League for Small and Subject Nationalities
organization
The League of Small and Subject Nationalities, Inc. (LSSN), informally known as the League of Small Nations, was a self-determinist organization formed during World War I (1915 or May 1917) in New York City, with the following aims:
...to establish a permanent congress of the small, subject and oppressed nationalities of the world; to assert the right of each nationality to direct representation at the peace conference following this war, as well as at every international conference held thereafter for the discussion of questions affecting its interests; to present the case of these nationalities to the world; to emphasize the importance of restoring to these nationalities the right of self-government as an indispensable condition for world peace..."
The League's president was Frederic C. Howe, who also served as Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of New York during World War I. The corresponding secretaries of the League were Marion A. Smith (Scottish-American) and Vincent F. Jankovski (Lithuanian). Jewish American banker Jacob H. Schiff was offered the role of vice president of the League, but he declined. The League was headquartered at 480 Central Park West, New York City.
More than 25 nations sought representation in the League, taking into consideration displaced nationals residing in the United States. The additional domestic aim of the League was to ease ethnic tensions between émigrés. Its creators were encouraged and inspired by President Woodrow Wilson's speeches concerning the ideas of self-determination and equality of nations. Howe's ideas, based in part upon the same ideals behind Wilson's concept of a League of Nations put forth in his Fourteen Points, led to the formation of the League for Small and Subject Nationalities. The League sought the formation of a congress to ensure the equal representation of all nations in the Paris Peace Conference and in the post–World War I era.
Point XIV:
"A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike."
In 1917, the League held its first meeting, the First Congress of Small and Subject Nationalities, or World Conference of Small Nations in New York.
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