Joining nations 1947-1990

CONSOLIDATION, 1954-1961

31

the structure and general activities of the IIW together with a survey of the work of each of the 1 5 Commissions written by their respec– tive Chairmen. In addition, there were numerous lists, including one of all the papers presented at the public sessions which had been held annually since 1951 except at the austerity Assembly of 1953. The chapters concerning the Commissions are of considerable in– terest in the context of the history of welding technology and it is to be regretted that other pressures prevented the preparation of a sequel in 1973 to mark the Silver Jubilee of the IIW. The other task undertaken in 1957/58 was the revision of the Constitution and the separation of the various texts which had been adopted over the years into the Constitution proper and the Bye– Laws. The revised Constitution was adopted in 1958 and the Bye– Laws, which were extensively re-written, in 1959. The Vienna Assembly was organised with considerable panache, Austria being perhaps still in a state of euphoria consequent upon its resumption of independence and the withdrawal of the four allied occupying armies in 1955. At the close of the Assembly, following the election of the Argentine and the USSR, 28 countries belonged to the IIW, the number having more than doubled since its foundation. The ensuing Assembly took place in Opatija, Yugoslavia, and was thus the first to be held in a socialist country. It was marked by the discontinuance, never to be resumed, of the wearing of formal evening clothes at IIW banquets, as had up to then been the norm. Equally in tune with the times, it was agreed that the IIW's terms of reference covered the welding of plastics as well as of metals, though a proposal to substitute for 'plastics' the terms 'high resinous polymers' and 'high density polymers' was not adopted. A further innovation at Opatija was to elect the capitalist Walter Edstrom, notwithstanding his occupation as a manufacturer of welding supplies, as President-Elect to succeed Dr Guerrera the following year. The 1960 Assembly in Liege was the first to be held in a specially designed building, the then new Palais des Congres, previous assem– blies having generally been held in academic buildings or former palaces adapted for conferences. It was marked by the absence of the customary Public Session and by the inclusion for the first time of a colloquium - a form of public session organised by a Commission on a subject within its terms of reference. In fact two colloquia were held in 1960 and they were to be a frequent item in the programmes