The Commonwealth and the General-Secretaries in MoS TL
The British Commonwealth of Nations
No mercy, no power but its own controls it. Panting and snorting like a mad battle steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean overruns the globe!
- Herman Melville.
This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.
- William Shakespeare, King John, Act 5, scene 7.
The British Commonwealth of Nations has not always been the strong Confederation it is today! Before the War it was a voluntary and lose association of independent nations with neither power or influence, nor any responsibilty. Even though the Commonwealth is still voluntary, it is so much more than it was originally intended.
The Commonwealth was created by Britain and was meant to act like a forum for Britain itself, its Dominions and former colonies. Those times are, as we all know, long gone and the present Commonwealth is a strong political entity of its own. One thing hasn’t changed, though; in the past through times of trouble the countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations have stood together, and today they still stand together as brothers on Earth as well as in outer space.
The object of the British Commonwealth of Nations today is to advance democracy, economic relations, science, culture, social development within its member nations and to expand the influence of the Commonwealth as such.
With the Commonwealth Pact and the subsequent agreements on free trade, exchange of technology, manufactored goods, raw-materials, the 1955 Commonwealth Defence Alliance, the Custom Union and the monetary ditto in respectively 1957 and 1960, and other similar achievements, the Commonwealth had prospered.
On of the most important parts of the Commonwealth structure is the the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, which was founded back in 1926. CSIRO has become the world's largest and most diverse scientific research institution, and covers a broad range of areas of economic or social importance, including agriculture, minerals and energy, manufacturing, communications, construction, health, computer technology and of course space related research. CSIRO also coordinates the various national scientific programmes and adds additional funding if needed to programmes that has relevancy to the Commonwealth.
All member nations recognise the British Queen as their own, and thus as the Head of the Commonwealth.The day to day business is run by a General-Secretary, who serve for maximum two consecutive 7-year terms, and the Commonwealth Council. The General-Secretay and the Council is appointed by the Commonwealth Parlianment sited in Wellington, New Zealand, which members are elected by their native countries for 5 year terms. A large part of the role of the 731 members of Parliament is to pass legislation or amend existing legislation. The Council is located in Bombay, India. Modern day Commonwealth communication technology keeps the various parts of the Commonwealth governing body in close contact. The General-Secretary’s office is placed in Toronto, Canada.
The Commonwealth is a legacy from Britain's Imperial past, but changes profoundly during the last of war-years and in the years immediately after the War. The Empire had already given the countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations a legacy of shared language, and a common legal and political system. That sahred legacy wa the foundation upon which the new Commawelath was build.
The one man who can be attributed to creating the modern Commonwealth, as well as many other thing, among them the unbroken string of Conservative PM’s and the enormously successful space programme, is, of course, Winston S. Churchill.
In the years running up to the War, the British had granted Canada, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland total independence, eventhough they still were a part of the old pre-Churchill Commonwealth, the realtions were somewhat unequal, as between a benevolent, but arrogant Father and his Children. For instance the British was committed to defend the nations in the Commonwealth, while the parcipitation of the Commonwealth nations in any British wars never was a given. Furthermore, the Commonwealth nations had little say in neither British domestic, foreign or military matters.
Churchill and his government in late 1944, after the horrendous diplomatic catastrophe known as the Yalta Conference, sat about to change all this. Some key colonies were immediately recognized as independent nations within the Commonwealth, now refered to as the British Commonwealth of Nations, not just the British Commonwealth as before.
The entire political structure of the Empire was changed, but the true magnitude only became visible late in Churchill’s first post-war term and procalmined in his famous socalled Empire-speech at the International Congress on Astronautics in 1951; “We must lose the Empire in order to preserve it. But it must be a different Empire, an Empire where we in the brotherhood that is the Commonwealth of Nations shall stand by each other in joy as well as sorrow! We must share all burdens and rewards equally for only as brothers can we survive and thrive in this new world, where an Iron Curtain has descended upon Eastern Europe and a Fortress of Ignorance arisen in the Americas. The eyes of the world now look to us, the Commonwealth of Nations to create a better future!†Those words will forever be imprinted in the minds of every citizen of the Commonwealth. His speech is even today, nearly 50 years later, recited with great affection at Commonwealth Day.
