The Future of Europe (Third Draft)

J.H. Oldham and Dennis Routh, the secretary of the British Peace Aims Group, drafted a blueprint together in 1943, the year in which PAG lost its founder William Paton. They contended that one of the goals of utmost importance for the immediate post-war era would be to create ‘common institutions and agencies’, both in economics…

Six Pillars of Peace (a.k.a. Statement of Political Propositions)

The Six Pillars of Peace were the outcome of a conference organized by the CJDP in July 1943 in Princeton, USA. They stated the political goals the CJDP wanted to infuse American war and foreign policy with. In the commentary on the first pillar, Europe is singled out as an area particularly suitable for regional…

The Integration of Europe

This blueprint, which originally appeared in the Dutch magazine Wending of October 1953, discussed the way in which the proposed European Defence Community (EDC) would transform the by now ongoing process of Western European economic and political integration. Patijn spoke out against the idea of viewing Europe as ‘a defence of Christian civilization’ as too…

The Church and the New Order in Europe

Bonhoeffer wrote this blueprint in his native German, but Visser ‘t Hooft translated it to English and expanded on it. It comments on a blueprint in book form written by the leader of the Peace Aims Group in Britain, William Paton, titled The Church and the New Order (London: SCM Press, 1941). Bonhoeffer and Visser…

Alphand Plan for European Customs Union

During the conference of the sixteen nations in Paris, Hervé Alphand, who was part of the French delegation, proposed the creation of a European customs union. His ideas gave impetus to the creation of the European Customs Union Study Group (ECUSG). For the blueprint click here. The blueprint is courtesy of the Dutch National Archive…

Benelux Plan for Multilateral Payments

Based on the ideas of H.M. Hirschfeld and Hubert Ansiaux, the Benelux put forth the idea to create a system of multilateral payments between the members of the Committee for European Economic Cooperation (CEEC) in Paris. Eventually, the plan gave impetus to the Multilateral Monetary Compensation Agreement in November 1947, which was the first intra-European…

‘The Future of Intra-European Payments’

In the wake of Paul G. Hoffman’s speech for the Council of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), several proposals for a new system of intra-European payments were advanced. The British proposal came on 14 December 1949, after the General Secretariat and the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) had already advanced their plans. For the…

Bissell Plan for a ‘European Clearing Union (ECU)’

In the wake of Paul G. Hoffman’s speech for the Council of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), several proposals for a new system of intra-European payments were advanced. The proposal by Richard M. Bissell on behalf of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) aimed at full intra-European currency transferability before the end of the…

The Atlantic Charter

Signifying the growing importance of the Anglo-American partnership in the Second World War after the issuing of the Lend-Lease Agreement in March 1941, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt secretly met off the coast of Newfoundland. After the meeting, they issued the Atlantic Charter, a declaration of common principles between the United States and the…

George C. Marshall Harvard Speech

On 5 June 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall held the commencement speech at Harvard University. Having just returned from Moscow weeks before, he had become convinced that drastic economic measures in Europe were needed in order to preserve it for the free world. He therefore announced that the United States were willing to…