Swords to ploughshares

This article is about converting military technology. For the American veterans' NPO, seeSwords to Plowshares.For the Bible verse where the term originates, seeIsaiah 2.

Swords to ploughshares(orplowshares) is a concept in which militaryweaponsor technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.

Let Us Beat Swords into Ploughshares,a sculpture byEvgeniy Vuchetichin theUnited Nations Art Collection

Hand-separated large candlestickchurchchandelier with brass wax drip tray –GDRaround 1980 – Use of armoured steel and brass – Single piece – Weight 10 kilograms

The phrase originates from theBook of Isaiahchapter 2:

Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of theLORD,to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. "For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. –

— Isaiah 2:3–4

Theploughshare(Hebrew:אֵת’êṯ,also translatedcoulter) is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by thesword(Hebrew:חֶרֶבḥereḇ), a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use.

In addition to the original Biblical Messianic intent, the expression "beat swords into ploughshares" has been used by disparate social and political groups.

A past example from the period 1993 continuing to 2013 is the dismantling ofnuclear weaponsand the use of their contents as fuel in civilian electricpower stations,theMegatons to Megawatts Program.Nuclear fissiondevelopment, originally accelerated forWorld War IIweapons needs, has been applied to many civilian purposes since its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including electricity andradiopharmaceuticalproduction.

Biblical references

Mosaic in the Beit Habad Gallery,Jerusalem,quoting Isaiah 2:4, with lion, spear and spade.

Beyond the above usage in the Book of Isaiah, thisanalogyis used twice more in theOld Testament/Tanakh,in both directions:

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”

— Joel 3:10or 4:10 in theMasoreticsystem.

This is the opposite of what Micah says in Micah 4:3 (see below).

He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

— Micah 4:3

An expression of this concept can be seen in abronzestatue in theUnited Nationsgarden calledLet Us Beat Swords into Plowshares,a gift from theSoviet Unionsculpted byEvgeniy Vuchetich,representing the figure of a man hammering a sword into the shape of a plowshare.

Confucianism

James Legge's translation ofAnalects of Confuciusincludes a story ofConfuciusasking his disciples to list their aims, resulting in praise for the virtue ofYan Hui:

At last came Yen Yuan, who said "I should like to find an intelligent king and sage ruler whom I might assist. I would diffuse among the people instructions on the five great points, and lead them on by the rules of propriety and music, so that they should not care to fortify their cities by walls and moats, but would fuse their swords and spears into implements of agriculture.

— "Chapter V, Section III: His Immediate Disciples",Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean(1892)

Practical applications

Tokyo Tower,the second-tallest tower in Japan, is partially constructed from steel obtained by recycling US tanks damaged in battle during theKorean War.

• After World War II,military surplusAFVswere sometimes converted intobulldozers,agricultural, and logging tractors, as seen in the American television seriesAxe Men.Two are currently preserved at theSwords and Ploughshares Museumin Canada.French farmers sometimes used modified versions of the obsoleteFT-17 tank,and similar vehicles, based on theT-34 tank,remain in widespread use in the former USSR.A British agricultural engineer and collector of classic tractors, owns aSherman tankthat was adapted to plow Lincolnshire's fields in response to the shortage ofcrawler tractors.
• From the 1970s onward, severalanti-warmusicians have played guitars made frommilitary surplusweapons. JamaicanreggaestarPeter Toshfamously owned aFender Stratocasterbuilt around anM-16 rifle.In the present day theEscopetarra,a guitar converted from theAK-47,is the signature instrument ofCésar López,Souriya Sunshine,andSami Lopakkaof the Finnishdeath metalbandSentenced.
• Nitrogen mustard,developed from the chemical weapon mustard gas developed in World War I,became the basis for the world's firstchemotherapydrug,mustine,developed through the 1940s.
• Peaceful nuclear explosions,the application of nuclear detonations to civilian applications such as excavation and mining, explored by the USA (Project Plowshare) and USSR (Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy). However, thenuclear falloutand other contamination produced quickly rendered such programs impractical.
• Swedish aid organization IM Swedish Development Partner launchedHumanium Metal,using metal from illegal handguns to create everyday objects. The first product announced was headphones by Yevo.
• TheGlobal Positioning Systemwas originally developed to enable more accurate strikes with long-range weapons by the United States, but its purpose was later expanded to include civilian applications such aspersonal navigation assistants.
• ThePlowshares movement(British, Christian, founded byDaniel Berrigan),Trident Ploughshares(British) andPitstop Ploughshares(US, Christian) are peace movements, inspired by the book of Isaiah, in which participants attempt to damage or destroy modern weapons, such as nuclear missiles.
• TheMegatons to Megawatts Program,agreed to in 1993 by theUnited StatesandRussia,successfully converted 500 metric tonnes of fuel from Soviet-era nuclear warheads into fuel fornuclear power plantsover a period of 20 years.

