Virgínia de Castro e Almeida and women’s presence in international cooperation during the interwar period

ABSTRACT In recent years, scholars have re-examined the impact of the interwar League of Nations (LON), exploring the contributions of a range of different component bodies. This article contributes to the historiography of the LON’s cooperative legacy by examining the work of an overlooked female intellectual within the LON’s history: Virgínia de Castro e Almeida (1874–1945). De Castro e Almeida, born in Portugal and of aristocratic origin, played a distinctive and high-profile role in advocating transnational intellectual cooperation in the interwar years through her diplomacy work in association with the LON. In negotiating the field of internationalism and patriotism, her case illuminates the need to consider the divergent ways in which nations were involved in international cooperation in the interwar years, reorienting the narrative away from histories that focus on a small group of nations to include those of less well-known countries. The article also explores the additional difficulties that a female intellectual who did not live within her country of origin had in persuading those in a conservative country to recognize the benefits of internationalism.

The League of Nations (LON), formalized following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), epitomized a new moment in the search for political and social organization beyond previously established barriers of national and racial difference. 1 Comprising technical, scientific, economic and social bodies, the LON sought to use the experience of the First World War to design a new model of international understanding based on multilateralism and coexistence in order to chart a path of cooperation between nations that would avoid a new conflict.The Covenant of the LON established the promotion of collective security as a political, economic, and legal issue and did not envisage any instrument to foster what would later become known as intellectual cooperation.However, many delegates to the new Geneva body expressed the weakness of promoting peace without relying on intellectual work.As a result, the Intellectual Commission for Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) was established in 1922.
The LON, on which the ICIC was dependent, welcomed both men and women.Women were guaranteed the right to work for the LON at all levels of its international diplomacy under Article VII of the LON Covenant. 2Sir Eric Drummond, the LON's first Secretary General, understood the crucial role that women's participation in social committees played in advancing the organization's goals of fostering an atmosphere of international cooperation.According to Drummond, women were better suited than men to jobs requiring empathy and protection because of their responsibilities as mothers.The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was one of the organizations that advocated for the inclusion of at least two women on each and every committee, with the exception of those that dealt with issues pertaining to the navy, the air force, and the military.In spite of this, a comparatively small number of women were actually appointed to the highest positions of administration within the League. 3his article examines the diplomacy work carried out by one woman in association with the LON: Virgínia de Castro e Almeida (1874-1945).From the mid-1920s until the late 1930s, de Castro e Almeida took on a distinctive role within the LON as state delegate for Portugal at the International Institute for Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) in Paris, to where she moved with her children from Switzerland in the early 1920s.The IIIC was a body established by the French government and operating under the auspices of the LON.Its purpose was to implement projects derived from the International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC).The election of a woman to a transnational institution, where women's presence in executive roles was relatively scarce, is itself significant in illustrating the potential for women to reach these positions.The interest in de Castro e Almeida's role in connection with the LON, however, also offers new avenues for exploring the role of female intellectuals in the history of interwar internationalism.De Castro e Almeida's representation at the LON of Portugal-a small, conservative, and patriarchal country that itself underwent complex internal political, economic, and social challenges in the 1920s and 1930s-indicates the value of examining the various and specific contexts in which female intellectuals contributed to international cooperation.De Castro e Almeida's diplomacy work at the IIIC also gives fresh insight into the LON's history.Her contribution began prior to the inauguration of the IIIC and stretched until its restructuring in 1930, and then in a second stage, up to 1939, when, with the outbreak of World War II, the work done under the auspices of the LON became meaningless.
The French historian Jean-Jacques Renoliet was the first to study the history of the League's Organization for Intellectual Cooperation (which includes ICIC, IIIC, and the various national commissions for intellectual cooperation).This created a genealogical framework for further development from a variety of perspectives. 4The Organization for Intellectual Cooperation also been the focus of renewed interest on the part of a large number of academics, who have conducted research into the participants who were part of this organization as well as women's participation in it. 5My attention now shifts from the institution in and of itself to one of its primary actors, the so-called ′ true architects of intellectual cooperation ′ , 6 who have been sunk into oblivion by mainstream literature.The purpose of this article is to trace de Castro e Almeida's efforts inside and outside the IIIC in the performance of her duties as a state delegate to the IIIC as a way of assessing the communicative movement she established between the IIIC and the Portuguese National Commission of Intellectual Cooperation, far from her native country.To explore this dynamic, the article examines de Castro e Almeida's private correspondence with diplomats, alongside her published organizational material and journalism.The efforts that de Castro e Almeida made to promote the improvement of the Portuguese National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation at the LON and the consolidation of internationalist propaganda work within her country of origin are the subject of a significant amount of attention in this article.The evidence of her work sheds light on the need to consider the specific and contested ways in which nations were involved in international cooperation during the interwar years.
