[gha] 15 Nov: League of Nations
- From: Wadlowz@xxxxxxx
- To: gha@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 04:14:41 -0500 (EST)
15November 1920 : First Meeting of the Assembly of the League of
Nations in Geneva
by Rene Wadlow
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r 1920 : First Meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva
by Rene Wadlow)
The real contributions made by the League of Nations to the development of
a sense of world community have been widely disregarded. The League is
too often disparaged because of the failure of its Members to carry out their
obligations, especially in the face of armed aggression.
Yet it has been said that when a star breaks, it gives birth to a thousand
suns. That is just what happened with the League, for the League prepared
the way for the United Nations and the further development of world law.
Let us look at some of its achievements.
1)An essential precondition to any solid world organization is an
impartial civil service responsible only to the head of the organization,
under
obligation not to accept instructions from any government or outside
authority, and committed to the promotion of the aims and principles of the
Organization. This the League of Nations provided for the first time under the
leadership of the first Secretary-General, Sir Eric Drummond. He took bold,
if discrete, initiatives in drawing the attention of the League Council to
conflicts and suggested conflict resolution measures.
2)The League also dealt with the economic and monetary reconstruction of
Austria, Hungary and some other countries, with the issues of minorities,
with the administration of former German and Ottoman territories under the
mandates system. The League provided the starting point for future work on
refugees and drug control. The International Labour Organization was
created alongside the League, its budget being voted by the League Assembly.
3)With the League, for the first time, it became possible to develop a
world review of production, trade, health and other economic and social data.
No doubt, the studies produced by the League were embryonic — the basic
information in the hands of governments being nowhere near what it is today.
However, without this start, the kind of world economic planning — or at
least overview — which we have today would not have been conceivable.
Unfortunately, the League of Nations ran into difficulties from the start.
The United States refused to join; too long a time elapsed before Germany
and the Soviet Union were admitted. The legacy of the First World War —
not primarily a matter for the League — upset both the political and economic
climate: huge reparations due by Germany, the payment of large debts by
the Allies to the United States, monetary collapse in several countries with
general economic protectionism rampant. All this contributed to the Great
Depression of the 1930s, and in turn accentuated the structural weaknesses
of the world economy.
Then came the aggressions of Japan, Italy and Germany which found the
resolve of the Western European countries and the USA weakened. The national
foreign offices and the war offices were still thinking in terms of balance
of power and could not bring themselves to think outside a narrow
nationalistic framework.
Fortunately, today, a sense of global citizenship, of world loyalty, has
been growing. By looking back to the first meeting of the League Assembly,
we can mark the progress not only of institutions but also in the spirit of
the women and men who shape them. Today, we see more and more people whose
chosen vocation is to make this earth a true home for humanity. They have
dedicated themselves to the same tasks that the League began but left
unfinished.
********************************************************************
Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens
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