14.
2 THE ORGANISATION OF THE LEAGUE OF
NATIONS
The scale of the war of 1914, the immense losses which it involved,
the suffering of the civilian population, the huge financial burden on
the defeated and victorious countries- all these factors produceda
hatred in the minds of people for war. The common feeling was that
war does not solve problems. Throughout recorded History, mankind
has shown a blind faith in the use of force to eliminate national problems.
By substituting collective action for individual action, the League of
Nations was designed to give all people a sense of security, which
would make them think in terms of peace and not in terms of conflict
as in the past. Thus the League tried to achieve the deepest
psychological revolution-to transform the war mentality of man into
a peace mentality.
The birth of this
international organisation was in the form of a
COVENANT (Constitution) which was included in all the treaties signed
at the Paris Peace Conference 1919. The founder was
President
Woodrow Wilson of the U.S.A. He realised the necessity of such an
organisation as a cure for all the problems that the world was suffering.
The last point in his programme of 14 points, refers to a
association which would guarantee. "Political independence general
and
territorial intergrity". During the discussions at the peace conference,
he insisted on the formation of this League. The
League when finally
established in Geneva, was a compromise between two extreme views.
It was to work as a world body with a strong
maintaining world peace even if it were to meancommitment towards
punishing a member
which was in the wrong.
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14.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The main jobs that the League had to perform were :(a) to prevent
wars, (b) to maintain peace, (c) to carry out the special duties as
stated in the peace treaties, (d) to promote international co-operation.
Many articles were included within the Covenant to ensure that
war was avoided. Article 10 urged all members to respect and preserve
as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing
political independence." Article 11 authorised the League to take suitable
action to safeguard the peace of nations. Article 12 says that members
should submit their disputes to arbitration. Article 15 said that any
dispute which could not be settled by arbitration, should be submited
to the League's Council. Secret treaties and agreements were forbidden.
The League had the power to impose economic sanctions against
any nation, which broke the law. Thus Articles 10 to 16 ensured the
prevention of war and Maintenance of peace.
The other Articles mentioned the positive role that the League
had to play. e.g. Article 23 referred to the promotion of just and humane
conditions of labour for men, women and children. Another referred
to the need for bringing about a general disarmament among nations.
The Covenant made provisions for the creation of an International
Court of Justice.
14.4 MEMBERSHIP
The League started functioning in January 1920 and in November
shifted it's headquarters from Paris to Geneva. Any self-governing
country could become a member if two-thirds of the Assembly agreed
to the membership. All peace-loving states were admitted.
There were two kinds of members of the League: Original and
Non-original. The Original members were those states that had signed
the Treaty of Versailles and who had joined before 20h March 1920.
Non-original members were those who were admitted after that date.
When the Assembly first met in November 1920 there were 41
member states. By 1924 the number rose to 50 and by 1934 to 60.
The Central Powers were not admitted for some time because they
were guilty of starting World War I. Russia too did not join for a long
time. The U.S.A. Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles and
thus did not become a member.
Membership of the League could be lost by the following methods.
A nation could withdraw it's membership of the League by giving a
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two years notice. Under Article 16 of the Covenant, a nation could be
expelled from the League if it went against the Covenant.
14.5 MAIN ORGANS OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
The maim organs through which the League functioned were:
(a) The Assembly, (b) a Council, (c) a Secretariat.
14.5.1 The Assembly consisted of representatives of all member
nations. Though each country could send three representatives, they
only had a single vote. The meetings were held once a year but special
sessions could be held. The Assembly controlled the League budget,
admitted new members, elected the temporary Council members, and
made amendments to the Covenant. On these matters the Assembly
could decide by a two-thirds or a majority vote.
As a deliberative body, the Assembly could also discuss any
matter that was a threat to peace for it's recommendations to be accepted
it needed a majority vote in the Assembly. In practise the Assembly
worked well and it made real contribution to international co-operation
14.5.2 : At the beginning, the COUNCIL was made up of four
permanent members, i.e. Britain, France, Italy and Japan. There
were four non-permanent members, but the number was increased to
six. These seats were rotated among the small nations of the League.
