Pierre Cérésole was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 engineer, known primarily as the founder of the Service Civil International

Service Civil International

Service Civil International is an international non-governmental voluntary service organisation and peace movement with 43 branches and groups worldwide...

 (SCI), or International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP), in 1920, an organisation that helped in reconstruction after the First World War with the goal of achieving an atmosphere of brotherhood. As a pacifist, he had refused to pay taxes

Tax resistance

Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax or to government policy.Tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience and direct action...

 that were used for the acquisition of arms, and also declined to accept money from his inheritance. He spent many hours in prison.

Cérésole had been inspired by American thinker William James

William James

William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...

 and in turn inspired Kees Boeke

Kees Boeke

Cornelis Boeke was a Dutch reformist educator, Quaker missionary and pacifist. He is best known for his popular essay/book Cosmic View which presents a seminal view of the universe, from the galactic to the microscopic scale, and inspired several films.Boeke tried to renovate education by letting...

.

History

Pierre Cérésole was born in Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

 on 17 August 1879, the son of Paul Cérésole

Paul Cérésole

Paul Cérésole was a Swiss politician, judge of the Supreme Court and member of the Swiss Federal Council ....

 who was member of the Swiss Federal Council

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

, and President of the Swiss Confederation.

Sources