A PLAN FOR PEACE by Grenville ClarkReview by: Lester B. OrfieldAmerican Bar Association Journal, Vol. 37, No. 1 (January 1951), pp. 52-53Published by: American Bar AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25717523 .

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"Books for Lawyers"

dresses. It treats similarly many in

dependent unions, such as the rail

way brotherhoods, the Machinists and the Mine Workers.

A lawyer who deals actively with labor relations, particularly if his

practice covers various areas of the

field, will find the book, and espe cially the listings of government offi cials and their aides, very useful. The list of labor lawyers is far from com

plete. It seems to name mostly, but not exclusively, lawyers who repre sent labor unions, and does this only sketchily. Our old friend, Cliff Langs dale, for example, is missing, as are Arthur Goldberg, Emil Schlesinger, Al Kamin and others. The book itself does not attempt to classify the few lawyers it lists. Listings of offi cials of labor federations and of in ternational unions are of general usefulness, but those of officials of local unions, among whom the rate of turnover is fairly high, probably have little value even if the book is

published yearly. Future editions could be improved

by changing the format of the book. The present arrangement makes par ticular listings somewhat hard to find on crowded pages. Some of the lists cover so many pages that an indica tion at the top of each page of what is on it would be helpful. A listing of active labor arbitrators also would be worthwhile.

Theodore R. Iserman

New York, New York

A PLAN FOR PEACE. By Gren ville Clark. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1950. $1.00 Pages x, 83.

This book is written by one of the nation's most distinguished and pub lic-spirited lawyers. When it ap peared that we would be involved in

World War I, he became a leader in

instituting the "Plattsburg Idea" which provided for the recruitment of 60,000 line officers. In 1940 it was he who largely conceived and drafted the Selective Service Act. Few have done so much to make our nation

ready for war.

Mr. Clark concludes that there are five essentials of a plan for peace.

The first is to encourage serious dis cussion of the shocking moral and

physical consequences of another world war, thus inducing greater ef forts to establish world order. The second is to recognize that disarma

ment by all nations is the key to

peace, that effective disarmament re

quires institutions of world law and

government, and that these can best be achieved by revision of the Char ter of the United Nations. The third is for the United States and other

Western nations to formulate terms for an East-West settlement based on universal disarmament and a lim ited world government. The fourth is pending the outcome of these steps, to maintain ample military strength and resist Communist expansion, but

simultaneously to seek to produce a better atmosphere for an over-all settlement. The fifth is to recognize that our executive officials cannot be

expected to produce the necessary new ideas, and that such new ideas must come from the people at large, with the help of Congress.

The fifth point is stressed in the first chapter. It is pointed out that the State Department is so preoccu pied with pressing day-to-day ques tions that it has little opportunity to consider the organization of world order. The training and tradition of

government officials cause them to

rely on obsolete remedies. Many have

struggled so long with the conflict with Russia that they have become frustrated and defeatist. As the au thor states at page four: "When, in a crisis, new and imaginative ideas are needed, the people must save themselves.''

Chapter Two discusses the prob able nature of a war, if war should come. One side or the other would

occupy Germany, Austria, Finland, Albania, Indo-China, Korea and Ja pan. At the beginning the following countries would be neutral: Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Syria, Le

banon, Israel, Saudi-Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, India, Pakis

tan, Nepal, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. Eventually India and Pakistan would be drawn in on the side of the West. During the first

year Russia would advance only far

enough to occupy the territory west

of the Elbe and east and north of

the Rhine. She would thus occupy much of Western Germany, part of the Netherlands, and all of Denmark and Austria; but not France and

Belgium. The purposes of such occu

pation would be to take hostages, exploit factories, obtain more room

for later retreat, and strip the occu

pied territory of all movable re sources. During the same period the United States would conduct a vast air offensive aimed at the cities, in dustrial plants and communications of Russia. It would undertake atom

bombing even before the Russians had dropped any bombs. Not less than ten million people would be

destroyed. We could not count very

strongly on help from France, and Russia would refrain from invading her. The Russians would be no more

successful in a submarine war than were the Germans. It is not at all certain that biological, chemical and

radiological warfare would play very decisive roles. The United States would rely mainly on atom bombing. The Russians would not be able to inflict vital damage on us by atom

bombing. There would be no im

portant Russian attacks on Turkey and Iran during the first phase. Nor would the Far East be a major the ater. Russia would occupy Finland

immediately, but not Norway or

Sweden, except possibly the north ern part of Norway. At the end of the first phase the odds are about even that a third World War could be stopped. But if no armistice could be arranged, we should probably ulti

mately defeat Russia. But this might involve the destruction of a hundred

great cities, staggering national debts, the killing of ten million soldiers and thirty or forty million noncom

batants, and a fearful hardening of the conscience of all. The author stresses time and time

again that general disarmament is the crux. It should be applied to all

weapons, including the atom bomb, and to all nations. Preliminary to disarmament there must be a general political settlement. The problem of