As a female intellectual who did not live within her country of origin, Virgínia de Castro e Almeida saw particular challenges in persuading those who remained in a conservative country to see the benefits of internationalism.One of the key challenges for de Castro e Almeida, therefore, was transmitting her own (and the LON's) conviction in the spirit of internationalism to her conservative country of origin.Portugal's political and social structures underwent significant change in the 1920s and 1930s and the article examines how de Castro e Almeida sought to manoeuvre Portugal into committing itself to an internationalist agenda within the changing ideological environment.De Castro e Almeida's contribution to the LON spanned three different regimes of interwar Portugal: the First Republic (until May 1926), the Military Dictatorship (1926-1933), and the Estado Novo (1933-1974).After a period of 16 years of political, economic, and social crisis, which characterized the republican regime, a military uprising on May 26 1926, established a military dictatorship.This regime was burdened by internal debt and was forced to ask for a loan from the LON, which was rejected by the national government because of the conditions imposed. 7The national government also imposed authoritarian social measures at home (no freedom of the press, no freedom of association) and paid little attention to foreign policy beyond its own interests.The rise of António de Oliveira Salazar to the position of Minister of Finance under this regime ultimately led to the establishment of the Estado Novo in 1933.Under this ultra-Catholic and patriarchal regime, in which, for example, married women could not work or go abroad without the authorization of the head of the family, and schools educated girls to train them in the feminine ideal of Salazarism: devoted wife and housewife, de Castro e Almeida earned a prominent place within the dictatorial regime for her literary work disseminating the values of the Estado Novo and for her efforts to involve Portugal in the work of intellectual cooperation to the benefit of its international reputation.Acts of patriotism, such as those at the core of de Castro e Almeida's approach, were greeted with renewed support in this circumstance.

The weak presence of women in the league of nations
Virgínia de Castro e Almeida, born in the early 1870s, was the daughter of the Count of Nova Goa, Luís Caetano de Castro e Almeida and Virgínia Folque.Growing up in a wealthy aristocratic family, at a very young age, she began to love literature, writing her first stories under the pseudonym Gy. 8 She had a higher level of education than the majority of the population (she wrote and spoke French, English, and German), and went on to become a pioneer of children's literature and film production in Portugal.In 1910, de Castro e Almeida completed a long divorce process (now considered one of the first divorces in Portugal), in which she took the legal advice of Afonso Costa, politician who later became Prime Minister of Portugal.In the Parisian queer community connected to the arts, de Castro e Almeida, a divorced mother of three, met the English sculptor Pamela Boden (1904-1979), who would become her companion until her death in 1945. 9e Castro e Almeida began to develop a public profile in relation to the issues of education and the wider role of women in society in the first decade of the twentieth century.In 1913, she published La Mulher (The Woman), in which she questioned the representation of elite women as objects of luxury who were undervalued for their intellectual capacities, and called for the realization of intellectual and cultural opportunities for women: Women of my land!Cinderellas with empty brains who wait, sitting by the fireplace and with morbid shudders, for the hypothetical appearance of Prince Charming; grave maids, who spend their lives with the keys of the pantry and the needle in their hands, without the slightest notion of domestic economy or hygiene, confusing honesty with the neglect of beauty; animals of burden or breeding, surrounded by children they know neither how to raise nor educate; luxury dolls, dressed like the ladies of Paris and with their intelligence all absorbed in the deciphering of fashions, incapable of any other interest or any other understanding […]   Poor women of my land! 10 Coming after her own public divorce, the publication of the book represented a sort of second cataclysm for de Castro e Almeida.It points to her acknowledgement of specific cultural barriers to women within her country of origin and her growing politicisation in relation to these issues in relation to developing discourses of European feminism.
In Portugal, the establishment of the republic in 1910 gave new impetus to the feminist movement.The First Republic recognized very positive aspects of women's rights: through the Divorce Act (1910), wives and husbands were treated equally in terms of grounds for divorce and rights over children; adultery, still considered a crime, was punished equally, whether committed by one or the other; and compulsory education from 7 to 11 years of age was implemented for boys and girls. 11The Conselho do Nacional das Mulheres Portuguesas (National Council of Portuguese Women), founded in Lisbon in 1914 by the gynaecologist, feminist and republican activist Adelaide Cabete (1867-1935), was an organization within the feminist movement of the early twentieth century which went on to have the most enduring record within feminist organizations in Portugal. 12It was constituted as the Portuguese section of the International Council of Women, founded in Washington in 1888. 13Most women who were part of the feminist movement in Portugal came from the intellectual and educational elite; some belonged to the Freemasons.Such women included: Ana de Castro Osório, Adelaide Cabete, and Maria Clara Correia Alves, Aurora de Castro e Gouveia, Emília de Sousa Costa, Elina Guimarães and Carolina Michaèlis. 14ollowing a meeting with American President Woodrow Wilson, regarded as the LON's founding father, a group of feminists from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, led by the American-born Jane Addams, won the right to equal access to all positions of responsibility, including the Secretariat, under Article VII of the Covenant. 15In this way, feminist associations facilitated women gaining space within the LON, which, although small, stood out above the presence of women in national governments. 16Indeed, the LON, which seemed to set itself up as a kind of platform from which women could claim their political rights, stimulated a discourse around women's capabilities in internationalism amongst journalists.Within Portugal, Irene de Vasconcelos, who, appealing to the responsibility of professional colleagues to defend women's rights, tried to spur the spirit of women in Portugal to collaborate in the international work in Geneva and to understand the important role they had to play in ′ an era of social transformations, assuming the usefulness of the LON for perpetual peace ′ . 17The context of de Castro e Almeida's election as Portugal's state delegate to the IIIC might have been similar to that described by the English woman Rachel Crowdy (Head of the Social Section) 18 in imagining her own appointment: a committee of tired men anxious for their lunch, a list of unknown female names, hers almost at the beginning of the alphabet.Hers was almost at the beginning of the alphabet; why not name her and go to lunch?It is the case that the appointment of the Portuguese writer to represent her country at the IIIC in January 1926 was made against backdrop of a national illiteracy rate of close to 80%, and conservative cultural values, where women were idealized as Catholic wives and mothers.That a divorced woman, of public reputation and with developing feminist credentials should be appointed to the role of national state delegate to this international executive body is itself striking, and suggests the complex layering of her politics and patriotism.