In political and popular culture

• TheStarry Plough,a flag associated with revolutionaryIrish republicanismand socialism, features a sword as the plowshare.
• Twelve-term US Congressman and three-time presidential candidateRon Paulwrote a book entitledSwords into Plowshares: A Life in Wartime and a Future of Peace and Prosperity,in which he discusses growing up during World War II and living his life through war after war.
• In hisfarewell address,U.S. PresidentDwight Eisenhower,when speaking about themilitary–industrial complex,stated:

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

• For hisfirstandsecondinaugurations, U.S. PresidentRichard Nixontook the oath of office with his hand on two family Bibles, opened to Isaiah 2:2–4.
• In their speeches at the signing of the 1979Egypt–Israel peace treaty,Jimmy Carter,Anwar Sadat,andMenachem Beginall referenced the saying in calling for peace.
• InRonald Reagan's address to the 42nd Session of theUnited Nations General Assemblyin New York, New York.

Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences world-wide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien than war and the threat of war?

• The song "Ashes In Your Mouth"byMegadethuses a reference to plows and shear to swords:

Melting down all metals, turning plows and shears to swords
Shun words of the Bible, we need implements of war
Chalklines and red puddles of those who have been slain
Destiny, that crooked schemer, says the dead shall rise again

• The popularanti-warsong "The Vine and Fig Tree" from theGreenham Common Women's Peace Camp Songbookrepeats the verse

And everyone neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid,
Everyone neath their vine and fig tree
shall live in peace and unafraid.
And into ploughshares beat their swords
Nations shall learn war no more.
And into ploughshares beat their swords
Nations shall learn war no more.

• The song "The End of the Innocence"byDon Henley(1989) uses the Joel inverted version of the phrase:

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They're beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king

• "Heal the World"byMichael Jackson(1991):

Create a world with no fear
Together we'll cry happy tears
See the nations turn
Their swords into plowshares

• Finale of the musicalLes Misérables:

They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the ploughshare,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.

• The name of a card inMagic: The Gathering,a popular trading card game.
• A poem by Israeli poetYehuda Amichai:

Don’t stop after beating the swords
into plowshares, don’t stop! Go on beating
and make musical instruments out of them.
Whoever wants to make war again
will have to turn them into plowshares first.

• Guns into Plowshares,a sculpture byMennoniteartists Esther Augsburger and Michael Augsburger
• The marketing slogan used by the fictionalGlobotech IndustriesinSmall Soldiers,serving as the introduction to the movie, and foreshadowing the central plot of smart ballistic missile guidance microprocessors being mistakenly used in children's toys.
• A "Swords into Ploughshares" badge was worn by Christian peace groups inEast Germany.Wearers of the badge who refused to take it off were barred from educational and work opportunities by the state.

See also

• Anti-war movement
• Atomic gardening
• Atoms for Peace
• Escopetarra
• Guns vs butter
• Project Plowshare
• Plowshares movement
• Religion and peacebuilding