Union Now by Clarence K. Streit (Session 1)

The World Citizen Book Club launched its multi-session exploration of Clarence K. Streit’s groundbreaking 1939 book Union Now on September 10, 2022. Special guest Dr. Tiziana Stella, Executive Director of the Streit Council, led participants through Chapters 1–4, introducing Streit’s bold proposal for a federal union of the world’s leading democracies.

About the Book

Union Now: A Proposal for a Federal Union of the Leading Democracies was first published in 1939, as the world stood on the brink of another global conflict. Journalist Clarence K. Streit proposed that fifteen mature democracies—including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and the Scandinavian nations—form a federal union modeled on the American constitutional system. The union would share common defense, trade, currency, and citizenship while member nations retained sovereignty in domestic matters. Streit believed this union would be so formidable that authoritarian regimes would not dare to attack it.

About the Author

Clarence K. Streit (1896–1986) served as a New York Times correspondent covering the League of Nations in Geneva during the 1930s. Watching the League’s slow disintegration and the rise of totalitarianism in Europe, he became convinced that humanity’s best hope lay in a federal union of democracies. Union Now sold more than 300,000 copies and helped launch the world federalist movement.

Discussion Highlights

Dr. Stella, a specialist in American history, transatlantic relations, and transnational federalism, opened the series by contextualizing Streit’s work within the political crisis of the late 1930s. The group discussed Chapters 1–4, where Streit laid out the case for why existing international organizations had failed to prevent conflict and why only a true federal union of democracies could secure peace. Participants also explored the relevance of Streit’s proposals to contemporary debates about democratic solidarity and multilateral cooperation.