The international institute for intellectual cooperation
The majority of the intellectual activity of the LON's cooperation took place within the ICIC.Created under the auspices of the LON as a consultative body on 21 September 1922, 19 its aim was to promote international cooperation between intellectuals and scientists as a further instrument for the maintenance of peace.On September 23, 1923, the fourth Assembly of the LON authorized the ICIC to receive financial support from any institution, public or private, interested in its work and efforts.By virtue of this approval, the French government offered the LON, in 1924, the creation of an international organization to accelerate and implement ICIC projects.To this end, the French Parliament authorized the granting of two million francs to cover the costs of the new international body, the IIIC, which was officially inaugurated on January 16, 1926, at the Palais Royal in Paris. 20From its official inauguration in 1919 until 1939, only five women were appointed members of the ICIC. 21These five were Marie Curie Skalowska, Kristine Bonnevie, Ellen Gleditch, 22 Cecile de Tormay (winner of the Hungarian Academy Prize for her book, La Vieille Maison, published in 1914), and Victoria Ocampo (Argentinean and creator of the Sur Magazine). 23Other women who indirectly advised the ICIC were the Polish Cezaria Anna Badouin de Courteney Ehrenkreutz; the American Laura Dreyfus Barney; the Romanian writer Helene Vacaresco; and the Chilean Gabriela Mistral.
Another element of the vast system of intellectual cooperation were the National Committees, whose mission was to serve as a link among the ICIC, 24 the consultative body of the Assembly, and the intellectual lives of the different countries.These committees emerged as active institutions beginning with the establishment of the French National Commission, designed not only to carry out, promote, and assist in the execution of the work necessary for this development in each country but also to collaborate with the international work proposed by the IIIC.Portugal, which did not yet have a National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation, in contrast to many other countries, appointed de Castro e Almeida as state delegate of the IIIC in January 1926 to represent Portugal at the delegates' meetings and to be present at the inauguration of the IIIC in Paris.Julien Luchaire, taking advantage of Article 32 of the IIIC's statutes, which allowed different governments to be represented at the IIIC, encouraged the ambassador in Paris, Dr. António Fonseca, to choose a Portuguese representative.
The role of the state delegate was to act as a liaison agent between the national government and the work of the IIIC; supervising and, officially, following the work developed at the IIIC; and studying the different advantages and interests of the proposed work, as well as the best way to contribute to it.De Castro e Almeida's role was not to make recommendations to the IIIC on behalf of her country.Rather, her job was to gather information on what was happening in the IIIC in order to inform and recommend to her government the best way to implement the measures emanating from the IIIC.The choice of de Castro e Almeida for this role is interesting.Although the documentation analysed does not provide much information on the process of her appointment, it is possible that de Castro e Almeida's close friendship with the head of the Portuguese delegation to the LON, Afonso Costa, 25 with whom she developed a close friendship after her divorce, influenced this appointment.Her experience in organizational work with her production company, Fortuna Films (1922-1925), was a further important asset.Dr. António Fonseca, the ambassador in Paris in 1925, has provided explanations 26 that imply her appointment may have been motivated by practical factors: De Castro e Almeida, who was well-liked in European intellectual circles and fluent in LON's regional tongues, used to reside in Paris for the majority of the year.This situation allowed her to attend the work of the IIIC with a regularity that would not be possible if she had to travel expressly for this purpose.Her appointment as a delegate and to attend the inauguration of the IIIC was made directly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as Portugal did not officially set up a national commission for intellectual cooperation until April 10, 1926. 27he members of the ICIC, directly linked to the LON, had a different status and function from the state delegates to the IIIC.The latter represented their country by following the work proposed by the IIIC and studying the advantages and interests of their countries in this work and how they could contribute to it.In this sense, the work developed by de Castro e Almeida illuminates Portugal's position within the evolving system of intellectual cooperation.This work can be traced through the extensive, comprehensive, and critical reports she sent to the National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation.

