{{Short description|American radical peace activist (1889–1971)}} '''Max Sandin''' (June 3, 1889–September 14, 1971) was an anti-war activist who was persecuted by the United States government during both World Wars for refusal to cooperate with military conscription. He also refused federal income taxes for the same reason, beginning in 1943. A resident of Cleveland, Sandin worked as a house painter and paperhanger.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sandin |first1=Max |editor1-last=Benn |editor1-first=Ruth |editor2-last=Hedemann |editor2-first=Ed |title=I Was Sentenced to be Shot: Autobiography of a Political Objector |date=2024 |publisher=Max Sandin Radical Pacifist Cell |location=Brooklyn, NY |ISBN=9798218421366}}</ref>

== Early life and draft refusal ==

Born in Czarist Russia, Sandin fled to the United States in 1910 to avoid forced conscription. When Sandin was drafted into the U.S. military during World War I, he declared himself a conscientious objector. United States law did not afford him an exemption, as his objection was political, not religious. At Camp Funston, he and other resisters were subjected to brutality.<ref name="sniggle_index5">{{cite web |last1=Gross |first1=David |title=War Resister Max Sandin |url=https://sniggle.net/TPL/index5.php?entry=30Aug16 |website=The Picket Line |access-date=13 August 2024 |date=August 30, 2016}}</ref> In 1918, for refusing to obey an order to perform military duties in wartime, Sandin was sentenced to be executed by firing squad. President Wilson commuted that sentence to a maximum of 15 years' imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wilson Saves Soldier From Death|newspaper=La Plata Home Press|location=Missouri|date=6 March 1919|page=1}}</ref> Sandin was paroled on June 24, 1919, after the war ended.<ref name="sniggle_index5"/>

In 1943, Sandin was again imprisoned for refusing to register for the World War II draft.<ref name="stubborn">{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Stubborn War Objector Still Locked in Private War With Tax Collectors|newspaper=The Circleville Herald|location=Ohio|date=11 April 1955|page=1}}</ref>

== War tax resistance ==

In 1943, Sandin began to refuse to pay taxes that would be destined for military spending.<ref name="insists">{{cite news|title=Cleveland Pacifist Insists He'll Pay No Income Taxes|newspaper=The Circleville Herald|location=Ohio|date=31 March 1949|page=1}}</ref> He continued to refuse for the rest of his life. In 1949, he joined the war tax resistance pledge of Peacemakers, the first non-sectarian organized war tax resistance movement in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|title=8 Ohioans Refuse To Pay Tax For 'Financing War'|author=United Press|newspaper=The Sandusky Register|location=Ohio|date=14 March 1949|page=1}}</ref>

In 1961, the government began to seize Sandin's Social Security benefits and small pension for back taxes, leaving him destitute. In response, he began a sit-down protest and hunger strike at the U.S. Treasury building. The United States Secret Service responded by arresting him and seeking a psychiatric evaluation. Sandin was judged sane and released in a few days.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ohio Pacifist, 72, Is Ruled as Sane|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Circleville Herald|location=Ohio|date=14 September 1961|page=2}}</ref>

== Other actions ==

Sandin also took part in a blockade designed to stop the deployment of a Polaris nuclear-weapon-armed submarine in 1960.<ref>{{cite news|title=Loses Social Security Tax; Threatens Hunger Strike|author=Scripps-Howard Newspapers|newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post|location=Texas|date=30 August 1961|page=23}} * {{cite news|title=CNVA Again Thwarted: By Marines|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Kingsport News|location=Tennessee|date=6 September 1960|page=6}}</ref> Earlier in life he was associated with the Young People's Socialist League and the Socialist Party. A lifelong laborer, he also worked as an organizer for the Painters' Union. With the assistance of a friend, Sandin wrote an autobiography, but it was not published until 2024, with further editing by War Resisters League stalwarts, Ruth Benn and Ed Hedemann, and a foreword by Randy Kehler.<ref>{{cite web |title=A book brought to you by Max Sandin Radical Pacifist Cell |url=https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?fV5oOavAhEU8YipfdoPUSL75kxjQLYYvVJ2s30nyGbC# |website=IngramSpark |access-date=13 August 2024}}</ref> A resident of Cleveland, Sandin died in 1971, at age 82.

==Further reading== * Sandin, Max ''I Was Sentenced to Be Shot: Autobiography of a Political Objector'' NY: Max Sandin Radical Pacifist Cell, 2024. {{ISBN|9798218421366}}. [https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?fV5oOavAhEU8YipfdoPUSL75kxjQLYYvVJ2s30nyGbC]

== External links == * {{cite web | title=Finding aid for the Max Sandin Papers | website=EAD | url=http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi2141.xml;query=;brand=default }}

== References== {{Reflist}}

Category:American tax resisters Category:1889 births Category:1971 deaths