Journal de Genève
- The dignity of the Assembly
- The future of Swiss democracy — Is youth anti-democratic?
- The schoolboy
The front page links international and domestic democracy. Its lead defends the League Assembly against being overshadowed by the Council; another writer challenges a simple picture of anti-democratic Swiss youth. A school competition presents the League as something American pupils can study in concrete institutional and social detail.
Selected passages from three articles, including the lead’s opening argument and the competition procedure. The Swiss debate’s intervening discussion is explicitly omitted; the entire page is not transcribed.
Translation
The dignity of the Assembly
At a time when all attention is concentrated on the future of the League Council, we may be permitted to spare a little time and thought for the future of the Assembly.
The Covenant says little about the respective roles these two bodies should play in the League’s operation, and perhaps it was wise to avoid defining their functions too precisely. But one thing at least is certain: the Council has so far directly involved only ten states and will now involve only fourteen, whereas the Assembly offers a platform to the League’s fifty-six member states, each entitled to make its voice heard.
There is no question of rivalry between the Council and the Assembly. But in the interests of both, the balance between them must be even. The Council derives its authority from the Assembly, and anything that diminishes the prestige of the larger body must ultimately affect the prestige of the smaller.
The future of Swiss democracy — Is youth anti-democratic?
What emerged from the discussion was, first, that the importance of the anti-democratic movement among young intellectuals is greatly exaggerated; and second, that its true character—or rather its several characters—is generally misunderstood. For it became apparent that this was not a coherent, orderly movement, but a collection of diverse and partly contradictory tendencies.
[…]
But if that is so, it is clear that, far from being anti-democrats, those who support these ideas are unconscious democrats, seeking not to destroy or weaken our institutions but to improve and strengthen them.
The schoolboy
On May 7 this year, all pupils at what Americans call High Schools, which are in fact secondary schools, were invited to enter a competition on the League of Nations. After being given two weeks to study the League’s workings in booklets supplied to them, they were asked nine questions: the first concerned the League’s organization, the second the work of its Health Section, the third minorities, the fourth mandates, and so on. They had four hours to answer.
Once the essays had been handed in, a committee formed independently at each school chose the two best to send to New York. The essays received there—which, as we can see, represented only a small proportion of those written—numbered about 750. A further selection eliminated 700 of these. The remaining fifty were submitted to a jury of the most eminent American university scholars.
Context
Why small states needed the Assembly
Every League member had one vote in the Assembly, whereas only a limited group sat on the Council. The Covenant allowed both bodies to consider matters within the League’s sphere, leaving room for political balance as well as a division of work. The editorial’s concern is that concentrating prestige in the smaller body could make the majority of members feel peripheral. A respected Assembly gave those states a public voice and helped sustain acceptance of the Council’s authority.
When criticism can strengthen democracy
The Swiss discussion distinguishes rejecting a political system from demanding that it work better. By describing young critics as “unconscious democrats,” the writer tries to bring some of their demands within democratic reform rather than leave them to an anti-democratic camp. The key issue is what the criticism seeks to accomplish: dismantling institutions or improving their capacity to serve the public. This explains the article’s resistance to treating varied youth tendencies as a single movement.
Why American pupils studied an organization their country had not joined
The United States never became a League member, but government non-membership did not prevent civic interest in international cooperation. The school competition made that interest an educational exercise, asking pupils to study health, minorities and mandates alongside organization. Its staged selection, from schools to a national jury, rewarded knowledge of the League’s practical responsibilities. The story shows internationalism being cultivated through classrooms beyond the boundaries of formal membership.
Original
La dignité de l’Assemblée
Au moment où toute l’attention est concentrée sur l’avenir du Conseil de la S. d. N., il sera permis de consacrer un peu de temps et de pensées à l’avenir de l’Assemblée.
Le pacte ne dit pas grand’chose sur les rôles respectifs que ces deux corps doivent jouer dans le fonctionnement de la S. d. N. et il a peut-être été sage d’éviter des divisions de fonctions trop précises. Mais il y a au moins une chose certaine, c’est que le Conseil n’a intéressé jusqu’ici directement que dix Etats et qu’il en intéressera désormais quatorze seulement, tandis que l’Assemblée fournit une tribune aux cinquante-six Etats membres de la S. d. N., où chacun d’eux a le droit de faire entendre sa voix.
Il n’est pas question de rivalité entre le Conseil et l’Assemblée, mais dans l’intérêt de l’un et de l’autre, la balance entre eux doit être égale. Le Conseil tient son autorité de l’Assemblée et tout ce qui diminue le prestige du corps le plus considérable doit réagir en fin de compte sur le prestige du plus restreint.
L’avenir de la démocratie suisse — La jeunesse est-elle antidémocratique ?
Ce qui s’est dégagé de la discussion, c’est, en premier lieu, que l’on exagère beaucoup l’importance du mouvement anti-démocratique dans la jeunesse intellectuelle et en second lieu que l’on se méprend généralement sur son vrai caractère, ou plutôt sur ses caractères ; car on s’est aperçu qu’on n’avait pas à faire à un mouvement cohérent et ordonné, mais plutôt à des tendances diverses et partiellement contradictoires.
[...]
Mais s’il en est ainsi, on voit bien que, loin d’être des anti-démocrates, les partisans de ces idées sont des démocrates inconscients qui cherchent non pas à détruire nos institutions ou à les affaiblir, mais à les améliorer pour les renforcer.
L’écolier
Le 7 mai dernier, tous les élèves de ce qu’on appelle aux Etats-Unis des High Schools, et qui sont en réalité des écoles secondaires, ont été invités à prendre part à un concours sur la S.d.N. Après leur avoir laissé deux semaines pour étudier dans des brochures qui leur étaient remises le fonctionnement de la Ligue, on leur a posé neuf questions : la première concernait l’organisation de la Ligue, la seconde l’activité de la section d’hygiène, la troisième les minorités, la quatrième les mandats et ainsi de suite. Ils avaient quatre heures pour répondre. Les compositions une fois remises, un comité constitué librement dans chaque école choisissait les deux meilleures pour les envoyer à New-York. Les compositions ainsi reçues et qui, on le voit, ne représentaient qu’une petite proportion de celles qui ont été faites, étaient au nombre de 750 environ. Une nouvelle sélection a permis d’éliminer 700 de ces copies. Les cinquante qui restaient ont été soumises à un jury composé des universitaires les plus éminents des Etats-Unis.