De castro e Almeida's first stage at the international institute for intellectual cooperation
As state delegate to the IIIC, a key role of de Castro e Almeida was work to foster relationships with the Portuguese delegation members who were sent to the LON.Drawing upon her literary and cultural background, from the beginning of her time in role she used journalism to transmit her ideas and promotion of the LON's internationalism in her home country.She issued a warning about the need to comprehend the significance of internationalism for Portugal to stand out on the global stage in newspaper articles 28 , arguing that a deeper knowledge of the LON should be of interest to Portuguese public opinion at a time when the entire press of civilized countries is ′ intensely concerned with issues related to the Geneva body ′ . 29n the years between 1926 and 1939, de Castro e Almeida penned a series of formal reports (for the National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation, which depended on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on the functioning and work carried out by the IIIC.The report she issued after the inauguration of the IIIC in 1926 included extensive details of its foundation as well as a number of suggestions for Portugal to set the best example for the IIIC in order to achieve a more prominent and active role in intellectual cooperation and to benefit from its participation.Her first suggestion was that the Portuguese National Commission should be organized immediately by adopting the French Commission's structure as open and non-elitist.30 She believed that the French commission's composition-a painter, a writer, a sculptor, a poet, a journalist, a professor, and others-enabled it to address significant issues that had practical application.De Castro e Almeida therefore urged the Portuguese government to establish a commission, choosing its members from among ′ Portuguese intellectuals ′ , who were ′ willing to work in solidarity with the international movement ′ in light of this efficient and comprehensive model.31 The main criticism in de Castro e Almeida's first report focused on her native nation's lack of interest in the task of compiling publicity materials for the LON.She noted, ′ one thing I could see before I left Geneva, after talking to several people about the League, was the lack of knowledge of this organization in its many forms ′ .32 She was disappointed, but unsurprised, by the reprimand she received from the Secretariat's information section when she was informed that Portugal had never requested any publicity documents.The country's internal urgencies (the resolution of the economic and political crises) took priority over everything that occurred outside of its borders, which contributed to the general lack of interest in the LON.The solution to deal with this situation, in her opinion, was the creation of a National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation that, as a matter of urgency, should initiate intensive propaganda work on the LON.Portuguese apathy towards what was happening beyond its borders, in part a consequence of an internal situation that made it difficult to think on an international scale, led de Castro e Almeida to stress the importance of establishing a strong and coordinated propaganda effort on the LON and all forms of intellectual cooperation.To this end, she proposed the Portuguese National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation, as a ′ proof of vitality, intelligence, as well as goodwill towards the LON ′ , 33 and recommended undertaking this task by means of various resources, such as through the dissemination of material at conferences, and via journalism.34 Virgínia de Castro e Almeida's thinking and behaviour at this time were constantly characterized by her fierce determination to spread the advantages of internationalism.It was vital, in her view, that Portuguese intellectuals became involved in the activities (congresses, meetings, exhibitions) or measures proposed by the IIIC, which she detailed in her reports, so that they could understand the usefulness and advantages of the LON.She made this position clear in 1926, when she stated that the most useful way to raise international awareness was for the members of the National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation to study the organization and objectives of intellectual cooperation and the LON in order to be able to promote them.The service they would render to the country if each member were to give a lecture or write an article within a year, she explained, would be extraordinary.35 Therefore, in order to implement effectively this proposal, it was essential to carry out pedagogical work on LON: In order that the action and usefulness of intellectual cooperation may be understood and accepted among us, it is obviously indispensable that the workings of the formidable organization of Geneva be known in Portugal and that the advantages for all civilized countries, and above all for the smallest and most distant from the great centers, of participating as much as possible in the international movement be understood. 36r de Castro e Almeida, the importance of propaganda around internationalism, which had been completely neglected in Portugal, was linked to the centrality of having a knowledgeable public opinion about the issues discussed in Geneva.With this in mind, she worked through the Portuguese newspaper, O Século, one of the most important independent conservative dailies in Portugal, to highlight how the country could benefit from internationalism.Her journalistic and educational endeavour aimed at dispelling Portugal's ignorance about the LON.She emphasized the significance of the goodwill of citizens and the public elite and, more importantly, the ability to shape favourable public opinion surrounding the LON, in which, in her opinion, ′ lies its weakness as well as its strength ′ . 37De Castro e Almeida's journalistic-propaganda work was praised by Diário de Lisboa, which referred to her as the person who has been most interested in LON in Portugal. 38However, she could not escape the long shadow of pessimism, and recognized that her efforts would be lost in the country's internal problems.By the mid-1920s, therefore, her perception of the effectiveness of her work was beginning to diminish.In a report issued at the end of the 1926, she lamented: ′ My voice, isolated, can achieve little or nothing, bored and lost in the tumult of the party of values and interests that today animates the wanderings of our land ′ . 