52 American Bar Association Journal

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"Books for Lawyers"

Germany must be solved. Also pre

liminary to disarmament limited world government must be es

tablished through amendment of

the United Nations Charter. The amended Charter should provide for

membership of all nations without

any right to resign. Every human be

ing would be a citizen of the United Nations and of his own country. A Bill of. Rights would protect against violations of certain basic liberties

by the United Nations itself, but not

against the person's own national

government. Disarmament would oc

cur in three stages of four years each under a system of inspection. A United Nations federal police force of between 300,000 and 700,000 men

would be established. The General

Assembly would be made chiefly responsible for maintaining peace and would have control over the

police force. In exercising such con

trol it would be aided by a new exe

cutive agency, the Executive Council, of fifteen persons, to replace the pre sent Security Council. The powers of the General Assembly would be limited by amending the Charter so

that the most vital subjects are dealt with by constitutional legislation contained in the Charter itself. The

Assembly could legislate only as to matters directly concerned with pre vention of war. It would be given a strictly limited taxing power. A new and rather difficult amending process would be set up: ratification to be by two-thirds of the member

nations containing at least three fourths of the world's population.

The Assembly would be made up of one member to every five million

people, with a ceiling of thirty mem

bers for any single nation. There could thus be 372 members of the

Assembly. The International Court would be given compulsory jurisdic tion over legal disputes. Other types of disputes would be handled by the "World Equity Tribunal" consist

ing of fifteen members.

The United States should try pre liminary soundings and then persist ent negotiations with the Russians.

The process should not be entrusted

solely to elected and appointed rep

resentatives of the Western nations. As the author states at page 54:

"Let the best available men (and women) be drafted. Let informal

explorations and exchanges occur. If these yield a fair prospect of suc

cess, let formal negotiations be com

menced. At this stage, also, let the

negotiations not be confined to dip lomats or officials. Let the most re

sourceful and persistent be chosen, whoever they are.

"Let the negotiations continue over a long period?perhaps several

years. Let new men, fresh to the task be brought in if the first ones tire or exhaust their usefulness. Let not the effort be discontinued by reason of fatigue or difficulty. The stakes are too great to permit any such out come."

Chapter Four. is devoted to a discussion of the tendencies and

inadequacy of present American pol icy. Stress on armed force alone will result in either large federal deficits or greatly increased taxation or both. In "containing" Russia our nation has gone quite far "in imitating Russian ideas in respect to coercing conformity" (page 58). Reliance on

force alone may deter Russia, but also unduly alarm her. A major ob stacle to a new approach is reluctance to modify sovereignty. World-wide debate as to limited world govern ment must therefore be stimulated. The religious issue is another obsta cle. There is a constant struggle be tween the Roman Catholic Church and the Communist governments in

Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hun

gary, largely due to efforts to sup press church influence in education. The author notes at page 62 that the utterances of the leaders of the Church "seem often to offset each

other, in that while preaching peace they also utter denunciations that cannot but stimulate thoughts of a

Holy War". Another obstacle is mu tual recriminations between our pub lic officials and the Russian leaders. Both sides must mitigate this recrim ination if any terms of settlement are to have a fair chance. Another obstacle consists of the "gradualists", "realists" and defeatists who believe

that no system of world law can be established soon. Another obstacle is the belief that the Russians will not

negotiate. The author believes that if new comprehensive negotiations

were based on disarmament as to all

weapons and all nations, self-interest would influence the Russians to ne

gotiate. He points out that Mr. Churchill as recently as July, 1950, advocated negotiations proceeding from strength in the West. Another obstacle is the wide belief that the Russians would not live up to any agreements arrived at. Mr. Clark's answer is that his proposals call for Charter revision, including total dis armament, strict inspection and a

United Nations police force as an

integral part of any East-West settle ment.

In Chapter Five the author de fends the World Federation Resolu tion now pending in Congress. It

would be the first declaration by Congress that enforceable world law in the field of war prevention, is a

prerequisite of peace. He advocates the rejection of the Atlantic Charter

Resolution which calls for a federa tion of only a few of the nations, as it would confirm world division and

impair the United Nations. The World Federation Resolution, on the other hand, contemplates a federa tion which would include every na tion and where authority, though a limited one, would bind all nations.

Henry Adams once remarked that devotion to peace was the most deep ly rooted American trait. President Charles W. Eliot listed contributions to peace as one of the five great con tributions our nation had made to civilization. Yet today there is wide

spread approval of a "preventive" war. Some would immediately drop atom bombs on Russia. Mr. Clark

obviously goes along with the earli er traditional American attitude. There can be* no nobler cause. The sermon on the Mount declares: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for

they shall be called the children of God."

Lester B. Orfield Temple University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

January, 1951 Vol. 37 53

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