60 Years of Global Solutions

While Citizens for Global Solutions was formally created three years ago, its legacy dates back to 1947.  Sixty years ago, in the wake of World War II, 327 delegates representing 30 chapters and organizations from across the nation met in Asheville, North Carolina and founded the United World Federalists (UWF).

Those who came to Asheville traveled through one of the worst snowstorms of the century, urged on, in the words of founder and current Citizens for Global Solutions board member Ed Rawson, “by the conviction that peace is not merely the absence of war, but the presence of justice and law under a democratic system
of governance that all nations should live by.”

Rawson said that the delegates lived through “an era that saw men, women and children slaughtered en masse through mechanized warfare, genocidal intent and nuclear destruction.” He and others in Asheville “felt committed to playing an active role in the birth of an organization that would fight for universal justice and equality not only for me and my contemporaries, but also for those who follow us.”

For Rawson, and thousands of others, the ideals that were born in Asheville 60 years ago continue to live on today at Citizens for Global Solutions. He and his fellow pioneers were part of a global movement that sought to replace the “law of force with the force of law.” Also in 1947, representatives from 21 nations, including the U.S., met in Montreux, Switzerland to found an international organization that brought together national groups working for world federation. Now called the World Federalist Movement, in 1947 the groups declared that: “We are convinced that mankind cannot survive another world conflict.”

In the U.S., the young organization had a great deal of energy and support behind it. By 1949 it had more than 40,000 members. Its advisory board included three governors, the president of the United Auto Workers, the chairman of Standard Oil of Ohio and renowned figures including Albert Einstein, Oscar Hammerstein and Kurt Vonnegut.  Twenty three state legislatures passed bills supporting the organization’s goals.  Resolutions were introduced in Congress that called for a strengthened United Nations with “defined and limited powers as essential to the enactment, interpretation, and enforcement of world law to prevent aggression and to maintain peace.”

However, the advent of the Cold War and McCarthyism signaled the demise of many organizations with international ties.  Veteran member Ray Short said that “our chapters were scared for their lives”and that high profile members resigned “in fear of McCarthy ruining their careers.”

Scott Hoffman, director of the World Federalist Institute, an internal Citizens for Global Solutions “think tank” that was established in 2004 to carry on the tradition of studying world federalism, notes that despite the loss of momentum during the McCarthy era, the organization recognized that many incremental steps could still be achieved. He said that global cooperation was still needed to address the underlying problems that motivated the organization’s members – war, poverty and environmental degradation brought on the inability of individual nation states to govern an increasingly interconnected world.

Citizens for Global Solutions is still engaged in many of the successful efforts initiated by UWF. In the 1960’s UWF developed legislation, championed by Senator Hubert Humphrey, which created the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. The organization was also an early supporter of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It worked with other organizations to establish a U.S. Department of Peace, which eventually resulted in the creation of the United States Institute of Peace. According to Hoffman, “the very fact that there has not been a nuclear holocaust or a third world war is an indication of how successful our efforts have been. Sixty years after our founding, the world has a web of international institutions and laws for the first time in the history of our species. Of course the need for effective and empowered global institutions is even more acute now then it was at our founding.”

In 1975, primarily because of changing tax laws, the organization divided into an educational, tax-deductible organization, the World Federalist Association (WFA), and a political association, the Campaign for United Nations Reform (CUNR).  They worked as sister organizations with WFA developing programs and CUNR supporting them politically with PAC contributions and congressional scorecards.

Throughout the 1970’s WFA actively supported negotiations to create the Law of the Sea Treaty, which was adopted in 1981 and is expected to finally be voted on by the Senate this year. In the late 1980’s and 1990’s WFA was a leading supporter of a treaty to create an International Criminal Court (ICC), culminating in the creation of the treaty in Rome in August 1998, where World Federalists played a key leadership role in organizing backing for the ICC.

In the mid-90’s WFA and CUNR were key players in efforts to keep the United States, which had accrued a $1 billion debt to the United Nations, engaged in international institutions. A petition campaign launched by WFA generated a thank you letter from then President Clinton, who said “We need an effective U.N. in order to address the dilemmas of the post-Cold War global landscape, and I am confident that we can bring about an era of unprecedented success that is consistent with the goals of the U.N.’s founders.”

In 2004 the World Federalist Association merged with the Campaign for U.N. Reform to become Citizens for Global Solutions. The merger has been very successful. In just three years, we have been able to address a broad array of global solutions, attract more supporters and increase our access to funders and our political clout. Sixty years from now let’s hope we can look back at the very significant role our organization played towards building peace, justice and freedom in a democratically governed world.