312 J.-A. PEMBERTON
economic and financial work of the League in light of postponement of
the regular assembly due to the German invasion of Poland which had
occurred within day of the release of the Bruce report, and the new cir-
cumstances attendant upon the outbreak of war. In his report, Avenol out-
lined a broad field of studies that seemed, in the view of the secretariat,
advisable to pursue given the fact, as stated in the report, that whatever
the ultimate outcome of current hostilities might be, society would eventu-
ally ‘have to readapt itself...to a peacetime economy.’^249 The secretary gen-
eral’s report insisted that consideration by governments of the problems
to which this process of transition would give rise could not begin soon
enough. Against this background and on the initiative of Great Britain,
the assembly adopted a resolution ‘expressing the opinion that “the pres-
ent condition of the world renders it all the more necessary that the eco-
nomic and social work of the League...should continue on as broad a basis
as possible.”’^250 In view of this opinion, the assembly ‘took the necessary
budgetary decisions to keep in being an efficient Economic Intelligence
Service’ and adopted the Bruce reforms in the course of which it approved
‘the proposal to create a Central Committee to co-ordinate, direct and
supervise the work of the League’s technical organisations.’^251
The council, the regular meeting of which had also been postponed,
met for what would be its last time on December 14. Among other
actions taken that day (most notably the expulsion of the USSR from
the LON because of its aggression against Finland), the council renewed
the appointment of the members of the League Committees ‘until fur-
ther notice’ in the expectation that the war in Europe would unfold in
ways that would render the convening of international meetings very
difficult and because it was ‘anxious to safeguard the framework of the
League’s technical organisations’.^252 As we have seen, in the context of
(^249) Report of the Secretary General, December 1939, quoted in League of Nations:
Economic and Financial Committees, Report to the Council on the Work of the Joint
Session London, April 27th–May 1st, 1942, Princeton, August 7th–8th, 1942, 10-1,
10A/41803/1778 RS 384 C.52. M.52.1942.IIA, Geneva, August, 31, 1942, Archives of
the League of Nations.
(^250) League of Nations: Economic and Financial Committees, Report to the Council on the
Work of the Joint Session London, April 27th–May 1st, 1942, Princeton, August 7th–8th, 1942, 11.
(^251) Ibid. Loveday observed on December 16 that ‘the Bruce reforms passed the Assembly
“with the greatest ease”’ Dubin, ‘Toward the Bruce Report: The Economic and Social
Programs of the League of Nations in the Avenol Years,’ 61.
(^252) Ibid., 3.