‘Federate or Perish’

Altiero Spinelli is probably the best-known representative of that particular type of apodictic federalism which flowered for some years after the end of World War II, and which is well expressed by the phrase then popular among federalists: Europe must federate or perish. For the Italian Spinelli and his many followers in continental Europe, it was impossible to rebuild a democratic, prosperous, and powerful Europe starting with the nation states. Only a strong federation could solve the great problems of the post-war period: the re-establishment of democratic regimes; the many dramatic economic and social issues facing the continent; the German question; the security and autonomy of Europe with respect to both the United States and the Soviet Union. The establishment of a federal super-state, Spinelli argued (cited in Paolini 1988: 12 and passim), would have to precede the political and economic reconstruction of the member states, the former being the necessary foundation of the latter. In turn, the European federation would open the way to a world federation. It is of some interest that the majority of the thirty or so federalist movements existing at the time in Europe also claimed to be working towards a world federation. The idea of an eventual world government was more than an exercise in utopian thinking; it was needed in order to meet the telling argument that a purely European federation would simply reproduce, on a larger scale, the geopolitical ambitions and aggressive tendencies of the traditional nation states.