What are Commonwealth Values?

Abstract

WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET THAT THE COMMONWEALTH'S STAND against totalitarianism and aggression is not new. The distinguished British historian, David Dilks, has written that 'during the war the Commonwealth and Empire reached a pitch of endeavour, and cohesion in military and political affairs alike, which it could never again attain ... It is not fanciful to say that the contribution of the overseas Commonwealth was indispensable to survival between 1939 and 1941, and to the regaining of the lost ground after that. To defeat Germany, Italy and Japan was necessary for the restoration of freedom.'(f.1)Prime Minister Jan Smuts of South Africa expressed a similar sentiment in 1944: 'It was a wonderful feat to have weathered the storm for four and a half years, during two of which we had stood alone. How the British Commonwealth, with its comparatively slender, resources, had fought Germany and Italy at a time when Russia was bound by treaty to the enemy, and when Europe was overrun, would stand out in history as one of the most remarkable achievements ever known.'(f.2)Although a certain reticence has fallen over the subject in recent times, Dilks has done much to lift the veil. He concludes that in terms of men at arms, the Commonwealth's contribution was around 11 million. The 14th Army in Burma became the largest army in the world operating as a single unit, with about one million men, 700,000 of them Indian. In terms of casualties, including prisoners of war, the Commonwealth accounted for around one-and-a-quarter million people. In terms of direct war expenditure and supplies, the Commonwealth contribution was immense. In other words, even before the beginning of the modern Commonwealth, Commonwealth countries had a history of close co-operation against totalitarianism; what Churchill called 'our union in freedom and for the sake of our way of living ... reinforced by tradition and sentiment.'(f.3)HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDIn the immediate postwar period, the modern or new multiracial Commonwealth served as a kind of engine-room for decolonization, ensuring that independence was achieved in a constitutionally based peaceful process. While independence marked the end of the dependent status in a colonial relationship, it also marked the beginning of an equal partnership and the challenge of political, social, and economic development. These are self-evident and fundamental Commonwealth values.The focus of the Commonwealth from the late 1940s, therefore, has been on adjusting to new relationships within a framework in which past hostilities can be forgotten and co-operation and consultation on both political and economic affairs can be fostered. Of the latter, economic co-operation has proved to be the less controversial. Assistance for economic co-operation began to emerge as a major global issue. The Commonwealth was the impetus for the first significant development assistance programme in 1950. The Colombo Plan for south and Southeast Asia was followed in 1958 and 1960 by other Commonwealth assistance programmes, first to the Caribbean and then to Africa. The Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP) has almost faded from memory. There was also the 'Bevin Boys' programme during and after the war, in which several hundreds of Indians took part, and subsequently rose to high positions of responsibility.(f.4) This was a Commonwealth programme, too, as enlightened in its way as the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC) thirty years later.Inevitably, as the number of Commonwealth members grew, achieving consensus on political issues became more challenging. Many have criticized the Commonwealth for failing to secure full co-ordination, and many continue to do so. But there is considerable value in communication and consultation among states, even when unity is not complete. Consultation provides for greater mutual understanding, and the ability to maintain friendly relations while agreeing to disagree is fundamental to international peace. …