‘The World Community‘ is an essay written by Dr S Radhakrishnan. It was published in 1963 by ‘Embassy of India‘. This essay is an appeal to the superpowers of the world to form a world federal government. This will effectively eliminate the conflicts and dangers posed by war by means of nuclear weapons.
Dr S Radhakrishnan is an Indian philosopher, politician, teacher, writer and statesman. He was the first vice-president and the second president of independent India. He was born in Thiruttani, now part of Tamil Nadu, in September 5, 1888. The day of his birth has been celebrated as Teachers Day in India every year since 1962.
The World Community
In his essay ‘The World Community’, he expresses his idea of ‘oneness of mankind’ under a single federal government i.e, the world community under a world federal government. He analyses the possibility of a peaceful world community.
A peaceful world community is possible only when every government in the world believe in law and not in weapon or war. The world peace is a necessity of time; necessary for human survival.
The World Community by Radhakrishnan Summary
‘The World Community’ suggests a world federal set-up which can eliminate wars and nuclear weapons, then the people will live in peace. Radhakrishnan invites all the nations of the world to unite under one umbrella i.e, the world federal government.
Radhakrishnan adds that all the wars in recent decades proved to be futile and resulted in loss of human lives. War can never solve a conflict. To strengthen his argument, he provides some examples:
He points out that in World War I, almost 10 million people were killed, among them 95% were soldiers and 5% were civilians. But, of the 50 million people who were killed in World War II, 52% were soldiers and 48% were civilians. And, around 9 million people were killed in the recent Korean war. Among them 84% were civilians and 16% were soldiers.
Thus, wars proved to be disastrous, degenerative and resulted in the loss of many defenceless soldiers and innocent non-combatant civilians. Therefore, Radhakrishnan says, war is an illegitimate instrument of politics.
According to Radhakrishnan, the world peace is not a dream in this shrinking world and it is possible only when we believe in law and not in war. Nuclear weapons will only lead to the destruction of millions of human lives, loss of great wealth and demoralisation of the world.
Politicians should not be indifferent toward this growing danger. They must join their hands to eliminate such an atmosphere to ensure a peaceful world. As wars lead to further difficulty and can never exclude a conflict, only dialogues can help to stabilize the world.
The super powers of the world have more responsibility in establishing stability and peace in this hasty, unbalanced world. We have to exclude nuclear and military powers and devise alternative methods to deal with the conflicts. “Issues which were hitherto decided through wars should hereafter be decided by peaceful means”. Though, to exclude conflicts altogether is impossible.
Radhakrishnan suggests a world citizenship under a world federal government as a better way out. The world federal government can establish and maintain law and order among nations.
According to Radhakrishnan, the real force which can help establishing the world community is our inborn compassion for others. He quotes Jesus who didn’t believe the primitive morality of ‘an eye for an eye‘ which is in fact an immorality. He believed in ‘Blessing those who curse you‘ and ‘Returning good for evils‘.
Radhakrishnan acknowledges the United Nations Organisation as somewhat close to what he appeals for in this essay. The UNO gives importance to negotiations and believes that no disputes can be resolved by means of force. He concludes the essay by suggesting that the money spent on armaments can be diverted to social welfare, advancement of society, children healthcare, housing, building schools and so on. Money spent on warfare can be effectively utilised for social welfare.