UN General Assembly
1948

After Mr. Bevin, Mr. Spaak also wished to state that the Western European countries did not want to discuss the communist regime. They considered that communism was no doubt a necessary trial for many countries but they believed that the Western world could do without that trial. Without wishing to discuss any regime they wanted to state that, having fought against fascism and hitlerism in the last war, they were not going to bow to any authoritarian or totalitarian doctrine. They stood for liberal democracy, that is to say, they believed with all their strength and all their conscience in the need for building a political society based on freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of association. They stood for free elections, for governments responsible to the people, for the respect of human dignity and for a State which served man instead of man serving the State. Still less did they want man to serve a single party.