The Geneva conference of 1927

On 4 May 1927 an international Economic Conference opened in Geneva. There were present 194 delegates and over 200 experts from fifty states. All the European states were represented except for Spain and Lithuania; almost all the members of the League of Nations sent delegates, and among non-member countries which took part were the United States and the Soviet Union. Officially the conference was regarded as a sequel to the Financial Conference at Brussels in the autumn of 1920. That had been, or was described as, the League's first contribution to postwar reconstruction, the financial sphere being the most pressing one to tackle and agreement on the principles by which governments ought to restore their finances being comparatively easy. There followed the practical work of reconstructing Austria and Hungary: the combination there of doctrine and practice, including balanced budgets, independent central banks, and ending inflation, influenced other countries in gradually restoring their finances. Similar action on getting governments to agree on economic policy was more difficult: the obstacles were greater and involved controversies which, although old, were by no means dead. It would be necessary to wait until currency fluctuations had ceased to be a major factor in international trade, until inter-governmental debts and reparations were no longer at the centre of international attention, and the political situation was favourable. By the autumn of 1925 these conditions seemed to be reasonably well satisfied, and the League Assembly resolved to ask the Council to appoint a committee to prepare for a conference.