Life and views of an international social actor pdf

345 Pages·2009·2.07 MB·English

Edward Phelan and the ILO

Edward Phelan and the ILO
The life and views
of an international social actor
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE GENEVA
Copyright © International Labour Organization 2009
First published 2009
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Edward Phelan and the ILO: The life and views of an international social actor
International Labour Offi ce – Geneva: ILO, 2009
ISBN 978-92-2-121983-5
biography / ILO Director General / role of ILO / history
01.03.7
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Preface
Centred on Edward J. Phelan’s unfinished memoirs, this book is part of the
International Labour Organization’s Century Project, devoted to exploring
and documenting the ILO’s history. Edward Phelan was a key member of the
small group of people who mapped out the design of the Organization during the
Paris Peace Conference in 1919, a staff member of the ILO from 1919 to 1948,
and its fourth Director (and first Director-General) from 1941 to 1948.
The first foreword, by former Irish Taoiseach Seán Lemass, and the intro-
duction and postscript, by former ILO Director-General C. Wilfred Jenks, were
written in the late 1960s. The second foreword was prepared especially for this
volume by the present Taoiseach, Brian Cowen.
To set the scene for the memoirs of this unusual man, who played such an
important role in the birth of the ILO, the well-known Irish labour historian
Emmet O’Connor has contributed a biographical essay.
The volume continues with an extensive selection of passages from Phelan’s
memoirs. Explanatory editor’s notes have been inserted in the text where neces-
sary to maintain the thread of Phelan’s story. Editorial footnotes, identified as
such by the final element ‘(Ed.)’, have also been added to explain historical
events and names. Phelan’s own notes are identified by the addition of his initials
‘(E.J.P.)’. The uncut and unedited memoirs can be found on the website of the
ILO Century Project at: http://www.ilocentury.org
As the hitherto unpublished memoirs do not go beyond the early days
of the ILO, the volume also includes three articles Phelan wrote for the Irish
review Studies in the 1950s, providing his perspective on the Organization’s later
development.
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Edward Phelan and the ILO
The book concludes with a selected bibliography of Phelan’s writings and a
list of further reading on the history of the Organization.
Editorial work for this volume was undertaken by Julie Wolf. Project over-
sight was the responsibility of Jasmien Van Daele. A financial contribution from
the Irish Government towards the cost of this publication is gratefully acknowl-
edged. Thanks are also due to Patricia O’Donovan, ILO Executive Director, for
her interest in and support for this work, and to Remo Becci and Fiona Rolian
and the staff of the ILO’s Historical Archives for providing some of the basic
materials used in this project, including the memoirs themselves, and assisting in
the preparation of the footnotes.
Gerry Rodgers
International Labour Office
vi
Table of contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Foreword by Seán Lemass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Foreword by Brian Cowen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction by C. Wilfred Jenks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part I. Phelan, the man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Edward Phelan: A biographical essay, by Emmet O’Connor. . . . . . 11
Part II. The memoirs of Edward Phelan: The birth of the ILO . . 39
Chapter 1. Young Irishman in Liverpool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 2. Student life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 3. Apprenticeship with the Lloyd George New Deal. . . . . 71
Chapter 4. Wartime civil servant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 5. Russia during the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 6. The birth of the International Labour Organization. . . . 137
Chapter 7. Albert Thomas takes over. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Chapter 8. The lighter side of the League of Nations, Geneva. . . . 215
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Edward Phelan and the ILO
Part III. Other writings of Edward Phelan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Some reminiscences of the International Labour Organization. . . . 227
The ILO sets up its wartime centre in Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
The ILO turns the corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Selected bibliography of Edward Phelan’s writings . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Further reading on ILO history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
viii
Foreword
Seán Lemass
Edward J. Phelan became one of the first of the international civil servants
when he joined the International Labour Organization on its establishment
in 1919. He was thus a pioneer in a profession which has since grown enormously
in size and status as the world has found need for more and more international
organizations to enable it to cope with its ever-increasing political, social and
technical problems.
These memoirs give the background to Phelan’s early life and include a
graphic description of his childhood days in Ireland. They also outline his earlier
career, mainly in the British public service, before he was called on to take part in
what became his life’s work in the ILO.
Edward Phelan took part in the drafting and editing of the text of the section
of the Treaty of Versailles which created the International Labour Organization.
He was one of the principal authors of the ILO Constitution. He organized the
First Session of the International Labour Conference, which opened in Washing-
ton in October 1919, and became Head of the Diplomatic Division of the new
Office in January 1920.
In this position, as subsequently in those of Assistant Director, Deputy
Director and Director (which he became in 1941), Phelan saw his task as that of
developing and consolidating the institution he had helped to create.
During the years from 1941 to 1948, he shouldered the entire responsibil-
ity of directing the International Labour Office, a task which demanded not only
administrative experience but also great political acumen and diplomacy to ensure
the survival of the ILO. Phelan was a man of vision, and all during the war years
he worked and planned for the post-war reconstruction of the Organization.
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Edward Phelan and the ILO
In 1944, in Philadelphia, he convened a regular session of the International
Labour Conference and presented his proposals for a wide range of future activi-
ties; they led to the adoption of the historic Declaration of Philadelphia. This
Declaration not only guided all subsequent growth of the Organization but
also inspired, to a large measure, the work of the United Nations in social and
economic fields.
In 1946, the 99th Session of the Governing Body meeting at Montreal,
wishing to honour the work that Edward Phelan had carried out during the Orga-
nization’s most difficult period, conferred on him the title of Director-General
of the ILO.
The longest period of contact I had with Edward Phelan was when, as
Minister for Industry and Commerce in the Irish Government, I headed the
Irish delegation to the 1937 International Labour Conference for that year and
had the honour of being elected President of the Conference. I was tremendously
impressed by his dedication and zeal and above all by his vision of the ILO as an
enduring instrument in the cause of peace and social justice throughout the world.
One of Phelan’s lesser-known contributions (but one which was to have a
major influence on the working of the ILO) was that he was the innovator of the
ILO “tripartite” formula which forms the basis of representations at Intern ational
Labour Conferences. Each country’s delegation includes, not only government
delegates, but also representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations,
who have the same status in the Conference’s deliberations as the government
delegates. Phelan foresaw at an early stage that the work of the newly created
Organization would be vastly more fruitful if representatives of workers and
employers were personally involved in the formulation of international standards
of social justice.
The memory of Edward Phelan will live on as long as the ILO, the instru-
ment he did so much to create and fashion, continues to develop its now tradi-
tional role of setting ever higher standards to be applied to persons in employment
in all countries, and as long as it shows its dynamism by taking on new tasks
– as it has done in recent years in the field of technical assistance to developing
countries – for which it is uniquely fitted in an era of unprecedented change and
development.
Seán Lemass TD
Taoiseach of Ireland 1959–66
x