world federalism for world peace

A WORLD FEDERALIST

Exerpt from the book of Dr. George Hines, titled Stephen Gill and His Works

Stephen Gill does not feel isolated from people; in fact he feels such close bonds with people that he regards himself as a world citizen. He is a committed World Federalist who is dedicated to furthering the cooperation of all peoples in securing peace and avoiding war. He wants a world of justice, love, harmony, and brotherhood, not one of hate, suspicion, fear and insecurity.

One of Gill's favourite topics for lectures is World Federalism, and he says that school children show much interest in his subject and ask many questions. Unfortunately, in much of the world, including Canada, it has always been dismissed as unworkable and impossibly idealistic. He says, very few young Canadians are World Federalists. In some countries, such as Japan, the movement is taken much more seriously and has a big influence. Even in Canada, the influence of World Federalism is greater than one would expect, considering the small number of World Federalists here. Canadian members are optimistic that the movement will grow here and in the world, according to Gill. He states that the use of Esperanto is not part of the platform of the World Federalists, although many individuals advocate it, and that the big obstacle to the growth of World Federalism everywhere is suspicion.

A poster in Gill's office says: "Only one earth, only one way to save it-- World Federalism." Gill sees no alternative to it as a means of preventing war and chaos and assuring harmony and peace in the world. "The only proper way suggested by many philosophers, politicians, reformers and sages is the formation of a world government, empowered to enforce world law. We certainly need a world authority to check brutalities to make the world a better and saner place to live."* He maintains that someone has to be in authority, that order must be imposed by a neutral power, if self-interest and resulting chaos are not to prevail. The world has limited irreplaceable natural resources which are quickly being exhausted and there is no central planning authority to supervise their exploitation and to ensure that everyone profits from it. "There is no planning for a fair distribution of the limited resources available to mankind, and if there is any planning at all, it is being guided by the self-interest of a few groups or nations." In many countries of the world today, unjust imprisonment, torture and death are commonplace. Amnesty International has documented evidence of many thousands of people imprisoned simply because they voiced their disapproval of an oppressive regime. Gill believes that only the existence and intervention of a strong and respected neutral power will prevent future atrocities. "We will certainly have more atrocities in the future if nothing is done to stop then. Country after country will commit crimes against humanity in the garb of domestic matters and the proliferation of nuclear weapons will make these tragedies worse."

Gill remarks that the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. have the power to destroy the world ten times over. An almost incredible development in weaponry has occurred since the last great war. One example is the neutron bomb, which produces high intensity radiation, unharmful to property but fatal to people. He notes that in the past people drunk with power have started extremely destructive wars and that in the future similar people could do this also, but that probably the whole world would be destroyed in a third world war. Gill realizes that such a catastrophe could result not from intent but from accident, error or miscalculation, and that the possibility of such a catastrophe is increasing daily as man is getting less and less able to adequately cope with new technology. Gill believes that there is no time to be lost in inaugurating world government, as "any delay will simply worsen the prevailing chaos and anarchy." Gill insists that World Federalism is workable for various reasons. One is that modern media eliminates the effect of distance. People, no matter where they are, can communicate easily with one another, and they can travel from any location to any other within a day or two. Another reason is that international groups, such as service clubs, trade unions, religious and professional associations, and global agreements regarding laws and conventions relating to aviation, the telegraph and the ocean have existed for many years. The strongest reason that World Federalism will work is that people desperately want it to work. So far, unfortunately, not enough people are convinced of its necessity. Gill blames the common people for their apathy: "The common people are interested only in bread and butter, not in the survival of the world. They don't even read the newspaper. They seem to think it's futile to try to change anything and they leave political activity to politicians."

Gill says that the U.N. is the only existing organization which offers hope for the world but it has been unable to curb the world's military expenditure. Countries will not agree to reduce their arms budget either from fear and suspicion or out of greed for money and power. Poor countries should be using their resources to feed, not to arm themselves. He gives three reasons why the U.N. is a weak world government: it is not a representative body (as five permanent members have veto power). It has no power to impose its resolutions, and it cannot finance its operations by levying taxes on its members. Such a body has only limited power, which a large nation can defy with impunity. Gill wants its power considerably increased: "We need a parliament of nations which will have the authority to enforce its decisions on elements which endanger mankind's security. Being a body above domestic interests, it will enjoy the trust and respect of nations and their peoples." He thinks that the U.N. can be strengthened and restructured until it becomes a strong world federal authority, and that it would be a good world government if its defects were removed so that no countries were able to defy it.

