Richard Bartlett Gregg

Richard Bartlett Gregg was born in 1885 in Colorado Springs, USA. He studied at Harvard University and, after completing his law degree, worked for a time in legal practice and on issues of labor relations, industrial arbitration, and labor disputes. His experience in the field of labor, strikes, and industrial power relations provided the background for his attention to the problem of violence, domination, and alternative possibilities for social change.

Gregg traveled to India in the 1920s and became closely acquainted with the intellectual and practical atmosphere of the Gandhi movement. He was among the first Americans who sought to theoretically formulate Gandhi's teachings on Satyagraha and nonviolent resistance for Western audiences. The result of this experience was reflected in the book The Power of Nonviolence; a work first published in the 1930s and later gained greater significance in revised editions, including one with a foreword by Martin Luther King Jr.

Gregg's thought was centered on the idea that nonviolence is not merely a moral abstention from violence, but can be a systematic, strategic, and social method for confronting injustice and transforming power relations. He is also known for the concept of 'voluntary simplicity' and, in his writings, advocated for simple living, reducing consumer dependencies, self-discipline, and harmony between ethical life and social action.