Proposals for the Neutralization and Helvetization of Central Europe [antikvár]

Open Letter Signs of the Times The necessity of a European Conference aiming at general security, based on regional agreements, was recurrently mentioned by a number of diplomats and foreign ministers, and was expressed in a resolution of the participants of the conference at Karlové Vary this year, which is the hundreth anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian compromise. The peoples who enjoyed a half century long peace following the agreement made in 1867, are looking forward with keen interest to a possible new covenant that would establish lasting order in their region. A reorganized, federally integrated, neutral group of Central European nations seems to be the best way toward their future progress. At the same time, as a significant balancing factor, it would safeguard peace in an area where two world wars started and where eliminating the causes of possible friction may prevent or localize any future disturbance of international peace. It is in the interest of both the USSR and the Western Powers, that such a neutralized and federated zone of independent nations be established between the Germans and the Russians. Therefore we suggest that a Consultative Conference be arranged to discuss the possibilities and preconditions of such an arrangement, on the basis of a plebiscite under the supervision of the United Nations. The purpose of the suggested Consultative Conference would be to prepare recommendations for a future European Security Conference. The peoples of this region are anxious to preserve the benefits acquired in the last decades. They are proud of the industrialization of their countries, achieved by the sacrifices of their workers and engineers who put the common cause before selfish interest. The}' are ready to go on the still long way leading to social justice for all. They are willing to work for the common goals of an enlightened evolutionary humanism; for a social organization of life on our planet; and for that global peace, which has to be a great, well planned endeavor rather than bourgeois tranquility. Their dream is a peaceful federation of peoples living in established social order, with no dominating and struggling classes, or nationalities goaded by •to the Governments of Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia. With copies to the governments of France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, USSR, USA.