The New Commonwealth was an international organisation created in London in 1932 with branches in France, Germany and the United States. It advocated pacifism, disarmament and multilateral resolution of conflicts through political lobbying and a variety of publications. Unlike similar organisations, the German branch of the New Commonwealth Society was allowed to promote its ideas and continue its activities in Nazi Germany until it was dissolved in mid-1938.
The Society advocated the creation of an international court and an international police force, thus distinguishing itself from the two most influential components of the interwar peace movement: the pacifists who opposed any use of force in international relations, and the "internationalist" supporters of the League of Nations.[1]
The German branch, led by SA-GruppenführerFriedrich Haselmayr, was unique in that its activities were tolerated and occasionally even encouraged by the Nazi regime.[3] Unlike similar organisations, it was allowed to promote its ideas and continue operating until its dissolution in mid-1938.[10]
Views on international politics and law
The New Commonwealth Society challenged the prevailing notion of absolute national sovereignty, arguing that it was a major obstacle to the prevention of war. They believed that only a supranational authority with the power to limit national sovereignty could effectively prevent international conflicts.[11] To this end, they advocated the creation of an impartial international tribunal and an overwhelming military force that would enforce the rulings of the tribunal.[12][13]
While in exile in Geneva, Hans Kelsen played a key role in shaping the New Commonwealth Society's views on international law. As a member of the board of its research institute, he wrote The Legal Process and International Order (1935), which was the first monograph published by the New Commonwealth Research Bureau. There he stressed the importance of international tribunals in creating new laws where existing ones were inadequate,[11] and argued that the elimination of war could only be achieved through the establishment of an international executive power capable of enforcing the judgments of an international court.[14] In 1934, the New Commonwealth Society's Preliminary Opinion on the Tribunal echoed Kelsen's views on the role of international tribunals.[11]
In June 1936, Davies passionately urged Churchill to take a leading role in the New Commonwealth Society and use it to save Europe from the looming catastrophe. According to Roy Jenkins, Churchill responded "with an enthusiasm which was only slightly wary."[15] In a speech to the Society in May 1937, Churchill said
We are one of the few peace societies that advocates the use of force, if possible overwhelming force, to support public international law.[16]
To promote its aims, the Society published a monthly, The New Commonwealth, from 1932 to 1950. It also published a quarterly from 1935 to 1943, first named New Commonwealth Quarterly, later renamed the London Quarterly of World Affairs.[17]Otto Neurath was a member of the editorial committee.
The Society also published many pamphlets and books.
↑ Busch, Jürgen (2012). "Ein Mann des Widerspruchs? Teil 1. Verdross im Gefüge der Wiener Völkerrechtswissenschaft vor und nach 1938". In Meissel, Franz-Stefan; Reiter-Zatloukal, Ilse; Schima, Stefan (eds.). Vertriebenes Recht - Vertreibendes Recht. Zur Geschichte der Wiener Rechts- und Staatswissenschaftlichen Fakultät zwischen 1938 und 1945 (in German). Wien: Manz. p.153. ISBN978-3-214-07405-0.
↑ Warren, Spencer (1999). "A Philosophy of International Politics". In Muller, James W. (ed.). Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech fifty years later. University of Missouri Press. p.101. ISBN0826212476.
↑ Otto Neurath, Empiricism and Sociology (Dordrecht, D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1973)
Bibliography
Ashkenazi, Ofer (2018-02-26). "Transnational Anti-war Activity in the Third Reich: The Nazi Branch of the New Commonwealth Society*". German History. 36 (2). Oxford University Press (OUP): 207–228. doi:10.1093/gerhis/ghy004. ISSN0266-3554.
Pugh, Michael C. (1988). "An International Police Force: Lord Davies and the British Debate in the 1930s". International Relations. 9 (4). SAGE Publications: 335–351. doi:10.1177/004711788800900405. ISSN0047-1178.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from 1922 to 1924, he was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an adherent to economic liberalism and imperialism, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.
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Winston Churchill's Conservative Party lost the July 1945 general election, forcing him to step down as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. For six years he served as the Leader of the Opposition. During these years he continued to influence world affairs. In 1946 he gave his "Iron Curtain" speech which spoke of the expansionist policies of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Eastern Bloc; Churchill also argued strongly for British independence from the European Coal and Steel Community; he saw this as a Franco-German project and Britain still had an empire. In the General Election of 1951, Labour was defeated.
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