World Federalism is a strong influence one can trace in Gill's works. In addition to a number of articles, he has incorporated it in his other works also. His book Discovery of Bangladesh is the outcome of his belief in World Federalism. Had there been a world government, the war between India and Pakistan and the most terrible carnage that ever took place on the subcontinent of India could have been prevented. Such carnage will continue to happen if a world parliament is not formed.

Gill's poetry obviously shows the influence of World Federalism. His collections revolve around world unity and survival. "The United Nations" expresses his respect for the founding principles of the United Nations and his admiration for its efforts to foster peace and harmony in the world. Poems like "To War Mongers" and "War is Fraud" condemn war openly. There are references to war and to the unity of mankind in other poems. In Life's Vagaries, a collection of short stories, there is a tale called "A Contemporary Poet,” which is based on the subject of world government. These stories were written to convey Gill's conviction that people all over the world are basically the same, and that therefore there is no need for discrimination. Gill's interest in H.G. Wells is also directly linked to his commitment to world federalism. He explores the same themes, including justice, toleration, brotherhood and compassion in Why and Immigrant. Gill therefore is a world federalist in his writing as well as in his practical life, and he considers himself a world citizen. He edited the Canadian World Federalist newspaper for several years. Presently, he is a national vice-president of the World Federalists of Canada.

In his development into a World Federalist, Gill has been greatly influenced by H.G. Wells, who realized the necessity for World Federalism before 1900 and who untiringly promoted it for fifty years, warning the world that international rivalry-- if it continued to grow-- would result in the obliteration of civilization. He alternated between hope and despair: hope, because every rational being had to realize that man's very survival depended on cooperation among men; and despair, because a global holocaust could easily occur before men had learned to cooperate. Almost everything he wrote is imbued with his utter disapproval of the absurd contemporary attitude to peace and justice in the world and with his longing that this attitude be replaced by one reflecting the desire for an enlightened world, one free from fear, suspicion and hate and so capable of enjoying the fruits of technological discoveries and advances. Gill's book on Wells is on his scientific romances, not because Gill is especially interested in scientific romances, but because they are Wells' most carefully written and powerfully imaginative works and because his later work-- propagandistic, hortatory and too explicit-- tends to be tedious and predictable.

Of all Wells' books, The World Set Free (1914) is dominated most by his preoccupation with world federalism. This book is science fiction, as its story occurs in the future, when the explosion of atomic bombs can make the world uninhabitable by man. Speaking of 1955 it records: "Government was a treaty, not a design; it was forensic, conservative, disputatious, unseeing, unthinking, uncreative"(56); as a result, instead of general prosperity and comfort, which the incalculable abundance due to technology made available, there was "hardship, famine, anger, confusion, conflict and incoherent suffering"(57). The law governing this post-atomic age dated from relatively barbarous times and was hopelessly inadequate. By 1959 about two hundred unquenchable conflagrations of atomic bombs roared in the world's (formerly) great cities, her credit had vanished, industry was completely disorganized, every city was starving, great areas had no government at all, and the end seemed in sight. In a last desperate effort to save humanity, the chief world powers met and constituted themselves as a world government, being thoroughly convinced it was their only salvation. Representatives to form this body were elected democratically, and they could be recalled by as many votes advocating their recall as the number by which they had been elected. Some of the improvements they made included a universal language (modified English), the metric system of measurement, a new and more rational calendar year, a universal monetary system, and a world law.

Gill admires G.B. Shaw for his free, innovative, bold thought, his daring to be different and controversial, his questioning of social conventions, and his use of art as a vehicle to share his ideas and to reform and improve society. In Shaw's work Gill sees not the poet bent on expressing intuitions arising from his profound interaction with reality but the practical man, the Fabian socialist, analyzing, criticizing and dissecting his society with a scintillating, probing mind. He obviously concentrated on social reform more than on art. Gill also believes a writer should discharge his responsibility to society: "There is a didactic element in my writing, but I try to keep it below or underneath. I don't think that writers should write only for entertainment."

*This quotation and subsequent ones are taken from articles by Gill in the Canadian World Federalist.