Eighty years ago, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was founded in The Hague, as a protest against World War I. The participants of this first Congress went on a journey: they visited the governments of the waning nations, and a few neutral countries, to promote the end of the war, but met with deaf ears. Bypassing nationalism, they attempted to find ways to end the horror of the war.

The League played an important role in questions of disarmament, education and women's rights. The international office in Geneva linked 42 sections in all continents, and organized the plans and programs that took place yearly in international settings. Each year the League sponsored an "International Summer School." where young women were familiarized with Peace and Human rights questions. For instance, they organized an International congress from August 1 to 6, 1995 in Helsinki. Some 5,500 women from all over the world celebrated the 80th anniversary of the founding of the League, talked about its achievements and future tasks, and, of course, about the situation of women

Some might question the decision to translate a book published ten years ago about the women's International League for Peace and Freedom-sponsored Peace Train journey from Helsinki to Beijing in 1995. If you wonder, just Google "Peace Train 1995." The author of the original German book, Angela Dullinger, and the translator, Therese Ballet Lynn, decided that there was a compelling reason to share the findings with the English-speaking public.