39hrough her public writings, de Castro e Almeida sought a cultural shift that would enable a diffuse understanding of the role of internationalism, linked to the publicity of the work of the LON.Publishing often within Conservative newspapers, her thinking was to some degree conservative, and elitist.Notably, she understood that any cultural shift would be led by intellectuals, and she considered that it would only be once public opinion was based on more knowledge and awareness would it be possible to think of creating a Portuguese Union for the LON.Her emphasis differed from others', who nonetheless also hoped for wider publicity about the usefulness of the LON.Dr. Augusto Vasconcelos, Secretary General of the LON Services, for example, favoured the creation of a society or some kind of union for the LON, similar to what exists in other member countries, as an organizational mechanism for this publicity.To de Castro e Almeida, such an idea would not be possible in Portugal because the creation of such bodies would represent ′ one of those organizations that die at birth, the corpses of which abound in our unhappy land ′ . 40The idea of backwardness, with which de Castro e Almeida viewed her nation, was derived from her international experience, which allowed her to compare her country of origin to the nations of other continents, and also from her own political position.In her report from December 1926, she highlighted the chaotic situation of the country -under a military dictatorship, installed in May 1926, with serious social problems stemming from the economic crisis carried over from the Republican period-to explain Portugal's distancing from any international initiative: Unfortunately, the backwardness of our country, hindered in its development by political upheavals and the system of administration that results from them, does not allow Portugal to follow with due attention an international movement of this nature, nor to calculate the advantages that could be gained if it were to collaborate with intelligence and commitment in the same way as other civilizations. 41 her private and confidential reports, the Portuguese delegate criticized and pointed out the position of Portugal in relation to the LON.However, she also highlighted for a wider audience the value of each member nation's participation in LON activities, including in the newspaper O Século.In her journalism, she acted as a chronicler of the LON with a pedagogical attitude for the knowledge of a society that lived with its back to internationalism.She explained in an article for O Século in the autumn of 1926 that a country that wanted to be an asset in the LON 'needs to possess and combine two strengths: firstly, the ability to understand the international idea in its full breadth and to cooperate with it in all sincerity.Secondly, it needs to choose its representatives well and keep them. 42Her argument here part of her wider conviction was that intellectual work was not an exception but rather a sign of a larger, more pervasive apathy.The idea-expressed by de Castro in her reports-that the nation's internal circumstances served as the primary barrier to its international ambitions had gained traction not only in the corridors of Geneva but also in Portugal and other countries.After the coup d'état of 1926, which resulted in the establishment of the military dictatorship, the written press started to insist on this context.It is made clear in the Diário de Lisboa that Portugal's political problems were the primary factor that prevented the country from taking off internationally: Internal politics came to influence our international situation.I am not referring to the internal politics of the moment, but to the state of permanent turmoil we have experienced in recent years.
A Swiss newspaper announced a revolt in Chaves, and they said: "In order not to lose their habit, the Portuguese are making a small revolution". 43 Castro e Almeida realized the potential of the Portuguese National Commission to encourage greater engagement with her country's internationalism less than a year after her appointment in 1926. 44She criticized the National Commission as a feeble body lacking in funding, organization, and faith that was unable to address all of the issues raised by the IIIC. 45The vehemence de Castro e Almeida reflected in her reports, seeking a well-structured and committed National Commission, responded to the faith she placed in a body that she considered ′ like the hearts that the IIIC auscultates to know the degree of intellectual vitality of the countries they represent ′ . 46As state delegate, she saw the need for much greater administrative efficiency from the Commission.She called for urgent administrative reorganization of the Commission's services so that it could respond effectively to questionnaires, circulars, or correspondence sent from the IIIC in order to increase the effectiveness of the national commission.She also urged the Commission to participate in projects involving intellectual cooperation much more actively.She wished for the Commission to work together on the IIIC's scientific and cultural goals, including exhibitions, conferences, international congresses on popular arts, translation of Portuguese works.In short, she wanted Portugal to participate in the intellectual task by focusing its efforts, especially on educational and cultural issues, which were the two branches to which the IIIC devoted most of its efforts. 47e Castro e Almeida complained that the National Commission for Intellectual Cooperation did not respond to her requests or appreciate the work she was doing after she had been officially appointed to the post she temporarily held in April 1926.Thus, faced with the impotence of the excusing answers about the lack of staff to meet her requirements, she sought the help of Augusto Vasconcelos to intercede in obtaining answers to the ′ important requirements of the IIIC so that, even if the answers are not complete, at least they satisfy the most important points ′ . 48This poor coordination was compounded by a disagreement with the Foreign Minister regarding the promised emoluments: only £15 of the £20 per month she was promised by decree was actually being paid to her.The question of emoluments, which, as she points out, ′ were barely enough for representation expenses ′ , 49 led her to leave her post.
