Europe's Newest Dream
EUROPE'S NEWEST DREAM HP HE dream of a united Europe was born and ¦*• christened in Vienna. It has now been groomed and adapted to reality in Paris. And it would seem that, for some time to come...
...Who believes that any Latin American country is in danger of being absorbed by a European power...
...It is an indefensible but a natural nationalistic policy...
...Since 1920 several things have grown obvious: first, that the League was concerned primarily with continental problems...
...Indeed, there have been times when the tendency to subdivide appeared to be more rampant in Europe than even the game of tennis or the art of the cinema...
...To a man of Briand's temper the first solution seemed excessively dangerous, if not impossible, just as the non-conformist program of the German reactionaries appeared outlandish to Stresemann...
...Even so normal a relationship as that existing between France and Alsace-Lorraine has ended in a widespread desire for autonomy and in outspoken dissatisfaction on the part of the "reconquered provinces...
...So rational and sound is all this that arguments against it are difficult to advance...
...a people of cold-tubbers and strategists...
...Nor was this brisk application of the principle of self-determination necessarily complete or final...
...It announces a building program calling for twentytwo new submarines, four destroyers and two light cruisers (among other trifles) which has been accepted by most French commentators as a challenge...
...Nevertheless the international character of the League abided as an ideal, and in at least some respects as a reality...
...It places almost all its emphasis upon the progress toward harmony already made...
...He has therefore labored with might and main to effect the second, holding out meanwhile a cargo of assorted inducements from which other peoples might select...
...Perhaps II Duce needed a little recourse to the theatre, and besides stoical preachments may eventually make the Italians (which may the Lord forbid...
...But of course the job is exceedingly difficult and from several points of view open to criticism...
...Of these there are three: the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Russia and the Asiatic countries it is, in a measure, able to influence...
...For the land of Gaul peace, either political or economic, reposes upon the stability of things as they are...
...Who shall say that the spectacle of France and Germany, Poland and Italy, acting in unison seems any more Utopian than the picture of a pan-America endowed with some of the attributes of maturity...
...The modern nation grows not by adding square miles, but by adjusting its trade activity to the rhythm of world economics...
...The general desire for peace meanwhile rendered most parties to the argument vastly more amenable than they would otherwise have been...
...Who knows but what Briand may be showing the way to us, who in turn appear to have shown it to him...
...The fruits of the post-war treaties must be conserved, even though adroit substitutions and modifications may sometimes be necessary...
...France has the choice between two alternatives: maintaining military supremacy and getting Europe to agree to the present arrangement...
...Needless to say, this kind of thing could become exceedingly dangerous...
...Recent bloodthirsty speeches may be discounted for a number of reasons...
...This conference will appoint an executive "political committee" modeled after the pattern of the League Council...
...If it is valuable and practical, it must demonstrate its worth under different circumstances than those created by chaos abroad...
...Quite as normal and as indefensible are the "ambitions" which continue to hold sway, gnawing like heavy waves against pacificatory agreements...
...But—and this is a matter that needs consideration—the prospect of a flourishing and united America is no more difficult to entertain than the prospect of a united Europe...
...Lusty yearnings after autonomy have been voiced in Belgium, Alsace, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere...
...Besides, the fact remains that the manifest destiny of the United States is to realize the political and economic possibilities of the Monroe Doctrine...
...A Europe united in defense of the common welfare on the basis of agreements already reached would, potentially, be a Europe equipped to cauterize these festering wounds...
...But all the while nobody could gainsay the fact that the great cities were nuclei of energy, ordained by history and economic conditions, and that the multiplication of countries might well hamper but could not escape from them...
...And it would seem that, for some time to come at least, its existence will depend upon Geneva, which in turn will deliberate with one eye fixed on Berlin, Rome and London...
...Great Britain would it seems, have little to fear provided it can retain its influence at Geneva and provided Russia does not dominate the continent...
...But one clear political result of its application is the removal from the horizon of the rational statesman of "territorial aspirations...
...second, that the United States would not be officially enrolled in the Genevan supergovernment...
...Curiously enough, M. Briand's plan does not directly envisage either of these two sources of conflict...
...The fact that so many central cities—which are not merely the seats of governments—are involved in the fate of Briand's most important suggestion is not the result of chance...
...During the war era the number of European peoples, not counting Soviet Russia and Turkey, increased from eighteen to twenty-seven...
...You can accuse the principle of self-determination of having induced various disorders...
...It is singular enough that the astute Frenchman remains always an unadulterated patriot...
...If this Doctrine is as much of a treasure as we have customarily believed it to be, then statesmanship should be able to make it pay higher dividends than those hitherto obtained...
...A continent which no longer regarded itself as split into more than two dozen permanently hostile fragments would be a continent potentially unifiable into opposition to other world states...
...and there is little doubt that if his suggestion can be 150 THE COMMONWEAL June ii, 1930 put into practice the whole of existing international machinery will be immensely strengthened...
...But how shall this be done...
...Precisely the most pacific of the Reich's citizens realize the gravity of the peril latent there, which may some time lead to an open and catastrophic break...
...The fact remains, however, that for the present Europe as a whole still welcomes the cooperation of the United States...
...Far more worthy of consideration is the manifest determination of the Italian government to achieve naval parity with France...
...The repercussions in the world of pure finance could, it is conceivable, be similarly impressive...
...It is, of course, true that the nations of Latin America are no match for the countries of Europe...
...In the palmy days of old, a ruler could hope to extend his realm by wresting a domain from another sovereign...
...It certainly has...
...Trade agreements designed to counteract American tariff barriers might prove a weapon of great offensive value...
...All the sorest spots in Europe are significant in so far as they affect the Briand purpose...
...But that M. Briand's plan could work to the disadvantage of the United States, provided it is adopted and worked out enthusiastically is undeniable...
...Nor can the United States, which is soon bound to retreat even from Haiti, think of annexation in any form...
...It would never do, as some of us used to think years ago, to make the "Society of Nations" a purely continental institution...
...But that social and commercial relationships between the Americas can be greatly and beneficially improved might well be accepted as the true significance of the Monroe Doctrine in a new age...
...Union is to be achieved through a European conference, designed as a body similar to and parallel with the assembly of the League of Nations...
...Or take another European sore spot— the eastern frontier of Germany...
...All this means that the old roots of nationalism, so vigorous throughout the nineteenth century, have dried up...
...There is, for example, Fascist Italy...
...Repeatedly, the cut-throat customs policy which holds the continent in its grip has been denounced...
...Today the question always presents itself: how does a given people feel about annexation...
...Thus the Monroe Doctrine, too, has in a measure grown obsolete...
...Briand therefore wisely proposes an annex to—or rather a twin brother of—the League...
...Isolation is a policy forged in the new world, and which could be repudiated in a moment by the new world...
...Even the ever-present matter of the tariff has been discussed time and time again at Geneva...
...While Mussolini's differences with the Balkan countries, Greece and Austria, are chronic, the main characteristic of his international outlook appears to be dissatisfaction with the French will to leave things as they now are...
...This multiplication and the spirit which actuated it were perilous...
...Practically none of them are even now coping successfully with ethnological, social or financial problems...
...And the nine reasons which Briand stresses as making a new unification of Europe desirable are all reasons which were advanced by advocates of the League...
Vol. 12 • June 1930 • No. 6
