its relevance across a range of contexts. We need to equip our members and supporters to promote pacifist, nonviolent perspectives, and actively resist war, alongside supporting our peace education work.

Growing our campaigns against everyday militarism

Over the last decade, the PPU has been carving out a niche in defining and opposing ‘everyday militarism’. This has included demonstrating against events like Armed Forces Day, speaking out against military recruitment practices, and speaking out against pro-military political rhetoric in the media. We are looking to grow our visibility, reach and impact in this area, through activities led by the PPU core team and through supporting others in their own actions.

Expanding the reach of white poppies

The white poppy campaign remains the most high-profile aspect of the PPU’s work. As well as being an important symbol, presenting an alternative, peaceful and inclusive vision of remembrance, it also provides an effective route into our wider campaigning and pacifist politics.

Growing our membership, ensuring it becomes younger and more diverse

Whilst the PPU’s membership has grown substantially since mid-2023, the organisation’s membership demographic continues to be unrepresentative of the wider population. As we seek to grow in the years ahead, not only do we want to continue to increase membership numbers, we also want to secure a more active and diverse membership, which can adapt the PPU’s mission for the modern world.

Achieving financial security for the PPU to safeguard our long-term future

So we can continue to be the leading pacifist voice in Britain for another 90+ years and fundamentally, for our education, outreach and campaigning work to bloom, we need to become more financially sustainable

Read the full strategy here.