The salary received by de Castro e Almeida for her work as a delegate, in the context of a country plunged into an economic crisis that led to her requesting a loan from the LON, led her to abandon her post.The 15 pounds she received, which did not cover all the expenses derived from her diplomatic functions (she paid out of her own pocket for sending letters) 50 , bordered on voluntary work, which she did out of a sense of patriotism.The economic factor, as a trigger for her resignation, is beyond doubt, but one wonders whether her close friendship with Afonso Costa, former head of the Portuguese delegation to the LON and a declared enemy of the military dictatorship, had a negative influence and was a consequence of the fact that nothing was done to keep her in that post.In 1929, the Secretary of the Portuguese delegation to the LON, Augusto Vasconcelos, drew up a new order to re-establish the state delegation to the IIIC by appointing the ′ eminent writer de Castro e Almeida, who had already satisfactorily performed the functions of Delegate of Portugal ′ , 51 with a monthly allowance of 20 pounds for representation and filing expenses.

The second phase: the conviction of disillusionment
Portugal's standing within the international community of the interwar period was shifting.The overthrow of the democratic government in 1926 and the subsequent installation of a dictatorship by the military both impacted upon the nation's status and community response.In 1928, as a result of the severe economic and financial difficulties that the nation had been experiencing, the dictatorial government submitted a request to the LON for a loan.The terms and conditions that the LON imposed on the loan caused Portugal to decide against accepting it.Salazar, a professor of economics at the University of Coimbra, rose quickly between 1928 and 1930 as restorer of the nation's financial situation at the Ministry of Finance thanks to this dire circumstance.
In the interim period between her returning to her post as delegate and moving to Paris, de Castro e Almeida continued to live in Paris and translated works by authors such as Charles Dickens and George Sand into Portuguese.De Castro e Almeida's first report, once she had returned to her post as delegate through the mediation of Vasconcelos, a man highly respected in the corridors of Geneva and a great supporter of the LON, was issued in 1930.In it, she recorded that, after almost three years away from the IIIC, the first thing she had done was to review the work of the IIIC during that time and found it to be ′ varied, intense, complex, and increasingly useful ′ . 52However, she could not say the same for Portugal in terms of its participation in the work of the IIIC: I cannot help but admire the results obtained by the IIIC in such a short time.I, in my constant effort to communicate the spirit of internationalism so indispensable today in countries that wish to move forward and therefore so inseparable from true patriotism, assume that Portugal's collaboration has been nonexistent and that it must therefore intensify its work in the IIIC. 53 1931, the IIIC, yielding to criticism from some ICIC members, was restructured, including the replacement of its first director, Julien Luchaire, by Henrit Bonett.The unease that began to be felt within the ICIC about the IIIC reflected a concern about the excessive autonomy of this body.This autonomy of the IIIC was represented by its quest to solve some of the problems posed by the elitism inherent in the conception of the ICIC by trying to bring the different cultural and scientific proposals to a wider public with the support of the national commissions.Some members of the ICIC requested to ′ limit the IIIC's powers in the field of new work, asking it to seek the opinion of the ICIC before making commitments or undertaking activities that might restrict the ICIC's freedom of decision ′ . 54The ICIC's ultimate intention was to limit the powers of the state delegates in the IIIC, which is stated as follows in its 1931 report: The Delegates to the IIIC do not have to discuss the technical problems of intellectual cooperation, which are the responsibility of the ICIC, nor do they have to approve the solutions proposed by the ICIC.They should only examine the approved solutions, obtain the effective assistance of their respective governments at home, and inform the IIIC of the wishes and observations of the governments in relation to their work. 55 a confidential report sent to Vasconcelos, the Portuguese delegate expressed her disagreement with the reform that the ICIC wanted to undertake in terms of limiting the attributions of the state delegates, emphasizing the fundamental role that they played in reactivating the scientific and cultural agenda of the system of intellectual cooperation.The ICIC, which met only once a year due to a lack of funding and was essentially nothing more than a conclave of the intellectual elite, was criticized in addition to the defence of the state delegates for their ineffectiveness.She also expressed her support for the dismissed director, Julien Luchaire, by praising the work done by the IIIC, which she believed had worked effectively precisely because of ′ the exceptional organizational spirit ′ of the director, despite a very limited budget. 56De Castro e Almeida transcribed (with the author's permission, Luchaire) a part of the unpublished memorandum on the IIIC crisis, in which the similarity with her thinking, disseminated and reiterated in her reports, on the importance of the state delegates and the work of the national commissions, can be observed: To this end (to strengthen the current of public goodwill for the work of intellectual cooperation), it would be necessary to counterbalance the strong central body with a strong national organization in each country.The delegates of states maintained that it was indispensable and that it would be necessary to increase their powers.The National Commissions for Intellectual Cooperation, in which the Study Committee has great faith, also need, in all their parts, great reinforcement. 57his second phase of de Castro e Almeida's diplomacy work at the IIIC also saw an extension of her emphasis on patriotic commitment as well as internationalism.In addition to reemphasizing the importance of propaganda as a means of educating public opinion in the international spirit, de Castro e Almeida also began to appeal specifically to the women of her country to become more involved in international work.She began her 1931 report with words reminiscent of those written by the journalist Irene de Vasconcelos in 1926 to encourage specifically Portuguese women to commit themselves to the LON: I write these lines for the intellectual workers of Portugal and, above all, for the Portuguese women who, for some time now, seem determined to accompany the movement of transformation in the world that attributes new rights to the feminine element.Regarding these new rights. 58 is interesting to note how she referred first to all the workers and second to the women of her country.De Castro e Almeida may have believed that all women who could contribute to the goals of the intellectual organization were intellectuals.However, given the limited involvement of women in international work in the interwar period, we might conclude that she was unsuccessful in this mission.