As part of Churchill’s restructurering process colonies and Dominions lost their status and became nations, but not just nations, they became Commonwealth nations. Each had a seat in the newly establish Commonwealth Parliament. The number of seats each country had was based on voting population. However, Commonwealth Parliament in Wellington, at first had limited responsibilities; it handled the foreign affairs of the Commonwealth, the exchange of goods, technology, man-power and such, the Commowealth infrastruture and, finanly, it handled the defence of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The various national Parliaments handled, as they of course still do, most other matters. The Commonwealth Parliament had control over the Commonwealth Armed Forces via the United Commonwealth Command in Johannesburg. The Commonwealth nations financed this new political structure with a fixed percentage of their tax revenues.
Commonwealth General-Secretaries
Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society!
- Benjamin Franklin.
List of General-Secretaries of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the Ministry of Space TL.
Konni Zilliacus, Britain : 1947-54.
Leslie Morshead, Australia: 1954-59.
Lal Bahadur Shastri, India: 1959-1966.
Robert Lorne Stanfield, Canada: 1966-73.
John Mary Lynch, Ireland: 1973-80.
Helen Suzman, Federation of South Africa: 1980-87.
Douglas Richard Hurd, Britain: 1987-94.
Rajiv Gandhi, India: 1994-01.
The General-Secretary is the governmental head of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The General-Secretay is appointed by the Commonwealth Parlianment in Wellington, New Zealand. The appointment must be confirmed by the recognized Head of State, the British Monarch. The confirmations has thus far been automatic. The General-Secretary’s office in placed in Toronto, Canada.
Commonwealth General-Secretaries
Konni Zilliacus
Konni Zilliacus, was born on 13th of September, 1894. His father, Konni Zilliacus Senior, had been involved in the struggle to obtain the independence of Finnish struggle for independence. Zilliacus was educated in Sweden, Finland and the United States. During WW1 he served as an medical orderly in a military hospital in France.
Zilliacus was a stout supporter of the League of Nations and was not surprissingly devastated by the League's failure to prevent the Italin conquest of Ethiopia and the league’s failure to stop the Spanish Civil War. Zilliacus resigned from the League Secretariat, when the Germans partitioned and later occupied Czechoslovakia.
Zilliacus was also a member of the 1941 Committee and was among the driving forces behind the organization. Zilliacus held the belief that a much more coordinated effort would be needed, with stricter planning of the economy and greater use of scientific know-how, particularly in the field of war production, if the War was to be won. During that time Zilliacus caught Churchill’s eye.
Originally a Labour-man, Zilliacus was nonetheless headhunted by Churchill, who personally disliked the man, but saw his value, to head the new incarnation of the British Commonwealth as its first General-Secretay.
Zilliacus served as General-Secretaries from 1947 to 1954. He was the first General-Secreatary and did much to imbue the post with dignity and a non-nationalistic pro-Commonwealth outlook. Many times Zilliacus clashed openly with both Churchill and Bevin. This was perhaps the reason why he was immensely popular among the Indian, Canadian and African members of the Commonwealth.
Konni Zilliacus died of leukemia on the 6th of July, 1967, and recieved a full state-funeral. He is burried in Toronto, Canada
Leslie Morshead
Leslie Morshead was born in Ballarat Victoria, Australia on 18th September, 1897. He worked as a schoolmaster until joining the Australian Army in 1914.
After the Great War Morshead went into business and became the Sydney-manager for the Orient Line. He remained in contact with the army by heading a reserve battalion.
On the outbreak of the Second World War Morshead was given command of a Australian brigade in North Africa. During the War, he rose to command fisrt the 9th Australian Division and later the Australian Imperial Forces. Morshead made himself quite anam, when he and his troops defended Tobruk for eight months. As Rommals’ troops moved into the city, Morshead sdatged an outbreak and managed to escape along with some of his troops.Under threat from a possible Japanese invasion Morshead was recalled to Australia.
After the War Morshead served at the newly created United Commonwealth Command in Johannesburg, South Africa. During that time he and General William Slim backed up South African Premier Jan Smuts in his bid to desegregate the country. When Slim was appointed Fieldmarshal in 1952, Morshead once again returned to Australia, where he became involved in politics. A stout supporter of The Commonwealth, Morshead ran for Parliament and got elected.
In 1954 he was asked to run for General-Secretary of the British Commonwealth of Nations. The popular Morshead was elected, mostly due to his personal virtues, but also because of the support he was given by many prominent war-heroes, among them the Commonwealth supreme commander, William Slim!
Moshead negotiated the Commonwealth Defence Alliance in 1955 and helped create the unified command structure of the Commonwealth we know today and later got the Commonwealth nations to sign on to the Commonwealth Custom Union in 1957.
