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'Patiently, undramatically, but not unsuccessfully'
The words si vis pacem, cole justitiam-if you desire peace, cultivate justice-represent the fundamental moral idea on which the International Labour Organization (ILO) is based. And the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize to the UN agency is a tribute to its success in translating this idea into action.
Created in 1919 following the social and political upheavals of the First World War, ILO was honoured on the fiftieth anniversary of its founding - 11 December 1969-in recognition of its work, grounded in the preamble to its constitution, which states that "universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice". ILO Director-General David Morse, in his acceptance speech on behalf of the agency, summed up its characteristic approach: "In spite of the political calamities, failures and disappointments of the past half-century, it has patiently, undramatically, but not unsuccessfully, worked to build an infrastructure of peace."
The profound economic and social changes caused by the age of industrialization resulted not just in unprecedented growth in Europe but also in creating a large and vocal industrial working class, often at odds with the ruling classes. Alfred Nobel himself feared a social...