The New Commonwealth was an international organisation created in London in 1932 with branches in France and Germany. It advocated pacifism, disarmament and multilateral resolution of conflicts through political lobbying and different publications.

Aims

The New Commonwealth Society was created in October 1932 in London, with the former Labour member of parliament George Barnes as its first President, and with

Henry de Jouvenel Henry de Jouvenel des Ursins (5 April 1876 – 5 October 1935) was a French journalist and statesman.

of France,

Ernst Jäckh Ernst Jäckh (February 22, 1875 – August 17, 1959) was a German journalist, diplomat, author, and academic who later lived in Great Britain and the United States. He is most known for having advocated for first Germany, and then the United Sta ...

of Germany, and the American Oscar T. Crosby as vice-presidents. It advocated the creation of an international tribunal and an international police force. Later, the Society defended the creation of an international air force which would act as a military arm of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

, promoting disarmament and keeping the world's peace. Those promoting the New Commonwealth included the millionaire David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, who became its chairman, others who had taken part in building up the League of Nations Union, and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, who was elected as the organization's president.

Ernst Jaeckh Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975- ...

was appointed as international director.

Perry Anderson Francis Rory Peregrine "Perry" Anderson (born 11 September 1938) is a British intellectual, historian and essayist. His work ranges across historical sociology, intellectual history, and cultural analysis. What unites Anderson's work is a preoc ...

, ''The New Old World'' (2011), p. 497 In a speech to the Society in May 1937, Churchill said Some of the ideas of the New Commonwealth Society were later incorporated into the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its Organ ...

Publications

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''.

Otto Neurath Otto Karl Wilhelm Neurath (; 10 December 1882 – 22 December 1945) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist. He was also the inventor of the ISOTYPE method of pictorial statistics and an innovator in mu ...

, ''Empiricism and Sociology'' (Dordrecht, D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1973)

was a member of the editorial committee. The Society also published many pamphlets and books.

Notes

Bibliography

*Christoph Johannes Ploß, ''Die "New Commonwealth Society"'' (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2017) {{Authority control Organizations established in 1932 Peace organisations based in the United Kingdom Arms control