UN General Assembly
1948

Mr. Marshall stated that while the United Nations and its related agencies were increasingly helpful in the economic and social field, primary responsibility for improving standards of living would continue to rest with the Governments and peoples themselves. International organizations could not take the place of national and personal effort, or of local initiative and individual imagination. International action could not replace self-help nor could there be a move toward general co-operation without maximum mutual help among close neighbours. The United Nations was not intended to preclude co-operative action among groups of States for common purposes consistent with the Charter of the United Nations. It had been disappointing that efforts at economic recovery consistent with that concept had been actively opposed by some who seemed to fear the return of stability and confidence. Members must not be misled by those who, at the present time, in the name of revolutionary slogans, would prevent reconstruction and recovery or hold out illusions of future well-being at the price of starvation and disorder.