Morshead died in office on the 26th of September, 1959. His funeral was one of the largest in Australia's history. He is burried in his home town!
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lal Bahadur Shastri was born in 1904. As many of the key political figues at the time he was well-educated.
Shastri was the typical Indian politician at the time. He was engaged in Indias truggle for independence, but saw cooperation with the British as Indias best way of getting that!
After Morsheads premature death, Shastri emerged as the consensus candidate for the post as General-Secretary of the Commonwealth. Shastri had not been in his seat long before he had to attend to the difficult matter of the Muslim revolt in northwestern India, the so-called Pakistani Revolt. While Muslims claimed that it was a spontaneous uprising against the Indian oppression, it was clear thet the Soviet Union to a degree had instigated the whole thing! Shastri arranged for the United Commonwealth Command to intervene under the Commonwealth Defence Alliance of 1955. The uprising was crushed in three months and showed the world that the armed forces of the British Commonwealth was not to be trifled with!
In 1960 Lal Bahadur Shastri enlarged the political structure of the Commonwealht with the Common Monetary System.
Because of this failing health Shastri declined to run a second time, and with good reason it would seem, as he died in early 1966 after suffering a heart attack. Shastri is burried near his place of birth, where a memorial is build in his honour. It’s inscribtion reads, "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" (Honor the Soldier, Honor the Farmer).
Robert Lorne Stanfield
Robert Stansfield was born on 11th of April, 1914.
Stanfield was born into a wealthy family and recieved the best education possible. He attended schools in both Canada and the US.
During his student days, he became a Socialist, but soon reoriented himself and joined the Conservatives, although he never stopped being very conscious of the poor and needy.
In 1948 Stanfield was elected leader of Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and quickly began to revive it. Stanfield served several trems as Premier of Nova Scotia, ruling as a moderate and soon gained the nickname, the Red Tory. Stansfield was one of Canada's most distinguished and respected politicians throughout his entire life.
Stanfield left national politics due to a internal dispute in the PCPC and instead entered the Commonwealth Parliament. Much to his own surprise, he was elected as General-Secretary in 1966. He served a full term from his election to 1973.
Robert Stanfield became renowned as a gentleman-like and very civil man, and was extremely well-liked in all the Commonwealth nations. When he passed away after nearly three years illness on the 16th of December 16, 2003, he was truly mourned by Canadians and Commonwealthers alike. He is burried in Nova Scotia.
John Mary Lynch
John Mary Lynch was born on the 15th of August, 1917 in Cork, Ireland. John was the youngest of seven children.
Lynch was educated in Cork at the North Monastery Christian Brothers School, and applied for a job in the Civil Service. Lynch began working on the Cork Circuit Court Staff as a clerk. This was when he decided on a career in law. He enrolled in University College Cork in 1941 and decided to study for the Bar. He completed his studies at Kings Inns in Dublin and qualified as a barrister. He set returned to Cork and set up his own practice there. In 1946 he married Máirên O Connor.
In 1948 Lynch won a seat in the Irish parliament and spent his first few years as speechwriter and research assistant for Eamon de Valera. When de Vaelra returned to popwer in 1951, Lynch was offered the new post of Parliamentary Secretary to the Government. From 1957 untoil 1966, when he became Prime Minister himself, Lynch served as Minister for Education, Minister for Industry and Commerce and finally Minister for Finance.
When Sean Lemass retired as Prime Minister in 1966, the leadership race was expected to involve several senior politicians, but Lemass, distrustful of the candidates emerging, sought a compromise candidate and brought forth Lynch, who decisively beat the other challengers, thus becomming the third leader of Fianna Fáil and Prime minister on the 10th of November. Lynch was seen initially as a weak compromise leader, however, he showed his leadership skills and determination. Lynch great ability to compromise and get the best out of nearly any given situation was seen in his handling of the troublesomme situation in Norhetn Ireland. Lynch succeeded in holdoing the home rule government in place and reducing aid for any radicals.
As with his predessor, Robert Stanfield, Lynch left national politics due to a internal dispute in his own party and instead entered the Commonwealth Parliament. Lynch was was elected as General-Secretary in 1973 and served a full term.
After his term ended in 1980, Lynch retired from politics, but still commented on current affairs. Lynch received many honours and awards, among them a place on the Hurling Team of the Century (Lynch received standing ovations from the crowd present when he was called onto the field at Semple Stadium) and in the Cork Corporation decided to honour him by naming the newly-built tunnel under the river Lee after him.
