ABSTRACT
In order, however, to be useful to a world rent with suffering and to help to solve the problems of the future, the Swiss mean to maintain a neutral attitude which is worthy of the name. That does not mean in any way neutrality of conviction, for that is pusillanimity. The Swiss cannot feel that the meaning of neutrality is exhausted by guarding the frontiers and holding their tongues. The human being will always take up his stand at some point, and by his very nature he must take sides—he must hate or love. To take a man’s sympathies amiss is to misunderstand the true condition of man. The Confederation is of one mind that there is freedom of conscience even in the sphere of foreign policy. Further, it holds that the obligations of neutrality by no means include the regimentation of public opinion. Their scope cannot be extended to cover the attitude of the press. To put such an extensive construction on neutrality is not Swiss, and finds no foothold in international law. In 1938, Federal Councillor Motta explicitly stated: “We reject the doctrine which attempts to confound the neutrality of the state with the neutrality of the individual; on principle, only the state is neutral, and will steadfastly remain so. The citizen remains free in his views and judgment. Dispassionate discussion is always allowed to him. We require of him a self-imposed discipline in the way he expresses his views.” The theory that the state alone is neutral, but that the subject is not bound by any obligation of international law, and that therefore no violation of neutrality in contravention of international law can be committed by a private person, is universally held in Switzerland. The scope of neutrality has certainly 132expanded. As war penetrates ever more deeply into the life of the nations, the range of neutrality also expands. But that implies no encroachment on the constitutional principle of the freedom of personal opinion. That point has been made fully clear by discussions in parliament and the public. For it is just in a federal state, of mixed race and language, that discussions of events tend to become most lively.