Germany was made a permanent member in 1926.The first non
permanent members were Belgium, Brazil, Greece and Spain.
The Council met frequently. They dealt with any matter affecting
peace in the world. Their duties included drawing up plans to protect
members from external aggression. When disputes were brought
before them they made inquiries into the matter and suggested solutions
to the problem. They were required to make plans for reduction of
armaments. The reports submitted by the Mandatones were studied
and the administration of certain territories like the free city of Danzing
were supervised.
Since the Council enjoyed executive powers, it could impose
sanctions on any nation disturbing the peace. This recommendation
required an unanimous vote in the Council.
14.5.3 The SECRETARIAT:
provided the administrative staff of the League. ASecretary -
General who was nominated by the Council and approved by the
Assembly, headed a staff of about 600 officials. These officials assisted
the peacekeeping work of the League. The Secretariat kept records,
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maintained correspondence and helped in the work of all the organs.
The Secretary -General registered and published all the treaties signed
by the member nations. The secretariat provided staff for the various
internationalorganisations set up by the League to promote co-operation
in international trade, finance, transportation, communication, health
and science.
The first Secretary- Generalwas SIR ERIC DRUMMOND of Great
Britain from 1920 to 1993. He was helped in his duties by two Deputy
Secretary-Generals and two Under-Secretaries. The official languages
of the League were English and French.
14.6 AUXILLARY ORGANS
In addition to the main organs of the League, there were, a number
of auxillary organs in the of Advisory Commitees and Technical Agencies.
The most important were the following:
THE PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE (World
Court)
Article 14 of the Covenant provided for the establishment of such
a court. The draft for setting up this court was passed by the Council
and also by the Assembly. The Permanent Court was composed of
11 judges and was situated at the Hague (Netherlands). The Council
and the Assembly chose the judges for a term of nine years. The
Court had the power to "hear and determine any dispute of an
international character which the parties submit to it". The court could
also give advisory opinion. The Permanent Court codified international
law and also interpreted the law to decide which nation had violated
the law. The Court started functioning from 1921 till the end.
THE INTERNATIONALLABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)
This organisation was established by Article 23. It was to be an
autonomous body consisting of a General Assembly, Governing Body
and an International Labout Office. The representatives in these bodies
devoted their time to discuss various problems affecting labour. They
worked to improve conditions of workers, especially women and children.
The League set up other minor agencies to fulfill its obligations.
The Mandates Commission effectively supervised the administration
of colonial territories. Another agency looked after refugees. Yet another
agency, checked epidemics. Similarly, another dealt with the illegal
drug trade and slavery.
14.10 CONCLUSION
Wilson and other statesmen who designed the League hoped it
would lead nations to stop seeking protection through secret alliances.
Instead they favoured a system of 'collective security.' In this system
the security of each member would be guaranteed by the protection
of all. For collective security to work, it was necessary that all members
come to the aid of each other if any member was attacked. The League
could not force nations to help each other. It had to be a voluntary
action. Each nation had to believe that a threat to the peace of any
nation however small, was a threat to it's own peace.
Why the League failed was most dramatically illustrated when
Italy attacked Ethiopia in 1935. The League declared that Italy had
gone against the Covenant and asked members to impose sanctions
against Italy. Members agreed to stop all imports from lItaly and to
send no money or war materials to ltaly. But the U.S.A-, Japan and
Germany were not members. It was left to Britain, France and Russia
to strongly oppose Italy. However Britain and France were not willing
to use force to stop Italy, as it might lead to war. They did not impose
the oil sanctions against Italy, and finally Italy conquered Ethiopia in
May 1936.The Ethiopian crisis completely discredited the League
as an instrument of maintaining peace.