Due to the LON's declining credibility and inability to oppose Italy's invasion of Ethiopia or Japan's invasion of China, as well as its lack of response to the Spanish Civil War, doubts about the LON's ability to prevent another world war peaked in the latter half of the 1930s. 59As a result, the member states' position regarding intellectual cooperation within the League became more limited.The work of intellectual cooperation was further complicated by broader fears sparked by strengthening nationalist agendas amongst European nations.This explains the poor implementation by member states of the agreement on the revision of history textbooks (1935), a proposal coming out of the IIIC to contain the aggressively nationalistic messages that stood in the way of peace.De Castro e Almeida expressed her own concern about the resurgence of nationalism in Europe and set this phenomenon as a framework for Portugal's reticence towards intellectual cooperation, so often criticized throughout her work.In her report of 1932 she wrote that one consequence of the rising tide of nationalism was perhaps that a 'spirit of apathy and mistrust has contributed to justify our internationalist disinterest'. 60n sharp contrast to the zeal with which de Castro e Almeida had begun her work in the middle of the 1920s, in 1937 she confided in her friend António Ferro, who was serving as the Secretary General of Propaganda for the Estado Novo that: ′ I have no enthusiasm for my work ′ . 61She described her dwindling energy for the 'thankless task' as a delegate to the IIIC, and the difficulty of undertaking the role 'alone and so far away'.She also felt that her great efforts to organise a national commission were in vein, as ′ the commission never worked ′ . 62The perception of the uselessness of her role, as she told António Ferro, was not only a consequence of the difficulties of organization within Portugal but also due to internal factors within the League, in particular her suspicion of the jealousy that the IIIC aroused in the LON Secretariat, fearing that ′ a small LON would be created in Paris ′ . 63The divorce between the IIIC and ICIC was such that de Castro e Almeida never found out what was happening within the ICIC.However, although her recommendations were not examined or appreciated by the National Commission, the fulfilment of her work was praised by Oliveira Salazar.She recorded proudly in a letter to António Ferro that, ′ When you tell me that Salazar found my work positive and that he understood that it should be continued, I saw that my bread was guaranteed, and beyond that, I had the best reward for my effort ′ . 64his ′ reward ′ for labour served, in part, was recompense for de Castro e Almeida's continued patriotism.Together with António Ferro 65 , she co-wrote a number of short books for the purpose of teaching history and ingraining the values of the dictatorial regime that was installed in 1933.Despite Portugal's participation in the Great War and its status as a victor, de Castro e Almeida felt it necessary to criticize the victimization to which Portugal had resorted in to justify its continued inability to stand out among the small and medium-sized powers in the international arena.Portugal, which believed that its contribution to the war effort would be recognized with a seat on the LON Council, did not become a non-permanent member of the Council until 1933, after its financial situation had improved.Her reaction to this stance was to point out in her 1931 report, even though she knew her words would be unfortunate, how Portugal continued to maintain a passive attitude: The world has lost the habit of thinking about us, for the simple reason that we have lost the habit of thinking about them.I know that many in Portugal will feel bad for me when they read these lines I have just written.The truth is that the most expensive luxury of all is the only one that I have never known how to deprive myself of.Illusion is more common, lighter, more comfortable, and kinder.It is easier to lament than to react.It is easier to attribute the events that displease us to bad luck or even injustice.But there is neither bad luck nor injustice; they are only consequences. 66e shift in emphasis in de Castro e Almeida's writings shows, in part, a broader movement of intellectual cooperation in relation to the difficulties of the League.The crisis of collective security and the LON's inability to impose its agenda on the issues that were endangering European stability forced intellectual cooperation to dissociate itself from the discredit of the Geneva-based organization.Therefore, while the 1930 reform of the system of international intellectual cooperation attempted to limit the independence of the IIIC and keep it within the framework of the LON, the 1938 reform served, on the contrary, to separate the IIIC from the disreputable reputation of the Geneva body.At the end of 1938, the French government convened a conference with the aim of distancing the Organization for Intellectual Cooperation from the crisis that was suffocating the LON in order to give it autonomy from the organization from which it had originated.The International Act that came out of that conference and that was signed by twenty-one states, including Portugal, sought to depoliticize intellectual cooperation, emphasizing its technical, rather than ideological, attachment to the LON.The aim was intellectual cooperation free of political influence and based solely on the principle of universality.De Castro e Almeida, with a pessimistic attitude since the remodelling of the IIIC in 1933, had no faith that the International Act would change anything, that is, ′ that it would abolish the interference of politics and dominant ideologies in the various activities of intellectual cooperation ′ . 67She claimed in a report delivered to Salazar that the autonomy envisioned for the IIIC following the diplomatic conference for the conclusion of the International Act was relative.Only the sick have changed beds ′ , she wrote. 68

