The Rotary Balita no. 744 (April 29, 1954)

Rotary International has declared unequivocally for the liberty of the individual, for freedom of thought, speech, and assembly, freedom of worship, and freedom from persecution. Communist spokesmen have declared Rotary to be a mere political prop of the bourgeois rule which must be destroyed under Communism.

It is obvious that everything for which Rotary International stands is the very antithesis of Communism.

The Board reaffirms that Rotary Clubs should not engage in any corporate effort to influence Governments, world affairs, or international policy. but should devote their energies toward informing the individual Rotarian in these important matters, viewing all such activity in the light of the fact that where freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights do not exist, Rotary and the ideal for which it stands cannot survive.

There in the foregoing phrases you have the most recent statement of policy on "Rotary's Participation in Political Affairs"— which is the title of it. The new statement was framed and issued by the Board of Directors of Rotary International at
its January, 1954, meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

Though it is the latest declaration of policy, the statement is not, strictly speaking, new. Rather, it is a condensation of a long series of declarations evoked in response to world crises which inevitably have brought demands that Rotary should do something about this one or that one.

You who have followed the development of Rotary policy know that invariably the Convention and the Board have taken the position that because of Rotary's multinational membership, Rotary International cannot become a pressure group for this or that non-Rotary program, no matter how good some may deem it. Rather, they have said that certain things are imperative, that the individual Rotarian should be fully informed about them, and that action on them is up to him as a good citizen of his nation in accord with his responsibilities as a community leader.

Through the years, Rotary's leaders and Rotary's official statements have generally favored this position, but during the first years of the organization world pol'tics and their attendant snarls presented no problem. There were Clubs only in one country the U.S.A. Then, with the admission of the first Canadian Club in 1910, the little fellowship of business and professional men began to find itself confronted with such questions. as what national flags to display at Conventions, what national anthems to sing, what speakers to engage, what points of view would be acceptable to men of both the great neighbor countries.

Those were the elementary beginnings of one of the most puzzling and challenging facets of Rotary: its relationship to the world of political affairs. Because of the recent Board statement, it seems timely and appropriate to look anew at that relationship and to see what it means in a world sharply d vided east and west and divided many ways within each half.
Let us make our approach to the subject by way of history, remembering that that history has brought Rotary International to its present grand totals of 8,052 Clubs with about 381,000 men in 88 countries and geographical regions.

After that first Club in Canada wh'ch was Winnipeg, and which made Rotary international in fact if not immediately in name more Clubs sprang up in Dublin, Ireland, then in London, Eng land, and so on. And while this was happening the world was marching toward its first Armageddon, and when it exploded there were startled cries of "Why doesn't Rotary do something?" Such er'es took little cognizance of the fact that the mass've event had passed the point of no return, and as country after country became engulfed, there was an increasing feeling of "never again."

Rotary, meanwhile, was growing into a truly international organization, one which recognized its new status by holding its 1921 Convention in a country other than its birthplace Edinburgh, Scotland. It was at that Convention that the new organizational order was recognized by the addition of what eventually became the Sixth Object of Rotary's old Aims and Objects — an early recognition of the necessities of International Service. But note that this was cast in terms of service. and fellowship. As adopted by the Convention, the Object read: "To aid in the advancement of international peace and goodwill through a fellowship of business and professional men of all nations united in the Rotary ideal of service."

A year earlier, Rotary had elected its first President from a nation other than the U.S.A. He was Crawford C. McCullough. of Fort William, Ontario, Canada, and he appointed Osgood Hale, dean of the law school of Dalhousie University. Halifax, Nova Scotia, to draft the Object. even earlier, Arch C. Klumph. Rotary's President And in 1916-17, had broached an idea which eventually would become the great Rotary Foundation.

Subsequently, the world was licking its wounds from World War I and was rather frantically trying to get back to normal. Men had little time for other than their own affairs. But again in 1927, at the Convention in Ostend, Belg'um, the Sixth Obiect received considerable attention, and some slight rephrasing.

While the growing number of Clubs there were 3 842 by 1935 found more and more ways of fostering their world friendships, the next major change in Rotary's simple statement of policy on International Service came in 1935 in Mexico City. At this Convention the Six Objects of Rotary were restated as Four, with practically the same wording. The only change in the international provision was relocation of the word "international." The new text, which stands today as. the fourth point in Rotary's one Object, reads: "The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men united in the ideal of service."

This is broad. It sets up a goal without defining its terms. This task of definition has been. carried forward by other actions, Board decisions and the Ike, made in response to changing times. From 1935 onward the drift toward another war on a far greater scale was becoming increasingly apparent; in Germany the Rotary Clubs were having an increasingly difficult time with the Hitler brand of totalitarianism, which eventually resulted in their self-annihilation. And again cries were. being heard, "Why doesn't Rotary do something?" to halt the drift toward war.

