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The Cry of National Liberation: Recent Soviet Attitudes Toward National Self-Determination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Elliot R. Goodman
Elliot R. Goodman
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brown University and author of the forthcoming book, The Soviet Design for a World State, in the Studies of the Russian Institute of Columbia University.
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Extract

“You know,” Khrushchev characteristically proclaimed in a message to the African People's Conference meeting in Accra in December 1958, “that on the national question the Soviet Union is invariably guided by the principle of the right of nations to self-determination, and that it has always supported and still supports the struggle of peoples to obtain or strengthen their national independence and freedom.” The idea of national self-determination, fathered by political theorists like Mazzini and Wilson, is, of course, Western in origin. But in an age of nation-building in the Afro-Asian world, skillful Soviet use of this concept presents Western diplomacy with a formidable and continuing challenge in the East. The purpose of the present inquiry is to examine briefly how Soviet spokesmen have attempted to manipulate this Western idea, particularly in the great assembly halls of the UN where representatives of East and West constantly intermingle.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , Winter 1960 , pp. 92 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1960

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References

1 Pravda, 12 5, 1958.Google Scholar

2 For literature on the theoretical aspects of the problem of self-determination in general and its widespread impact on the various UN bodies, see Cobban, Alfred, National Self-determination, London, 1945Google Scholar; Clyde, Eagleton, “Excesses of Self-determination,” Foreign Affairs, 07 1953 (Vol. 31, No. 4), p. 592–604Google Scholar; Clyde, Eagleton, “Self-determination in the United Nations,” American Journal of International Law, 01 1953 (Vol. 47, No. 1), p. 88–93Google Scholar; Benjamin, Rivlin, “Self-determination and Dependent Areas,” International Conciliation, 01 1955 (No. 501), p. 195–271Google Scholar; and Jessup, Philip C., “Self-determination Today in Principle and in Practice,” Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 1957 (Vol. 33, No. 2), p. 174–188Google Scholar. For two extensive but divergent discussions of the Soviet concept of national self-determination, see Carr, E. H., The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1923, London, 1950, Vol. 1Google Scholar, passim, and the forthcoming book by the present writer, The Soviet Design for a World State, New York, 1960, Chapters 7 and 8.Google Scholar

3 United Nations Conference on International Organization (hereafter cited as UNCIO), Vol. 3, Document 2, G/26(F), May ii, 1945, p. 618. See also UNCIO, Vol. 10, Document 310, 11/4/11, May 15, 1945, P. 441. I wish to express my indebtedness to Miss Janice Williams for her aid in the gathering of United Nations documentation.

4 General Assembly Official Records (3d session), Document A/784, Annexes, Part I, 1948, agenda item 58, P. 545.

5 As a result of a decision of the sixth General Assembly (1951–1952), there eventually emerged from the Commission on Human Rights two Draft Covenants, one on civil and political rights, the other on economic, social, and cultural rights.

6 “Every people and every nation shall have the right to national self-determination. States which have responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing Territories shall promote the fulfillment of this right…” (Economic and Social Council Official Records (9th session), Supplement No. 10, p. 29).

7 When the 1950 meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly failed to mention “self-determination” as a human right, the Soviet Union protested and submitted an amendment to the Draft Covenant to correct this omission (General Assembly Official Records (5th session), Document A/1576, Annexes, 1950, agenda item 63, p. 35). As this amendment failed of adoption, the Soviet delegate tried, again without success, to reintroduce “self-determination” in the Draft Covenant when it came under consideration by the plenary session of the fifth General Assembly, meeting in December 1950 (General Assembly Official Records (5th session), 317th Plenary Meeting, December 4, 1950, p. 553, 564).

8 General Assembly Official Records (5th session), Annexes, 1950, agenda item 63, p. 25, 34.

9 Ibid. (6th session), Document A/C.3/L.186, Annexes, 1951, agenda item 29, p. 22; ibid, (6th session), 374th and 375th Plenary Meetings, February 4 and 5, 1952, p. 501–520.

