What are Commonwealth Values?
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| Author | Krishnan Srinivasan |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300403 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
KRISHNAN
SRINIVASAN
What
are
Commonwealth
values?
Traditional
ones
-
against
aggression
and
authoritarianism
W E
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
cohe-
sion
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.'"
Prime
Minister
Jan
Smuts
of
South
Africa
expressed
a
similar senti-
ment
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.'
2
Commonwealth
Deputy
Secretary-General;
former Indian
High
Commissioner
to
five
Common-
wealth
countries
and
former
head
ofIndias
Foreign Service.
i
David
Dilks,
Great
Britain,
the
Commonwealth
and
the
Wider World
1939-45
(Hull:
University
of
Hull
Press
1998),
41.
2
1
May
19944,
cited
in
ibid,
42.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Autumn
1998
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