In the previous conflict, Rotary had been too weak to be significant, ran the argument; now it was strong, world-wide. It should take action, possibly as mediator. Then came the march into Poland in September, 1939. The conquest of France. The Battle of Britain. Rotarians and Rotary Clubs disappeared into the gigantic maw as if they never had existed, and the flames were spreading. Feelings were intense, with some nations totally involved all over the world, others involved in this. phase or that. Japan and China were fighting each other, but not Germany or the U.S.A. Italy was neutral, at least for the time being. So, in the Spring of 1940 with all these devisive factors in mind, the Convention (in Havana) adopted this declaration of policy on "Rotary Amid World Conflict":

It is outside the competence of the Board of RI to instruct Rotarians as to their duties as citizens of their respective countries. The Board, however, points out that RI, through Convention action, has stated that it expects Rotarians, while cooperating toward a cordial international understanding, to be thoroughly loyal to their religious and moral ideals and to the higher interests of their particular country.

In these catastrophic times, the Board feels that it should reemphasize to Rotarians throughout the world that Rotary is based on the ideal of service, and where freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights do not exist, Rotary cannot live nor its ideal prevail. These principles, which are indispensable to Rotary, are vital to the maintenance of international peace and order and to human progress.

The Board, therefore, condemns all attacks upon these principles and calls upon each Rotarian to exert his influence and exercise his strength to protect them and to help hasten the day when war need no longer be used as an instrument for settling international disputes.

Two years later at the Toronto Convention, the key paragraph was stated thus:

The Board maintains its conviction that the full attainment of the Rotary ideal of service can only be achieved in countries where there is 1 berty of the individual, in freedom of thought, speech, and assembly, freedom of worship, freedom from persecution and aggression, and freedom from want and fear. Where this liberty does not exist, Rotary cannot live. The great world conflict ended. Rotarians had served in uniform and in civilian ranks in full participation as citizens of their respective nations. If, as many felt, the war had settled nothing, it had at least given the world another chance."

Rotary Clubs had begun their Institutes for International Understanding in the late '30s and these had come into full flower. They now began a close study of the United Nations. Individual Rotarians were active in many capacities in the formation of the U. N. and its Specialized Agencies in the long search for peace. But peace was not vet. The Korean War came, and in its midst, in January, 1952, the Board adopted this policy, which still stands as the guide and concretization of Rotary thinking about the relationship of the Rotarian and his organization to the vital subject of world peace: The Rotary ideal of service best finds expression where there is liberty of the individual, freedom of thought, speech, and assembly, freedom of worship, freedom from persecution and aggression, and freedom from want and fear.

Freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights are inherent in Rotary principles and are also vital to the maintenance of international peace and order and to human progress.

Each Rotarian is expected to make his individual contribution to the achievement of the idea inherent in the fourth avenue of service. Each Rotarian is expected to so order his daily personal life and business and professional activities that he will be a loyal and serving citizen of his own country. Each Rotarian, wherever located, working as an individual, should help to create a well-informed public opinion. Such opinion will inevitably affect governmental policies concerned with the advancement of international understanding and goodwill toward all peoples.

As a world-minded Rotarian:

(a) He will look beyond any national patriotism and consider himself as sharing responsibility for the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace.

(b) He will resist any tendency to act in terms. of national or racial superiority.

(c) He will seek and develop common grounds for agreement with peoples of other lands.

(d) He will defend the rule of law and order to preserve the liberty of the individual so that he may enjoy freedom of thought, speech, and assembly, freedom from persecution and aggression, and freedom from want and fear.

(e) He will support action d rected toward improving standards of living for all peoples, realizing that poverty anywhere endangers prosperity everywhere.


(f) He will uphold the principles of justice for mankind, recognizing that these are fundamental and must be world-wide.

(g) He will strive always to promote peace between nations and will be prepared to make personal sacrifices for that ideal.

(h) He will urge and practice a spirit of understanding of every other man's beliefs, as a step toward international goodwill, recognizing that there are certain basic moral and spiritual standards which, if practiced, will ensure a richer, fuller life.

Rotary Clubs should not engage in any corporate effort to influence Governments, world affairs, or international pol'cies, but should devote their energies toward informing the individual Rotarian in these important matters, so that he will develop an enlightened and constructive attitude. of mind.

Rotary International consists of Rotary Clubs located in many countries with many points of view. Therefore, no corporate action or corporate expression of opinion will be taken or given by Rotary International on political subjects.

Add this statement to those preceding it and to the one which begins this article, and you have a fairly complete picture of official Rotary policy, as evolved in Board decisions and Convention resolutions, toward the contemporary world. In a nutshell, corporate activity will be (and has been) confined to informing the individual Rotarian as to the facts of a given situation; action. thereon is up to the individual. He will consider his national patriotism as a step toward the development of his international world-consciousness, which will be the basis of the "one world" we all are striving to reach.