Conclusion
Virgínia de Castro e Almeida's public role within the IIIC offers a new route into reflecting upon women's contribution to interwar internationalism.Her first phase of work was characterized by expectations for the intellectual work that the IIIC was doing to accomplish its goal of achieving spiritual understanding among the peoples of the world.This ideal served as a guide for de Castro e Almeida during her first few months working as a diplomat.At this point, she also strongly recommended the formation of a national commission, following the model of the French government.The creation of a National Commission, which Vírgínia de Castro e Almeida believed was essential for communication with the IIIC, was the Portuguese delegate's greatest accomplishment in the context of international intellectual cooperation.However, she was not as successful as she had hoped in conveying to the other members of the National Commission either the importance of the country's participation in international intellectual activity or the zeal with which she wished to propagandize.The issue of propaganda, which monopolized her work during the first stage, had no impact on the National Commission (as well as other recommendations for Portuguese integration into intellectual cooperation), which remained stagnant and unrepresented until de Castro e Almeida's return to her former position at the end of 1929.Similarly, the appeal to the women of her country to participate in the international women's movement could be considered another failure.It is paradoxical that these wishes were formulated in the authoritarian and patriarchal context of the military regime, but the contagion of the Geneva atmosphere and the impulse of her feminist vision may have provoked this reaction.
The second phase of de Castro e Almeida's role as a delegate of state began during the military dictatorship, specifically when the regime was more eager to address its financial issues than any foreign affair.Thanks to Vasconcelos's mediation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on whom the National Commission depended, she was reinstated as a delegate.Her continuity in the new regime that began in 1933 (Estado Novo), marked by Catholic, ultraconservative, illiberal, and largely patriarchal values, and where the highest positions were forbidden to women, may seem surprising; however, her patriotism was recognized and appreciated even in this unfavourable environment for women.De Castro e Almeida collaborated in the dissemination and indoctrination of the values of the Estado Novo through the publication of small volumes.Likewise, her harsh criticism of Portugal's continued neglect in the international context could have been seen as an indication of her love for her country.
A key contribution of this article has been in illuminating how de Castro e Almeida's formal writings and journalism during her role as state delegate to the IIIC in the mid 1920s to the late 1930s show a profound shift in perception of the work of international intellectual cooperation and in her own capacities to have impact.From having high expectations for the progression of her work, de Castro e Almeida by the 1930s overwhelmingly felt disillusion in it.The National Commission generally ignored all of her recommendations for the nation's increased international cooperation.She advocated that the country's involvement, both institutionally and socially, was a sine qua non requirement for gaining from internationalism.The internal problems of the nation, along with the scorn and neglect they received from the League, did not provide a favourable environment for the pro-internationalist seeds that de Castro e Almeida sowed in her articles and reports to bear fruit.Another factor that contributed to the disillusionment with the work done and, implicitly, with the virtue of Geneva internationalism was the rise of nationalism in the 1930s, which revealed the League's limitations in enforcing its authority.Because she did not live in Portugal and did not receive assistance from any segment of society in the propaganda work, both her voice and her efforts were lost in the turmoil that occurred during the interwar years.This is one plausible explanation for the difficulty she had in convincing not only the society of a conservative country but also her colleagues in the Commission of the benefits of internationalism.An additional conclusion has to do with her patriotism, which was demonstrated by the fact that she worked as a diplomat and made personal efforts (such as writing articles) to improve the standing of her nation in the international arena.Her devotion to her nation drove her to not only accept a position as a delegate to the IIIC but also to criticize the apathy that pervaded the country, even though she knew it would earn her the enmity of many, and to share the story of Portuguese conquests as well as the principles that underpinned the Estado Novo's vision for the future.Her patriotism may also help to explain her interest in and collaboration with a regime that, despite being authoritarian and in which women were treated almost as objects, accentuated Portugal's progressive external recovery.The context of disillusionment with the internationalist spirit due to the weakness of the League could explain the lack of disagreement with the regime that Salazar imposed.Because of this lack of interest on the national level, as well as the political climate of the 1930s, which rendered the LON ineffective, de Castro e Almeida finally accepted the futility of intellectual work projected in the shadow of an international organization mortally wounded in 1939.