10 Ibid. (3d session), 181st Plenary Meeting, December 10, 1948, p. 883–884.

11 The Sacred Mission of Civilization: The Belgian Thesis, New York, Belgian Government Information Service, 1953, p. 52–53.Google Scholar

12 Ibid., p. 54.

13 Ibid., p. 14.

14 Economic and Social Council Official Records (14th session), 666th Meeting, July 30, 1952, p. 731.

15 Ibid., 668th Meeting, July 31, 1952, p. 743.

16 Document E/CN.4/L.32/Rev.1.

17 Economic and Social Council Official Records (14th session). Supplement No. 4, p. 9–10.

18 General Assembly Official Records (10th session), Document A/3077, Annexes, 1955, agenda item 28–1, P. 38–39.

19 Ibid. This clause was first adopted by the Commission on Human Rights in 1952; see Economic and Social Council Official Records (14th session), Supplement No. 4, p. 44.

20 General Assembly Official Records (10th session), 641st Plenary Meeting, October 21, 1955, p. 86.

21 Document E/CN.4/AC.I/29, May 11, 1948, p. 7, 10.

22 General Assembly Official Records (3d session), 183d Plenary Meeting, December 10, 1948, p. 928.

23 Document E/CN.4/AC.I/29, May 11, 1948, p. 10–11.

24 Economic and Social Council Official Records (9th session), Supplement No. 10, p. 36–42.

25 Ibid., p. 47.

26 General Assembly Official Records (5th session), Document A/1576, Annexes, 1950, agenda item 63, P. 35.

27 Ibid., 317th Plenary Meeting, December 4, 1950, p. 559.

28 Economic and Social Council Official Records (11th session), Supplement No. 5, p. 7.

29 Document E/CN.4/SR.357, April 22, 1953, p. 8.

30 Ibid., p. 13.

31 Ibid., p. 8.

32 Ibid., p. 13–14.

33 Document E/CN.4/SR.358, April 23, 1953, p. 17.

34 Ibid., p. 18–19. For further documents and discussion on implementing the right of self-determination through the Human Rights Committee see: Economic and Social Council Official Records (16th session), Supplement No. 8, p. 17–18, 24–25; General Assembly Official Records (10th session). Document A/2929, Annexes, Part II, 1955, agenda item 28, p. 85–86, 95–96.

35 Document E/CN.4/SR.42I, March 4, 1954, p. 8.

36 Economic and Social Council Official Records (18th session), Supplement No. 7, p. 12.

37 Yearbook of the United Nations, 1956, p. 70–71.Google Scholar

38 Document E/CN.4/SR.499, April 20, 1955, p. 6.

39 Pravda, November 15, 1956.

40 Ibid., November 11, 1956.

41 General Assembly Official Records (7th session), 403d Plenary Meeting, December 16, 1952, p. 368–369.

42 Economic and Social Council Official Records (18th session), Supplement No. 7, p. 37–38, 77–78.

43 General Assembly Official Records (13th session), Third Committee, 893d Meeting, November 26, 1958, p. 290–291.

44 Document E/CN.4/SR.475, April 14, 1954, p. 11.

45 General Assembly Official Records (3d session), Third Committee, 890th Meeting, November 24, 1948, p. 267.

46 Economic and Social Council Official Records (14th session), Supplement No. 4, p. 5–6, 9.

47 Document E/CN.4/SR.500, April 21, 1955, p. 9.

48 Document E/CN.4/SR.5O1, April 21, 1955, p. 6–7.

49 General Assembly Official Records (13th session), Third Committee, 893d Meeting, November 26, 1958, p. 290–291.

50 Ibid., 888th Meeting, November 21, 1958, p. 258.

51 Ibid., 890th Meeting, November 24, 1958, p. 267–268.

52 The New York Times, December 17, 1955. See also Wilber, Donald N., “Afghanistan, Independent and Encircled,” Foreign Affairs, 04 1953 (Vol. 31, No. 3), p. 491–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 Pravda, 12 30, 1955.Google Scholar

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid.

56 The New York Times, 12 12, 1955.Google Scholar

57 See the two articles by Selig Harrison, S., “The Challenge to Indian Nationalism,” Foreign Affairs, 04 1956 (Vol. 34, No. 4), p. 620–636Google Scholar; and “The Dilemma of the CPI,” Problems of Communism, 03–04 1959 (Vol. 8, No. 2), p. 27–35.Google Scholar

58 General Assembly Official Records (7th session), 403d Plenary Meeting, December 16, 1952, p. 369.