How has this work out? If you look for immediate results from, say, an international exchange of students or a relief project, you'll not find in them any solution of modern tensions. By the same token, if you are willing to look at potentialities already showing promise, you can take the Rotary Foundation Fellowships. Here is a project, divorced corporately from the administration of Rotary International, yet deriving its financial support from thousands of individuals and Clubs. It has sent more than 500 young people to countries other than their own for advanced study.

This relationship is double-acting. The young people gain and bring home a broader understanding of their world which they disseminate in terms of understanding. And they bring greater specific knowledge to bear in their businesses and professions. That is a large-scale concrete example of how individual Rotarians have met their obligations under these policy declarations.
How have Rotarians been informed as to world problems? Part of the responsibility, of course, is theirs; but they have been supplied with an abundance of material on which to base their decisions and actions — material available only to Rotarians and not in the general press. Thus it was with the United Nations; Rotarians have been kept informed through special reports of their own observers; in fact, Rotary International was one of the consultative organizations represented at the San Francisco organizing conference. The Board at that time took the position that Rotary Clubs might well take such steps as would inform Rotarians (and non-Rotarians) as to the purposes and far-reaching importance of the Charter.

As a result, a comprehensive stream of informative bulletins, reports, articles, program suggestions, and the like flowed to Rotary Clubs from 1945 onward. By 1952 the Board decided the primary requirements had been met, the information. had been supplied, and the special efforts were discontinued and left to the information offices of the U. N. itself.

Surely here was an example of supplying information. That Rotarians reached their own conclusions is amply evidenced by their pro-and-con mail to their officers and Board. It would be impossible to say that this plan or that plan of world organization satisfies more than a substantial minority of Rotarians—another example of why Rotary International can take no corporate action and remain a living entity.

But aga.n, these are large matters. How have the individual Club and member met their obligations? There was the affair in Lund, Sweden, in the Fall of 1953 when the Clubs of District 85 originated a look into the future of civilization. In cooperation with their university, they assembled 57 young students from 18 different nations for an assessment of the course of evilization. No world-shaking pronunciamentos emerged from the meeting, but 57 students who ultimately will affect in one way or another the course of history came away with a better (and common) understanding of contemporary trends. And understanding of a problem is the indispensable first step toward solution.

Or look at the Rotary Educational Foundation of Atlanta, an activity of the Rotary Club of that. Southern U. S. city. It set a pattern which has been followed to one degree or another by a number of other Rotary Clubs as well as other altruistic groups. Beginning with $550 more than 30 years ago, it now is capitalized at $120,000 — all for the aid of students. The Foundation has loaned more than $340,000 to deserving students; it has made grants to some 40 outstanding students of government, it has sent five farm boys overseas to live in Danish homes—and all because. individual Rotarians working through their individual Clubs have helped finance and have guided youth.

How about the individual as one man? Has he applied his mind and talents to the job of making the world more peaceable by making it more understanding? Obviously, not everyone has so acted, but there are far more heart-warming examples of individual action to help fellow beings across the sea than you might imagine. Only a few can be reported at any one time, but there is the case of Rotar'an L. V. Winks, of Palmerston North, New Zealand. Operator of a woolen mill, he was bothered by the problem of a waste resulting from the ends of cloth rolls. The pieces were too short for manufacturing into adult clothing; they could only be discarded.

But, through his Rotary Club, he heard about the plight of war refugees who lacked clothing. The thought occurred to him that their children must also lack clothing— and an idea flamed. The short roll ends could be made into children's clothing: Rotary Clubs would distribute them where. needed.

He took the idea to his employees; they responded with a will; even office girls asked to be instructed in operation of the machines so they could participate in what amounted to an old-fashioned sewing bee—all after hours on the'r own time, using the mill machinery and materials. Rotary Clubs did distribute—and possibly some children in the Po Valley of Italy or in war-torn Korea were saved because a Rotarian down under acted in accord with the principles of International Service.

There are many other examples, from the sponsorship of forums to discuss current problems to the Rotarians who, as individuals, finance the whole cost of a Rotary Foundation Fellowship. There are the four levels of noncorporate activity cross-cutting Rotary as a whole, such as in the Foundation, which is Rotary-wide the District level, where entire Districts. on their own initiative, cooperate some International Service; on the Club level; and, finally, the individual level.

And, in the final analysis, lessons of history teach us that the problem of universal peace is not going to be solved by governmental action; it is going to be solved when enough individuals of the world make up their minds that "man shall no longer lift sword against man." This is where Rotary's contribution is potentially the most significant since it helps them make up their minds.