John Mary Lynch died on the 23rd of October in 1999 in Dublin. He was honoured with a full State funeral in the North Cathedral of his home town of Cork.
Helen Suzman
Helen Suzman was born in Germiston in 1917. She was educated in a convent and thereafter at the University of Witwatersrand.
In 1944 Suzman started working as a lecturer in Economic History at the University of Witwatersrand, but entered politics after hearing a speech made by Premier Smuts on campus. Suzman joined Smuts’ Union Party and in time became what many fondly refers to as the party’s consciousness. During her time in Parliament she defended the right to freedom of expression for all South Africans and she used every opportunity to speak publicly in its defences and question the government, be it led by her own party or others.
Suzman was one of the few members of Parliament who visited Daniel Francois Malan at Robben Island Maximum Security proson. Suzman in general did her best to inspect and improve the living conditions of prisoners. During the Hungary Crack-Down Suzman fought the ANC-SAIC Alliance under Premier Xuma tooth and nail in the name of political freedom and the right to free expression. Her actions gained her international fame as she spoke out in defence of Communista and other accused in the Treason Trials.
In 1971 she tackled gender discrimination, especially that of African women. In the same period the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard have awarded her honorary doctorates.
In 1980 Suzman retired from the Federations Parliament as she was elected as General-Secretary of the British Commonwealth of Nations as the first female, and South African, General-Secretary.
Suzman refused reelection in 1987 and used her considerable influence to make an old dream of hers come true. Suzman was thus central to the establishment of the Commonwealth Human Right Group. The Group was created to promote democracy and human right in the Commonwealth nations and among their allies and associated members. Suzman herself led the CHRG’s activities from 1987 til 1996, where she retired from public life. Helen Suzman today live at her ranch in Rhodesia with her husband, Moses Suzman, and family.
Douglas Richard Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire in 1930.
He attended both Eton and Cambridge. Hurd joined the British diplomacy in 1952 and in varios positions affiliated with the British Commonwealth of Nations served under both the Eden and MacMillan Governments. Hurd especially made himself a name during the Egyptian Uprising.
He joined the Conservative Party in 1966 and was elected to Parliament in the following General Election. He was handpicked by Primeminister Alec Douglas-Home to head the Ministry of Space after the Lunakhod-scandale.
Douglas Hurd became the most respected Minister of Space and would see Commonwealth astronauts on the Moon under his supervison. When he later resigned, he went into Commonwealth politics and got elected to the Parliament in Wellington.
In 1987 Hurd was elected as General-Secretary of the British Commonwealth of Nations as the first British Commonwealth General-Secretary since Konni Zilliacus.
When he stepped down in 1994, Hurd was created Baron Hurd of Westwell. He, however, still remains active, acting as an unofficial Commonwealth spokesman and a successful novelist.
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi was born in 1944 as the first son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi.
Gandhi attended Cambridge University, where he met and married Sonia. He was not a man of any unusual academic achievements or other distinctions, and appears to have had few ambitions until the death of his brother Sanjay in 1980.
The following year, his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, appears to have induced Rajiv, an airforce colonel at the time, to enter politics. He stood successfully for election in 1981 and became a political adviser to his mother.
After Indira Gandhi’s death of leukemia in 1987, Rajiv Ghandi succeeded her as leader of the Congress Party, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of India. Rajiv rode on a wave of popularity associated with the name of Gandhi, but had himself few ideas of what to do with his office. He was, as all indians, keen on keeping India among the most powerfull nations in both the Commonwealth and the world and sought to increase Indian investments in modern technology and the armed forces. Gandhi was more of a technocrat, than a true politician.
Gandhi among other things committed Indian troops, the so-called Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), to Ceylon, or Sri Lanka as the natives insist on calling it, in an endeavor to help the government there to eradicate militant separatists. The hihgly modern Indian force got caught in a nasty guerilla war in which it had no training or equipment, nor the doctrine to handle. Losses were heavy and the Indians soon resolved even the slightest skirmish with the use of the heaviest firepower possible and massive air strikes.
In 1993, the Indian public had grown weary of the Ceylon War, and Gandhi was eased from power. His replacement, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, offered him the post of General-Secretary of the British Commonwealth of Nations and begun to work on it. As India by far are the dominant nation when it comes down to the numbers of votes in the Commonwealth the other nations reluctantly supported Gandhi in the name of unity.
In 1994 Ghandi was elected as General-Secretary of the British Commonwealth of Nations as the second indian since Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1959.
